Write Your Own Operating System Tutorial: Introduction

[This is part of a larger tutorial.
First Lesson     Table of Contents]

This is a tutorial to give an idea on how to get started writing an operating system of your very own.It will show one possible way to go about doing things.This tutorial does not intend to explain all of the theoretical aspects of operating systems and does not claim to have the best or fastest techniques or methods.All source code examples were written with readability in mind and not optimization.

I will assume that the reader is running a standard “PC architecture” computer with an Intel x86 (or compatible) processor.Later lessons may require a processor with the IA-32 architecture (i386 to Pentium 4). Some lessons will assume the use of a FAT file system.Some lessons require the use of the MS-DOS/Windows utility DEBUG.I assume any similar utility would work fine.I will not go into great detail about BIOS, assembly language programming, Intel or PC architecture, etc… since detailed references on the subjects can be found elsewhere.Great manuals on assembly programming for Intel processors can be found at Intel’s web site.

I, myself, am in the learning process of playing around with this stuff, so the lessons actually reflect some of my own experiences and discoveries as I learn new things.Thus, the number lessons will continue to increase, so keep checking back here.If you have suggestions on topics for future lessons, let me know.Indeed, if you have any suggestions, questions, or comments please feel free to email them to me.

Disclaimer:Use this tutorial at your own risk.I am not responsible for anything bad that occurs as a result of the use of any information here.

First Lesson     Table of Contents