Operating system development

Operating system development is one of the more involved and technical options for a computer hobbyist. A hobby operating system is classified as one with little or no support from other developers. ^[1] Development begins with an existing operating system^{[citation needed]}. The development platform may be a bare hardware machine, which is the nature of an operating system, but it can be developed and tested on a virtual machine. Because the hobbyist must claim more ownership for adapting a complex system to the ever changing needs of the technical terrain, zeal and enthusiasm is common amongst the many different groups attracted to operating system development.

Development

Elements of traditional PC based operating systems include:

• Kernel:
  • Bootstrapping
  • Memory management
  • Process management and scheduling
  • Device driver management

Traditionally, kernel developers have commonly used the C programming language and Assembly. C remains popular for OS developers, as it provides low-level pointer manipulation and requires no run-time support (as opposed to some elements of C++, such as the new and delete operators).

References

1. ^ "My OS is less hobby than yours". Osnews. December 21, 2009. http://www.osnews.com/story/22638/My_OS_Is_Less_Hobby_than_Yours. Retrieved December 21, 2009. 

See also

• List of operating systems
• Computer architecture

External references

• OSDev.org - A hobby OSDev community
• aodfaq - Extensive and editable OS development FAQ
• Bona Fide OS Development - Store of OS development tutorials and other documents
• Operating System Resource Center - Information and resources on various OSDev topics (both software and hardware)
• #OsDev on Freenode - An IRC channel for OSDev enthusiasts
• [1] - Step by step tutorial.
• Germsoft.com - A small collection of tutorials on os development.