GeekOS is a tiny operating system kernel for x86 PCs. Its goal is to be simple enough for beginners to understand and modify, but realistic enough to be interesting and fun. Version 0.3.0 has been released. In addition to many critical bug fixes, there’s now seamless support for compiling under Cygwin.
GeekOS 0.3.0 Released
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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This is an awesome idea. I could see a lot of universities using this in their operating systems class.
I suppose it should RTFM, but does it say anything about its design philosophies? Does it emulate a Unix/Windows/Mach kernel, or is it its own thing? Or is it too small to really compare to one of those projects?
I do not know really but I’m about to give it a shot. It peeked my curiosity. I’m more of a I gotta do it my-self visually then reading a bunch of text, spoils the whole process.
Will see how it turns out.
There was a book called “Developing your own 32-bit OS” or something like that. I have it on my shelf at home, but alas–I’m not home. 🙂 That was one sweet book. It’s very dated now, but at the time it took you through everything you needed to know to start building a pretty modern 32-bit OS from the ground up. It even included source code and the author had written his own compiler (and/or assembler), if I remember right. Great reading, tons of source, etc. The world needs another thing like that. As far as I know, it is long out of print and nothing replaced it.
Well, Amazon still has some copies (ISBN: 0672306557), apparently. I swear last time I looked for it, it had vanished… Still, copyright 1995. Much has changed. (Well, and much has stayed the same, too.. :-))
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0672306557?v=glance
You mean that bigfat ?
I think the book is by Richard Burgess and it’s available with a new title, ‘MMURTL V1.0’, from this place:
http://www.ipdatacorp.com/BooksNonFiction.html
Its funny to see a headline like this week you are working on writing a geekos filesystem for your OS class
. I have no idea the “version” of the geekos code that we are using as a base, but there sure was not too much already implemented with what we started. It sure beats trying to work on an OS from scratch though.
Is it me, or what is this trend that has been going on in that last few years of calling many hobbyists and people in the computer industy – Geek? I remember in the early 80’s when I was first starting programming the word “Nerd” would get thrown around, but I think geek was used later, at least in regards to people who were using computers to do more than play video games. The problem is that the people who would say it were NOT involved in computers and it was derogatory towards the ones who were. I personally do not find it endearing in any way. Sorry if this all sounds politically correct or something! Just my opinion. I believe the definition below with regards to “an eccentric devotion” , is a rather new one. I don’t think being called an eccentric is nice either.
geek |g?k| noun informal 1 an unfashionable or socially inept person. • [with adj. ] a person with an eccentric devotion to a particular interest : a computer geek. 2 a carnival performer who does wild or disgusting acts. DERIVATIVES geeky adjective ORIGIN late 19th cent.: from the related English dialect geck ‘fool,’ of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gek ‘mad, silly.’
you know we sure are all sily. But it’s a passion and our drive to learn. We shall and always be scholars in the IT field.
I find it more of a niche market up where I live not to many graduated from Universities but more self tought guru’s that have been following the trend since the 70’s.
Most of them have there electronics trade but it’s how the hardware and software work on top of another that makes it our passion.
It’s reversed now. Nerd is just socially inept, while geeks have an unusual interest which they’re devoted to but have normal relations, at least with people who share this interest. Whilst eccentric isn’t a compliment, it’s not really an insult either.
or does the fact that GeekOS appears to have a unix-like console prompt, yet runs .exe programs like DOS/Windows, creep anyone else out too? 🙂
Good job folks, I will have to download GeekOS and give it a spin!
Nerds spend all weekend playing computer games, but Geeks spend their weekends writing them. That’s the essential difference for me.
Minix is similar to what GeekOS is trying to accomplish. It is quite powerful adn in fact you can run it without an emulator like bochs. I believe if I remember my lore right it was the predecessor to Linux. We used Minix in our OS class. Quite fun. Wish we had used the qemu emulator instead of bochs. qemu is loads faster!