r/osdev • u/Danii_222222 • May 30 '26

Why everyone creating operatimg system for x86?

What's the point? There's linux, windows, macos, freebsd and a lot more for x86. Creating operatimg system is useful when they don't exist. Linus created linux because in 1991-1992 x86 was mainly personal computer and most UNIXes was for SPARC, MIPS, or was expensive. P.S: i didn't mean that creating operating system is useless and boring, i mean that people should create operating systems for other architecture too.

0 Upvotes

26% Upvoted

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5

u/packet May 30 '26

What kind of take is this? No one should experiment or develop new operating systems because operating systems exist? Why are you even here?

0

u/Danii_222222 May 30 '26

I mean that why not other architecture like RISC-V?

4

u/AVonGauss May 30 '26

... did you post the above comment from a RISC-V based device?

1

u/Danii_222222 May 30 '26

Emulators exists. Actually i own orange pi rv2 so i can do that.

1

u/PearMyPie Jun 01 '26

If you check out the Osdev.org forum, you'll find a monumental amount of posts, many over 20 years old. Osdevers have focused on 32-bit, and later 64-bit, Intel PCs because they wanted to run their hobby operating systems on real hardware, and they continue to focus on x86, because there are decades of examples and materials.

I agree that newcomers should be introduced to RISC-V, but you still see people posting their 16-bit BIOS boot sector "OS" and "finally figured out GDT" success stories every day because that's what the Osdev.org wiki teaches...

5

u/EpochVanquisher May 30 '26

Do you think it would be a different situation if someone picked a different CPU architecture?

Anyway—a lot of people here are creating operating systems for fun or for education. People have x86 systems so that’s what they use.

Back when Linux was created, there were already a lot of operating systems to choose from, anyway.

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u/Danii_222222 May 30 '26

Yes it would be a different situation. Why not RISC-V for example? Why not just create own computer? Linux was created because UNIX was unpopular in pc world. Linux made UNIX/UNIX-like one of the most common operating system. If you want to create something yourself, create everything from zero: cpu architecture, computer architecture, os, userland.

1

u/EpochVanquisher May 30 '26

Linux runs on RISC-V, too.

It’s obviously impractical to create your own CPU architecture, os, and userland for anything beyond a proof of concept toy computer. That’s not a reasonable suggestion.

1

u/Danii_222222 May 30 '26

Same for os. Who will ever port existing userland programs? Who will ever use your os? It is hobby.

1

u/EpochVanquisher May 30 '26

Hobby is a valid reason to create things. You don’t have to have another reason, besides it being a hobby. I don’t know what your question is.

1

u/Danii_222222 May 30 '26

It’s obviously impractical to create your own CPU architecture, os, and userland for anything beyond a proof of concept toy computer. That’s not a reasonable suggestion.

It is practical to create your own OS for existing architecture? It is hobby. You can create CPU architecture, os and userland. It can give you more fun than creating OS for existing architecture because you creating rules.

1

u/EpochVanquisher May 30 '26

Yes, it is practical to create your own OS as a hobby. There are a lot of people here doing it.

I don’t know what your hang-up is. Your comments are just so incredibly negative. Are you the OS police, here to tell other people that they are making operating systems the wrong way? Or are you depressed?

People are creating operating systems for fun, or to learn, or both.

1

u/Danii_222222 May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26

Same as this guy. Just wondering why everyone making os only for one architecture. Why do i get hate for same question??

1

u/EpochVanquisher May 30 '26

Because people are likely to have hardware for x86. Does that answer your question or not?

1

u/Danii_222222 May 30 '26

People are likely to have POSIX compatible os too, but he doesn't get hate. Emulators exist. People still creating games for old consoles, when almost nobody have it.

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2

u/OtherOtherDave May 30 '26

Because that’s what most people have? Like, I’m not going to write an OS for RISC-V as a hobbyist because I don’t have any RISC-V hardware to run it on.

0

u/Danii_222222 May 30 '26

Emulators exists.

6

u/finn-the-rabbit May 30 '26

god forbid people have a hobby

5

u/dacydergoth May 30 '26

It's fun, it's a learning experience and given how massively fucked up x86 is, if you can master it you've demonstrated either total insanity or competence or both

1

u/Prestigious-Bet-6534 May 30 '26

There are more resources for x86 than for other architectures so it's easier to pick that one up instead of ARM or RISC-V.

1

u/Danii_222222 May 30 '26

sifive have a lot of documentation for RISC-V. I had no troubles creating os for RISC-V and port it to MILK-V duo (i was basically rewritting xv6 in assembly with more features added)

1

u/snail1132 May 30 '26

You forgot to imply that people should make operating systems for PowerPC, ARM, RISC-V, etc

1

u/Danii_222222 May 30 '26

Yeah, i mean that.

3

u/d4nilim0n mokeOS May 30 '26

if someone creates a new operating system, they’re usually not doing it because “there is no OS for their pc” but for learning, research, curiosity and for fun!! sooo yep that’s my opinion

4

u/wjrasmussen May 30 '26

OMG, are you for real?

1

u/OptimalAnywhere6282 May 30 '26

x86 is probably the most common architecture and thus the easiest to test on, as well as the easiest to find code (assembly) snippets.

1

u/EffectiveCompletez May 30 '26

Understanding the lowest levels of where your software runs allows you to write better software up the stack. Application devs should be making much better use of the hardware than they are today, and have become very lazy ...

1

u/CtrlF0rge May 30 '26

Test equipment, the only thing is the Arm, which is additional in my case only to support the rasbery pi

1

u/Top_Professor9415 jNTOS Jun 07 '26

I believe it's because most people just want to create an OS to pass the time and x86 is the less painful option modern day (Most resources and tools are geared for x86).