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GeneralRe: Dual PIII w/vp6 motherboard Pin
Jason Hihn20-Nov-01 6:58
Jason Hihn20-Nov-01 6:58 
GeneralCompilation error in WinCE Pin
22-Oct-01 20:51
suss22-Oct-01 20:51 
GeneralRe: Compilation error in WinCE Pin
Anders Molin25-Oct-01 12:59
professionalAnders Molin25-Oct-01 12:59 
GeneralRe: Compilation error in WinCE Pin
Brad Manske29-Oct-01 2:50
Brad Manske29-Oct-01 2:50 
GeneralNew OS Pin
s_k19-Oct-01 9:06
s_k19-Oct-01 9:06 
GeneralRe: New OS Pin
Nemanja Trifunovic19-Oct-01 9:15
Nemanja Trifunovic19-Oct-01 9:15 
GeneralRe: New OS Pin
Daniel Turini23-Oct-01 1:38
Daniel Turini23-Oct-01 1:38 
GeneralRe: New OS Pin
Rassman30-Oct-01 22:32
Rassman30-Oct-01 22:32 
Nothing wrong with wanting to write an OS. Excellent programming practice.

Remember though that the OS is an interface between bios and the applications. So, the starting point would be the ability to control hardware directly by calling BIOS. In DOS days an MSDOS Bible would give you a list of the calls etc. You could always get yourself an old 2nd hand PC and have a go on that. The reason for wanting the old machine is because a lot of the chips were individual and therefore much easier to work on. These days the hardware is very much integrated, though the addresses of standard hardware is much the same, examining the results from your code is much more difficult.

If you can get hold of a copy of MS C6 or MASM (I think it was version 4 or 5 I used for this kind of thing) you could then write your software on your main PC and download it onto your test machine.

When I developed for PC (usually direct hardware stuff for real time processing. I was mainly electronic design then) in the early 80s I had a folder that had the datasheets of every component, with lots of libraries of code. Unfortunately my briefcase was stolen and I never got the chance to rebuild the folder otherwise I would have let you have copies of key sheets. But these components are still available and well documented. A good place to start, for information, would be with IBM. They used to put out a hardware manual with their PCs which was practically a full circuit.

If you can't get an old PC to use there is another way. Obviously you don'e want to experiment at OS level with the PC you work on now. But you could write an OS within an OS. I used to get my apprentices to write an OS within the DOS environment. That is, It would make use of DOS calls for hardware access but would be the user interface/view in all other respects. The same can still be done within the Windows OS. Although it isn't the full project that you are after, it is a good way to get a 'feel' for it.

Normally I wouldn't want direct emails from lists of this kind, but if you are serious about this project then I am willing to help (on an information/advisory level) so feel free to write to me. Why am I being helpfull? Because you are not satisfied with working on a safe cushion of Windows OS, you want to get inside and know how it all really works. If you can keep this level of interest then your going into the bigtime developement, rather than 'production' stuff most programmers end up doing.


We do it for the joy of seeing the users struggle.
GeneralRe: New OS Pin
(Steven Hicks)n+18-Nov-01 5:04
(Steven Hicks)n+18-Nov-01 5:04 
GeneralRe: New OS Pin
Migs18-Nov-01 17:41
Migs18-Nov-01 17:41 
GeneralRe: New OS Pin
Peter Liddle25-Nov-01 2:33
Peter Liddle25-Nov-01 2:33 
GeneralRe: New OS Pin
Migs25-Nov-01 6:12
Migs25-Nov-01 6:12 
GeneralRe: New OS Pin
Nish Nishant25-Nov-01 6:26
sitebuilderNish Nishant25-Nov-01 6:26 
GeneralRe: New OS Pin
Lucky the code machine15-May-02 23:37
Lucky the code machine15-May-02 23:37 
GeneralProgramming Applications for Microsoft Windows,Fouth Edition Pin
flying18-Oct-01 6:09
flying18-Oct-01 6:09 
GeneralRe: Programming Applications for Microsoft Windows,Fouth Edition Pin
peterchen18-Oct-01 6:19
peterchen18-Oct-01 6:19 
GeneralBerkeley sockets Pin
Jon Sagara17-Oct-01 20:23
Jon Sagara17-Oct-01 20:23 
GeneralRe: Berkeley sockets Pin
Jon Sagara17-Oct-01 21:11
Jon Sagara17-Oct-01 21:11 
GeneralRe: Berkeley sockets Pin
markkuk17-Oct-01 21:38
markkuk17-Oct-01 21:38 
GeneralRe: Berkeley sockets Pin
Jon Sagara18-Oct-01 4:44
Jon Sagara18-Oct-01 4:44 
GeneralRe: Berkeley sockets Pin
markkuk18-Oct-01 20:08
markkuk18-Oct-01 20:08 
GeneralRe: Berkeley sockets Pin
Jon Sagara18-Oct-01 20:16
Jon Sagara18-Oct-01 20:16 
GeneralRe: Berkeley sockets Pin
Jon Sagara18-Oct-01 19:06
Jon Sagara18-Oct-01 19:06 
Questioncrazy idea.............. ? Pin
Huu Quynh9-Oct-01 13:41
Huu Quynh9-Oct-01 13:41 
AnswerRe: crazy idea.............. ? Pin
Rassman30-Oct-01 23:19
Rassman30-Oct-01 23:19 

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