Submitted by Written entirely in x86 assembly language, MikeOS is designed as a learning tool for assembler and basic OS design. New features in 1.1 include a Mac OS X build script and various improvements to the Handbook, which explains how it works and how to make your own first OS.
MikeOS 1.1 Released
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
Sweet! I remember seeing this a while back, but forgot about it. I’ll have to try it out. Both the handbook and OS itself look well put together.
Unfortunately, being written in assembly puts it a touch beyond my skills… the only assembly I’ve ever touched was writing a tiny bootloader, and then I ran fast and far away.
But the handbook is absolutely Good Stuff.
Edit: Learning ‘touls’? And I can’t edit the title? Guess I could use a little more learning myself…
Edited 2007-12-13 02:22 UTC
…something named after me, and a perfect fit as well, a “simple tool.”
LOL
OK, why is it that when I click on the screenshots on that site, Firefox opens them in IE, rather than viewing them itself?
Wow, that is strange! Thanks for pointing it out. I’ve changed the screenshots to PNGs, and BerliOS seems to send them back normally.
Keep up the great work! This is an excellent project and a great way to wade into the waters of the inner workings of the PC and base OS services.
My only criticism is the fact that you’re focusing on 16-bit. I understand your reasoning — writing a keyboard driver and working with VM hardware is tedious at best — protected-mode development is important. Perhaps a future MikeOS-32 is project in order to give interested parties a next-step.
With all the bad OS’es and OS paradigms in our lives, I believe this art must be kept alive. Who knows, you may be seeding the builder of a great future OS with this product.
Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I’ve chewed over the idea of protected mode many times in my head, but losing the BIOS would add so much clutter to the code.
Right now, I see MikeOS as a first stepping stone to OS development: you get a handle on what’s required, and what goes on at the bare-metal level, preparing you for a proper 32-bit protected mode OS.
For those who are really starting in this area, staying in 16-bit is a good choice IMO. I think 32-bit would be nice, but only as a different project.
As always, keep up the good work!
This is a highly interesting project — an impressive piece of work. I particularly like the quality of the accompanying documentation on the site. My hearty thanks, Mike — you’ve obviously put a lot of hard work into this. On behalf of geek-kind — cheers, mate!!!
There are 32-bit and 64-bit asm OSes:
KolibriOS http://www.kolibrios.org/?&lang=en
M64 http://menuetos.net