Create an Operating System

[noahssite]

Hello, first of all i think i posted in the wrong section, i am not sure..

Second i am just curious, i know at my skill level i can't accomplish the task, how would you go about creating an OS for e.g. Windows & Mac?

What language is it written in? How do you write it? Where do you write it? Since i would find it strange to create an OS from a program on Windows etc..lol

Would i have the recreate DOS?.. how would it work?

[si_the_geek]

I think General Developer would be more apt - thread moved.

You can use various languages, but not ones which require other things to be pre-installed and/or running (so not VB, or a .Net language that uses the framework, all of which require Windows and several other things!)

That is just one part of the process, you also need to deal with boot loaders etc, which is how the hardware gets your system started when the PC boots.

Whether or not you re-create would be up to you, you could re-create Windows instead (which has worked without DOS since Windows 95 I think).

[GaryMazzone]

Not in VB. Maybe in C or C++ some Assembly

[Kasracer]

The boot loader would require Assembly as it has to fit in a specific number of bytes. You would then need to port over the standard C and C++ libraries over to the new OS. You also need to write a kernel which would most likely be in C or C++.

It's quite challenging. I thought about attempting a very simple one myself but I really don't feel like learning assembly. It would be fun but you'd need at least assembly and C.

[noahssite]

Thankyou for the replies, i was just really curious, maybe after i am done learning and after i master C / C++ and Assembly then i can try to attempt creating an OS.

Well actually does Mac use the C / C++ libraries etc..? i though C / C++ was Windows. So what would of mac done then? created it from scratch?

[GaryMazzone]

C and C++ are not for any specific system. Windows dlls are written in it. Link and Unix are witten in the same. I think MAc OS is also.

[noahssite]

C and C++ are not for any specific system. Windows dlls are written in it. Link and Unix are witten in the same. I think MAc OS is also.

Thanks, i will actually look into it more, since i don't fully understand how it works.

[RhinoBull]

... i don't fully understand how it works.

Very few do so you are not alone.
I know for a fact that Windows 3.1 (released in 1992) was written by team of about 12 very educated in computer csience and math people.
I imagine that current versions of Windows/Mac required team of at least 100 architects/developers.

[LaVolpe]

If you are interested there are some postings on PlanetSourceCode where people have played with creating their own "languages". Here are a couple of links that may be useful for research.... I knew of about 4 that existed on PSC, but they have been removed and I found a couple of them elsewhere on the net.

Viking Compiler: now exists only Delphi section of PSC, was also in VB
http://www.planet-source-code.com/vb...=1120&lngWId=7

Visia Compiler: was on PSC but removed -- made some money with it
http://basic.mindteq.com/Details/VisiaCompiler.html

Libry Compiler: was on PSC but can be found on A1VB
http://www.a1vbcode.com/app-3497.asp

[noahssite]

Well i was originally and still am curious about creating a new language, it could be for Windows i guess, like not Java, VB, etc... but my own. I am guessing the compiler would have to be written in C / Assembly.

Thanks for the links anyway i will check them out.

[RobDog888]

If you check out the Projects forum you will find others attempts at creating a scripting language which could also provide some insight of what you will be up against. Its a very tremendous task and would require more then one person developing it (in order to complete it within some decent time frame).

[Pradeep1210]

...

Whether or not you re-create would be up to you, you could re-create Windows instead (which has worked without DOS since Windows 95 I think).

Just to clarify, they used real mode DOS till Windows 98. Till then DOS was the main operating system and Windows was loaded on top of DOS from where it took over.


Pradeep

[Kasracer]

Just to clarify, they used real mode DOS till Windows 98. Till then DOS was the main operating system and Windows was loaded on top of DOS from where it took over.


Pradeep

Erm, no. DOS was used up to Windows ME. Windows 98 and 98SE were still DOS based.

[JuggaloBrotha]

Erm, no. DOS was used up to Windows ME. Windows 98 and 98SE were still DOS based.

Not entirely. Windows 98 was the first MS OS that could run without DOS being installed since they'd replaced most of the dos programs with equivalent windows programs, however they still shipped Win98 with DOS so the end users would have 100% backward compatibility and in case their system was old enough that it couldn't recognize the windows boot loader.

Windows ME has the ability to run in DOS real-time mode, but everything there is a crappy DOS-emulator because of the win98 enhanced shell running on a poorly configured NT kernel. MS scrapped the winME approach when they started working on winXP. They also fixed up the dos emulator for XP, which handles 99% of the DOS programs in existence.

[noahssite]

Can anyone supply good links to start leaning Assembly? e.g. Tutorials etc...

[LaVolpe]

Can anyone supply good links to start leaning Assembly? e.g. Tutorials etc...

Maybe take a peek at this forum's Assembly section?
http://www.vbforums.com/announcement.php?f=17&a=4

[Kasracer]

Not entirely.

Crap, you're right... I hate you

[dbasnett]

from 1975 - 1986 i worked on two large mainframe os's. one was totally written in assembler, the other(unix's older brother) was written in PL/1 mostly. just maintaining and diagnosing problems was awe inspiring.

i also had the privilege of working on a new os for a communications front end processor.

a new os is not for the faint of heart.