MIR-OS is a 32-bit multi-tasking GPL Operating System for the i386+ developed completely from scratch by a group of programmers in India. Some of the OS’s features include full software multi-tasking, Memory Management (slab allocator), Modularized kernel (ELF module support), Semaphores, FAT12 filesystem, VESA graphics and many other features. Currently the OS is in version 0.0.4.
Introduction to MIR-OS
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
Admittedly, most of them won’t ever reach useful functionality, but if general purpose OS programming knowledge becomes widespread this can only benefit computing in general (in contrast to a world where certain companies are able to sell their disfunctional MS-DOG systems for real money).
Now I’m only waiting for more projects to take on PowerPC kernels, since I switched to an iBook last christmas…
[BTW: does anyone know of a Linux LiveCD like Knoppix for the Mac??]
Why did they chhose scratch? Why don’t you just modify BSD, Linux, FreeDos or whatever?
Several reasons. Maybe none of those work quite like they want, aren’t familiar with them, or just for the experiance and learning. Who knows.
For a software that probably nobody will use (for now), they have a very nice Web site!!!
It looks very clean and sharp.
Because then people would complain about it being yet another Linux/BSD/DOS.
It is good that there a lot of people willing to put the effort into learning to write an OS, but it would be nice if some of these people would help existing projects rather than starting something similar. The Hurd could do with all the help it could get for example.
well i dont have the indepth of the project but following the mainlines on topic and checking their website, multitask, memmang, elf support and vesa it seems really complete.
on other side just like to mention the important role of software like bochs is having in this kind of projects, since it simplifies the development cicle and shows a really important role on the debuging phase.
The Hurd could do with all the help it could get for example.
Why not take peole off that outdated linux kernel!
Is MIR-OS ready for desktop… What a dumm question and smell heavy trolling.
With no GUI, do you realy think it’s ready for public use?
I say, good work! Starting from scratch is a good way to realy know how an OS work and you can add cool new feature that you can’t find on other OS/Kernel.
Every time a new OS appears, the same responses are regurgitated. I can think of three reasons to roll your own OS.
1. It can be fun.
2. It is surely an educatinal experience.
3. It is the ultimate form of expression in CS.
I can think of three reasons not to participate in an existing project.
1. You don’t like their approach.
2. You don’t like their politics.
3. You don’t want to spend years cleaning up other peoples’
header files.
I can also think of three reasons why there can never be too many OS projects.
1. Old problems get re-examined. Some people call this re-
inventing the wheel. I call it the possibility that a
new generation might come up with a new revolution.
2. Diversity of data. There is almost no more important
cause than this. The free flow of information is the
single most powerful safeguard free peoples have.
3. They keep new blood flowing into an extremely important
area of study.
Into this mix, I would throw in two other observations. When I read posts which disparage new OS projects, I can’t help but, wonder at the seeming decline of appreciation for what we used to call “a cool <bad word =)> hack.” Lastly, many of us take a very dimn view of Microsoft. This dislike has certainly been built upon a strong foundation. It has become a tradition, in fact. But, I for one, am not willing to trade one kind of monopoly for another.
Because if you continually add on to old stuff, then innovation is subverted, and then you end up with something like Windows XP. It looks new, but acts like it is old and bloated with ancient 8/16/32 bit code, and is shot through with holes. If you start fresh you are dealing with something entirely new and the opportunities are greater for molding it to your vision. Linux has the saving grace that it is continually rewritten, and old code is deprecated. Linux is also willing to leave old software behind. Good luck to these guys. In 5 years we may have yet another viable OS choice.
I don’t know of any live CDs for Mac, but my daughter put Yellow Dog on her ibook, and it is totally supported in every way. It also peacefully coexists with OS 9 and OS X.
And there I thought someone had released the operating system that was used to run the MIR space station… oh well…
itbwtcl,
Although I agree with your points, I think you missed an important one :
– often people start from scratch because they don’t understand what has been done before.
I think this is becoming an increasingly important problem in the programming world. Although I welcome innovation and new approaches, I have also met quite a lot of programmers that use the excuse “I always like to start fresh”, simply because they are *not* capable of taking up where someone else left off (which I think is usually harder than starting from scratch).
Now this can be for 2 reasons :
– it is well documented and hard to do. In this case you’d better have a much better reasons than not understanding it to start from scrach
– it is poorly documented. Now note I didn’t say whether it was hard to achieve at first, because since it is poorly documented it is hard to tell. Here the most common mistake is to underestimate the time it took to get to this point and say : “oh well I’ll just start over, which will go much faster”.
Again, let me emphasize that I agree with you that there are very good reasons to start from scratch, but I just thought I’d point out what I believe are the most common excuses I hear for starting from scratch from unexperienced programmers.
Hey, folks, whats this for an old trodden argument, hm?
Those lads enjoy having fun and *doing it*. I am doing it too. And by the way, they have a gifted designer aboard who does good web design.
Reasons: Learning Experience, having a Project to work on (I like this), doing OS hacking, having looots of AHAA-experiences. I don’t expect anyone to join in nor to use my OS (and the few cmd line apps I ‘ve written for it yet). I do it for the sake of it.
To keep it short: stop gnawing ends of old ropes, the taste is sour and awful, for sure.
stay safe and good luck to the developers of MIR os!
bhillou,
I cannot argue your points. I have seen this many times. An inexperienced coder would do well to join an existing project. As long as the team has a talent for mentoring, and is motivated to help you learn. They should not have
to hold your hand, and you should be willing to do some grunt work to prove yourself, but sometimes the new guys never really get a chance to shine.
And as z1xq stated above, old projects tend to stagnate.
Current dev teams don’t always appreciate new blood ( to put
it mildly ). There are a few well known open-source
projects whose teams have become like Xerox back in the
heyday of PARC. “Just keep stamping out copiers. The
boys in the Webster labs innovate well enough. Just ignore
those PARC hippies and they will go away.”
i wish i could preview posts here =( carriage returns are
sneaky
Is this an “oops” on a fat32 spelling, or is there really some new variety of fat disk formatting?
Hear hear, Thomas!
Whatch’a worki’n on? o_O
Can we get a peek?
You have got to be kidding….
iirc it’s the fat used on floppy disks.
The Hurd could do with all the help it could get for example.
Why not take peole off that outdated linux kernel!
That outdated Linux kernel is *gasp* [i]younger[i] than the HURD. The outdated Liux kernel now runs on 256 processors. It is enterprise ready. The HURD isn’t anything ready. Now, back to MIR-OS
Hey, they use “/” instead of “” for the path separator.
Already, a significant improvment over Windows in version 0.0.4!
I know about 2 PowerPC LiveCDs.
1. Knoppix MiB (homepage: http://www.bouissou.net/knoppix-mib/doc-html/knoppix-mib.html | project page: http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/k-mib/ )
2. Gentoo PPC (homepage: http://www.gentoo.org/ )
Have fun!
If it is different from a unix spec. then it might be able to survive or help linux. But anyway, the majority of the operating systems that exist appear to be dead anyway.
@itbwtcl: Go to my website (www.distantvoices.org) and check out for the link BlueIllusion. There you are. Mind you, it is not the *very latest* version. And there is No EyeCandy on my web.
@Who Cares: Maybe you give ’em some proposals instead of bickering here, hm? Further: who cares really for ‘antialiasing’? In former times, on the c64 f. ex. there existed no such thing, and we were happy with it, I remind you. (if you ‘ve ever owned a c64).
stay safe
It’s always good to see another OS project beginning, and I can always count on OSNews to keep me up-to-date. There’s nothing wrong with joining an old project. There’s also nothing wrong with starting one from scratch. Maybe the “Operating System Nazis” should close down this project and force these guys to create another Linux distro!
The website looked OK to me. Sure, at this point some of the links are only placeholder for future info. Yes, they need to stretch the banner logo, top and bottom, to the right edge of the screen.
-Bob
Hi folks,
I thought I’d throw in my two cents worth, and why not… and indeed, that is the spirit of creating your own OS.
It is interesting to hear all the various angles and arguments about why it is or isnt a good idea, where the effort would or wouldn’t be better spent, how likely it is to be useful, etc.
I too am planning my own OS project and for a great many reasons that I believe justify it – and I am free to do so.
I don’t believe in `getting behind the majority` or `sucking up to the most popular` or to go along with what most other people are going along with. Look at the success of John Kerry in the democratic candidate race – I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say they vote for him because he seems to be the most popular. That is so much a response to how things have been up till now and simply reiterates the past. It doesn’t contribute anything to the future, is uncreative and unoriginal. It is an effort to follow, not to lead.
I feel that people who want to and are making their own OS are doing so because they have a vision, they enjoy the challenge, it is the right thing for them to do at the particular stage they are at in their growth, it is a popular thing to be getting into – probably fuelled by all the disgust with existing systems, we are constantly evolving as spiritual beings and some of us are sure to be talented with a revolutionary vision that can change no only the way we compute for ourselves but the way that other people do also. Energy spent is not wasted.
I am approaching an OS project myself simply because I feel and experience that the kind of vision I have for how I would like to use a computer is far removed from being currently possible with existing philosophies. I’m doing it largely on ethical and spiritual grounds and even if only a small handful of people end up using it, who cares. Even if I only use it myself, I’ll be a happier chappy.
I say full steam ahead to any and all would-be OS designers, creators of the future of our world!
Paul
well, why the hell should I waste my time with a but so intelligent guy like you either? Because you use insulting phrases? Because I am not likely to be struck dumb (you need to get up earlier for that) by *you*.
Now listen. listen carefully: grow up. Then discuss.
By the way: What you consider to be wrong is beyond interest. What you consider a way to do a thing the RIGHT way is of interest.
To keep it short: *stop bickering* and present ’em solutions. Damn it.
a) I DID suggest the “right” way to do the site (CSS+HTML) if you were paying attention. As far as the graphic detail…what do you want me to suggest other than…anti-alias the edges of the graphic. What can be mor eclear than that?
b) I still stand by my statement that invoking the Commodore 64 (oh graphics were really bad back then) as a defense for poor quiality graphics work in 2004 is just plain stupid.
Thank you for the link, Thomas.
I can only speak for myself.
I don’t feel complete until I do something from scratch that I’ve relied upon others to do for me.
Obviously, that doesn’t apply to everything I do, only the things I’m really interested in.
I hear music, therefore I want to make music. I’d build my own musical intrument, except I would not do well, and don’t have the time.
If you’re into bare-metal computer work, building an OS, at least once, has to be one of the most interesting trials-by-fire.
There have been people who have built operating systems for specific tasks, just because none of the existing ones would do what they wanted.
If I were into metalwork or woodwork or such, I’d try to make my own wheels, just to get the experience.
ad b:you insist on saying it is stupid. That’s your opinion and I won’t convince anybody here. Do you know c64 graphics so good?
as for your point a: It sounds like plain bickering to me.
And there is nothing to defend. I’ve visited that site, and in my opinion it looks good. You may need exciting eye candy that distracts from what counts really. I do not.
Stay safe
Honestly, this is all fine and dandy for a hobby, but I see no reason to even make mention of it. There are soooo many gnu operating systems, do we really need yet ANOTHER unix like system? jeez
“Honestly, this is all fine and dandy for a hobby, but I see no reason to even make mention of it. There are soooo many gnu operating systems, do we really need yet ANOTHER unix like system? jeez”
Uh ?!?! Please someone correct me if I’m wrong, but am I on the OS NEWS website ?
I mean, I don’t see why this should be a news on CNN, but this kind of news is THE reason why I’m coming here.
I agree. I was excited to see a news posting celebrating the birth and continuation of a new project. Who are we to beat people down for their creativity. Just because you think it’s all been done before that doesn’t mean it can’t be done again. What’s the difference between someone taking unix or linux code and having to go through a learning process to figure out how it works, and someone who does much the same thing figuring out how to make a similar os work. There is still creativity and learning involved. The end result is not what it is all about. People who always focus on end results seek to bring an end to things, which is actually kind of funny given that those same people want to see the continuation of things at the same time.
Wierd.
It is obvious that you are correct.
so how would you design an x86-64 OS if you could start from scrach and make it the fastest most modern os for the desktop, multimedia, games possible? no legacy, no backwards compatibility.
would you use a monolithic kernel, microkernel, or exokernel? would it be pervasively multithreaded like BeOS?
would it be written in what computer language? objective C, C++, assembly?
Interesting question. By fastest I presume you mean most efficient, as opposed to the perception of speed and delay?
I would take some tips from exokernels or nokernels and it would definitely enable various parts to run alongside each other. The issue I find is that generally you have to more or less use an old os and an old programming language at least in the beginning stages to start making a new os. Later on I would seek to make the os self sufficient – supporting some kind of language or creation method that could in turn generate the very system on which it runs. This of course leads to self reflection and so on.
The tunes project has some interesting concepts but I think it is largely based on computer science.
My ideal OS will be based on ….. oop, can’t say 😉
Paul
making a new os is one thing, but making another OS that has bash and all the gnu tools is dull
Dull for you, not for most of the people visiting this website.
I think news about Linux are utterly boring. But I don’t complains when a news come up because I know other peoples appreciate. This is what “not being egocentric” is all about.
so how would you design an x86-64 OS if you could start from scrach and make it the fastest most modern os for the desktop, multimedia, games possible? no legacy, no backwards compatibility.
It’s what I have been wondering about that too.. I am wondering if someone create a 64bit OS only for amd64, PowerPC 970 and other 64bit CPU will go faster and easier?
Paul: I would take some tips from exokernels or nokernels and it would definitely enable various parts to run alongside each other.
Do you mean by nanokernel?
I seen some guy talkin up Hurd. Why it’s older than linux. The Hurd is still mostly unfinished. Probably because all the talented developers are attracked to Linux because there is a true genius heading up the whole mess…Linus. As far as Bash and GnuTools, leave them for the unix variants let’s see something original.
want to see a totally different an innovative OS check out Plan 9 at http://www.cs.bell-labs.com/plan9dist/