Developing a new OS

[phpSensei]

Some people might say "PHPsensei, have you gone nuts?", and I will reply "Yes, maybe i have.".

 

However the task of developing my own little operating system has been a dream of mine for a very long time. It has nothing to do with distrbuting the software, making money or fame, but rather a personal achievement that I want to accomplish. I know technology has advanced so great ahead of me and to compete against Microsoft, Apple, Linux would be very stupid without billion of dollars and a large group of work force. So my main focus is to get down the basics and build up from there...

 

Am i over ahead of myself or is this possible to accomplish? Remember this is not for competiting nor am I trying to develop the next greatest OS...If i can even simply display a text on the screen.

 

I know there are some distros out there to help you build from scratch, but I rather do this completely on my own. I was also thinking of using C

[Ninjakreborn]

Nothing is over your head.  Everything has to start somewhere. I think building something to compete with big systems right now is stupid....

However, you don't have to do it to compete with them for now. Start small....

 

So perhaps start it yourself. Just build.  Nights, weekends, whenever you have some spare time.  I am pretty sure by the time you put 200-300 hours into development,

you will have a very good starting point. 

 

Also, do a lot of learning.

 

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/system/MakingOS.aspx

 

The first step would be to spend some time getting an idea of what you want to get out of the OS.  I would not just build to build. But sit down and get an idea of how you want it to work, what you want it to

do, what features you want it to have, decide how you will test it, decide your release protocol.  Are you going to just throw it on Sourceforge and make it open source project and work with other people or

just start off with yourself. Or are you going to work on it on your own web server (for releasing download builds) on your own private site. Or will you build it internally and not release it to the public until

a certain point.

 

You need to ask, and answer some of these questions and first create a development plan.

 

If your very passionate about the idea then after doing all of the preliminary stuff and having a plan, you can start development.  Once you get a rough build, it's not unrealistic to try to get funding to get together a development team to work with you if you wish. 

 

Those are just some thoughts. But it's definitely not a bad idea, and any idea has to start somewhere.  Some of the best OS systems out there now eventually had to start with one persons ideas. Not all ideas

have to start with 10,000,000 dollars.  All it needs to start with is an idea, a plan, and the first few lines of code to get the idea to work.

[phpSensei]

Nothing is over your head.  Everything has to start somewhere. I think building something to compete with big systems right now is stupid....

However, you don't have to do it to compete with them for now. Start small....

 

So perhaps start it yourself. Just build.  Nights, weekends, whenever you have some spare time.  I am pretty sure by the time you put 200-300 hours into development,

you will have a very good starting point. 

 

Also, do a lot of learning.

 

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/system/MakingOS.aspx

 

The first step would be to spend some time getting an idea of what you want to get out of the OS.  I would not just build to build. But sit down and get an idea of how you want it to work, what you want it to

do, what features you want it to have, decide how you will test it, decide your release protocol.  Are you going to just throw it on Sourceforge and make it open source project and work with other people or

just start off with yourself. Or are you going to work on it on your own web server (for releasing download builds) on your own private site. Or will you build it internally and not release it to the public until

a certain point.

 

You need to ask, and answer some of these questions and first create a development plan.

 

If your very passionate about the idea then after doing all of the preliminary stuff and having a plan, you can start development.  Once you get a rough build, it's not unrealistic to try to get funding to get together a development team to work with you if you wish. 

 

Those are just some thoughts. But it's definitely not a bad idea, and any idea has to start somewhere.  Some of the best OS systems out there now eventually had to start with one persons ideas. Not all ideas

have to start with 10,000,000 dollars.  All it needs to start with is an idea, a plan, and the first few lines of code to get the idea to work.

 

Thank you,

 

You gave me something to think about and I also believe in planning before starting to build. I appreciate the links also and I will take as many advice & tips as possible.

 

You post is very inspiring actually and as they say  “Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion.”

[thehippy]

Nowadays with University courses online you have some great resources to point you in the right direction and give you solid foundation.

 

For example...

MIT OpenCourseWare - OS Engineering

 

A couple books that come up for these courses.

OS Concepts

OS Design and Implementation

 

In my electrical engineering classes we would program microcontrollers and small microprocessor boards, I found it a great introduction to core hardware/software interaction.  There are microcontroller and microprocessor kits you can buy and you can make small useful electronics, might be an interesting stepping stone for you.  A good first project would be to make a simple calculator then move on to other things like a keyboard logger or a network blackbox (hardware network sniffer).  Its an interesting approach, fun and could help you with programming the basics of a OS.