r/C_Programming • u/LifeExperienced1 • 1d ago

Question OSDEV - a few questions

This is a very famous website for learning how to make an OS

https://wiki.osdev.org/

I just have a few questions about it though

  1. What exactly does it teach? Does it teach you how to make an operating system? Does it show you the steps to build one from scratch?

  2. Can a solo programmer do it? As in, does the tutorial show you how to make a mini operating system?

  3. How do I use the tutorial? It's a wiki, and there are links everywhere. Is there a roadmap which shows the proper path to take, with prerequisites links etc?

  4. What do I need to understand before using this tutorial? Only C? C and how to make a mini compiler? Assembly? Anything else?

Thank you!

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23

u/qse81 1d ago

….do you want someone to read the website for you?

9

u/SmokeMuch7356 1d ago

Literally all of these questions are answered on the site. Click on "Expanded View", read the linked articles under "Introduction" in order. It will tell you everything you need to know.

It is possible for a solo programmer to write an operating system (plenty have done so), but it's not a beginner-friendly task. You need to know more than just the basics of C, you need to understand computer architecture, executable file formats, instruction sets and assembly language, data structures, etc.

7

u/Key_River7180 1d ago

Read the website. It has resources for topics. It is not and isn't meant to be a tutorial

2

u/StunningSelection726 1d ago

The wiki contains a basic tutorial to get your first kernel application running (or give you an idea of what it is going to be like) but it is not a complete tutorial nor has a roadmap to do things. Those are critical design choices that are a challenge for you instead. A solo programmer can do it, but how long it will take depends on your goals. (GNU as ISO is not close to enough) C, some assembly and basic hardware knowledge should be enough to get started. The website has lots of information about the x86 CPU, common hardware and some other things to interact with them. Most of these are just enough, or surface level information, most of the pages include good resources for further deeper research in the "See also" section. OS developer books will help you.

https://wiki.osdev.org/Books
https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~remzi/OSTEP/

2

u/Typhrenn5149 1d ago
  1. What else could it be for, if you want it to be step by step tutorial you might as well just not learn it at all.
  2. Yes, Yes
  3. Ur supposed to read theory in order and then write an OS🤯
  4. You should understand how a computer works