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Write Your Own Operating System [FAQ]

by Stuart 'Dark Fiber' George

Last Updated : Tuesday 23rd October 2000

Download a .zip'ed version of the os-faq here

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• Introductions, Overview
  • Introduction
  • Getting Started
  • What bits can't I make in C
  • What order should I make things in
• Kernel Questions
  • How do I make a kernel file I can load
  • Help! When I load my kernel my machine resets
  • Is there an easier way to boot my kernel
• Boot Loader and Boot Menu's
  • Tell me about bootloaders and bootmenus
  • Boot Sectors
  • Master Boot Record
  • GRUB
    • What is GRUB
    • Where can I get GRUB
    • GRUB and DJGPP A.OUT
    • GRUB and NASM ELF files
    • GRUB and Watcom ELF files
  • LILO
    • What is LILO
    • Where can I get LILO
  • XOSL
  • System Commander
  • Boot Magic
• COMPILERS
  • DJGPP
    • Can DJGPP output ELF files
  • Watcom C/C++
  • Visual C/C++
• Hardware
  • CPU
    • What is v8086 mode?
    • How do I detect v8086 mode?
    • AMD K6
      • AMD K6 WriteBack Optimisations
  • Memory
    • The A20
      • What is the A20 line?
      • Why cant I access all my memory?
      • How do I enable the A20 line?
    • Memory Sizing
      • How do I determine the amount of RAM?
      • How do I determine the amount of RAM with the BIOS?
      • How do I determine the amount of RAM with direct probing?
  • IRQ's and Exceptions, PIC, NMI, APIC, OPIC
    • How do I know if an IRQ or exception is firing?
    • What is the PIC?
    • Can I remap the PIC?
    • So whats the NMI then?
    • Tell me about APIC
    • Tell me about OPIC
  • Interrupt Service Routines (ISR's)
    • Whats an ISR?
    • Whats the difference between an ISR and a normal routine?
    • So how do I do an ISR with GCC?
  • Video
    • How do I output text to the screen in protected mode?
    • How do I detect if I have a colour or monochrome monitor?
    • How do I move the cursor when I print?
  • Plug and Play
    • Where can I find programming info on PNP?
    • I heard you can do PNP calls with the BIOS in Protected Mode?
  • PCI
    • Where can I find programming info on PCI?
    • I heard you can do PCI calls with the BIOS in Protected Mode?
• C Programming
  • Where did my printf go?
  • Whats this LIBC thing?
  • What C libraries exist for me to use?
• C++ Programming
  • Doing a kernel in C++
  • Aiyah! Whats RTTI? (Run Time Type Info)
  • How do I disable RTTI in GCC?
  • Can I use NEW and DELETE in my kernel?
• Linkers
  • Linker Info!
  • JLoc
  • ALink
  • LD (GNU)
  • TLink / TLink32 (Borland)
  • Link / NLink (Microsoft)
  • VAL
  • WLink (Watcom)
  • A Comparison
• Executable File Types
  • Executable Files
  • EXE (dos "MZ")
  • EXE (win16 "NE")
  • EXE (OS/2 "LE/LX")
  • EXE (Win32 "PE")
  • ELF
  • COFF
  • A.OUT
• Filesystems
  • Tell me about filesystems
  • FAT
  • VFAT
  • FAT32
  • HPFS (High Performance File System)
  • NTFS (New Technology File System)
  • ext2fs (2nd extended file system)
  • BeFS
  • FFS (Amiga)
  • FFS (BSD)
  • NFS
  • AFS
  • RFS
  • XFS
• Resources
  • Books
    • Reference Books
    • The Indispensable PC Hardware Book
    • Operating System Concepts
    • Operating Systems : Design and Implementation
    • Operating Systems : Internals and Design Principals
    • Distributed Operating Systems
    • Inside Windows NT, Second Edition
    • Lion's Commentary on UNIX sixth edition, with source code
    • UNIX Internals: The New Frontiers
  • Some small kernels with source
  • Chip Numbers, Acronyms and Things
• Third Party Tools
  • VMWare PC Emulator
  • Bochs (i386) PC emulator
  • MTools (DOS disk image tools)
  • SimICS (SunSparc Simulator)
• Contributors
  • Who helped with the FAQ
• Todo
  • The TODO list

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Whats New!

• trying to add more material on various C/C++ compilers
• Added VMWare to the tools list
• Removed the link to the free Intel Developer CD's (offer is no longer valid)
• More info on some boot mangaers (xoxsl, system commander, boot magic, etc)
• Fixed those nasty link colours

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