What Do You Think About Making An OS ?

What do people think of this idea?Making an Operating System that is based off of Linux that has a GUI (Graphical User Interface like Windows), can support any hardware, any software, has the best parts of all the operating systems (windows' ease of use and UNIX or whatever's power). Also, can people post here to tell me how OS's work and how they are made? Just a brief summary would be great! :lol:Thanks in advance to anyone that posts!

Edited November 1, 2005 by microscopic^earthling (see edit history)

I have seen some OS's written with J++ which can be extremely challenging. I have tried to learn J++ but failed miserably.

Anyway if you want to kno more about J++ I suggest you start here
J++ Information

My University offers a 6 month module on "introduction to OS design"You arny goping to get a tutorial on how to do it in here.But basically, you need several main components...1) The kernel.This is the first porgram to be loaded into memory,It does everything.It is made up of all the device drivers you need, it manages memory, and controlls all hardware.Software controlls the computer by sending messages as "Interupts" to the kernel either directly, or through a cLib wrapper for non POSIX kernels.2) the Main Library. "GlibC"Proghrams coded in high level laguages (anything except assembly) will be linked to this library, it maps most ommon functions to kernel interupts.3) All the basic programs( like the GNU operating system, and Xorg graphical server)4) A compiler that converts C code into a file that your kernel can execute, like win32 for windows, or ELF for linux.and loads more stuff.

I have seen some OS's written with J++ which can be extremely challenging. I have tried to learn J++ but failed miserably.

 

Anyway if you want to kno more about J++ I suggest you start here

J++ Information

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Dude J++ aint that hard at all - if you have any basic knowledge of Java - it in fact makes your life far easier by providing you with the same set of interface designing tools that accompany C# or VB.NET.. so your interface design is accomplished in a jiffy - while the backend can be comfortably written in a Java like syntax. While J++ or J# doesn't fully conform to the Java standards and relies more on Microsoft's own JVM - it's a pretty good RAD tool to have in your box

 

Regards,

m^e

Dude J++ aint that hard at all - if you have any basic knowledge of Java - it in fact makes your life far easier by providing you with the same set of interface designing tools that accompany C# or VB.NET.. so your interface design is accomplished in a jiffy - while the backend can be comfortably written in a Java like syntax. While J++ or J# doesn't fully conform to the Java standards and relies more on Microsoft's own JVM - it's a pretty good RAD tool to have in your box

 

Regards,

m^e

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I dont know C# or VB.net or Java, all I know is VB 6 and I just use that or programming API's for High classed 3D Mechanical Designing software such as Autodesk Inventor and Autodesk AutoCAD

Right well, from what I was looking at, First we would need to get the Linux kernel working, then somehow install the X Server, which is some sort of GUI mojo, after that, it needs an interface, a close to Windows one is FWM95 which can be modded to have a Windows XP look.But, im wondering, would it be easier to create something from a pre-existing distrabution, and then recode some of it, or start from scratch and build our, own, we could try Linux from scratch, its a website with a full sort of over view, so are you up to the challenge infamous flame? I'd be happy to work with ya on it, we could get Connec as I know he wanted to do something similar a while ago.It could be quite fun.....

ohh, i misunderstood, i thought you wanted to write your own operating system.You mean you want to create a customised linux distro.BLFS (beyond Linux From Scratch) is a good book, but it assume you have already compiled a linux from scratch system.

I think starting out your own OS is a useless exercise , untill you are truly convinced that all the Open SOurce OS (GNU/Linux, FreeBSD etc) are doing things which are seriously wrong.IMO linux is just doing great and has support for alot of hardware and platforsm.Looking like Windows XP should not be the goal..Ease of use and simplicity should be . You can always configure KDE to look like Windows..btw KDE is not integral part of OS so if all that you wanted was to work on Human Computer Interfaces you probbaly want to look at KDE,Gnome and not the whole OS.It took linux a decade and tireless efoort of alot of vetran programmers....Alos MS has spent so much moeny on making their OS more usable (also more [un]secure).So the conclusion would be that if you really want to contribute to OS (and OS doesnt mean things like KDE ..mostly kernel and drivers)world you would probably need to stick with good old C (no not C++ , pure C)and sorry J++ sucks ..use Java instead

Well, it wouldnt be about competing, it would be about the challenge, aspiring to create something, not for any reallly good reason other than to do something.

Well... I already did my own Linux... but, never finished it... I was at installing X11...

I would be happy to help you build an operating system. I'm not good with any programming except html. But I'm happy to learn.The OS could be put together of the best parts of other operating systems. You could survey others to see what they'd like to see. It would be buildt by the people for the people.I'm interested in seeing Microsoft Windows Vista. From what I hear, its pretty good and high-end.In building the OS, we could build and include a suite of software for the OS with many things such as calendars, IM software, word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, database, drawing, desktop publising, internet and email clients, simple games, antivirus, antispyware, antispam, firewall, web design, and more. This would spark interest in the OS.So there is my thoughts. Feel free to contact me through darogersii@gmail.com.

Building an OS is no easy task. Linus Torvalds took from 1991 to 1992, with barely anything. It was still considered "Minix on steroids". It took him until 1994 to have it working like it should.Building an OS will take a long long time, remember, Linux is never finished.xboxrulz

stream-1, it would take a lot of practice coding simple applications before you could even begin to consider coding an operating system. I'm talking years, here.xboxrulz, you're not claiming that Linus ripped off Minix, are you? The dude who invented Minix has publicly cleared him of this charge. I think it's more of an "inspired by" situation.

I'm not saying that Linus ripped off Minix, I'm trying to say that it was like or considered "Minix on steroids" because it wasn't that different from Minix until 1993-4. IMO, I don't call it an operating system if it still looks close to what the one it inspired by. It has to be different so it can be called an operating system, or else it's called a distribution of the original.xboxrulz

I'm not saying that Linus ripped off Minix, I'm trying to say that it was like or considered "Minix on steroids" because it wasn't that different from Minix until 1993-4. IMO, I don't call it an operating system if it still looks close to what the one it inspired by. It has to be different so it can be called an operating system, or else it's called a distribution of the original.

So you are saying its not a true OS untill it ignores all POSIX standards, and forces any potential users to re-learn everything ???

There's nothing wrong with mimicing good design.

Why do people keep talking about linux ?
is this thread about creating a new OS, or a new Kernel ?