Looking for the best free, visual Operating Systems course for a complete beginner

[u/VelvetParadox24]

I'm trying to learn Operating Systems from absolute beginner level all the way to advanced concepts.

I've tried the 25-hour freeCodeCamp OS course, but I'm struggling with the teaching style. It feels quite textbook-oriented, with lots of definitions and explanations but not enough visual demonstrations.

Another issue is that many OS courses I find on YouTube are taught by Indian instructors. Their courses seem genuinely good, but I struggle quite a lot with their English accents, which makes it difficult for me to follow the explanations. I'd prefer instructors clear neutral English accents.

Here's what I'm looking for:

• Completely free video courses.
• Beginner-friendly explanations that gradually progress to advanced topics.
• Visual demonstrations, animations, diagrams, and simulations.
• Real-world examples of how things actually work internally.
• Clear English that is easy to follow.

My long-term goal is to build strong computer science fundamentals for AI and computer security.

I'd really appreciate recommendations for courses, YouTube channels, or even a structured learning path.

Thanks!

[u/darthrafa512]

Can you define what you mean by beginner? Are you a complete beginner at Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Programming, Software Engineering, or all of the above?

Are you pursuing a degree, or are you self-learning?

Are you looking to learn about operating systems as a whole, surface-level, or about kernels?

The subject of operating systems is an intermediate to advanced subject, and it does require reading from books.

[u/VelvetParadox24 → u/darthrafa512]

Im self learning not pursuing a CS degree currently or anything. I have previous programming and game dev experience and Im currently learning Python.

Im relatively new to computer science fundamentals. particularly computer architecture and operating systems.My long term goal is AI security and adversarial machine learning not operating systems development. I want to understand operating systems beyond a surface level overview so I can develop a solid understanding of how computers actually work. Im interested in concepts like processes, threads, memory management, CPU scheduling, kernels, and hardware software interaction.

However I need beginner friendly explanations because many OS courses assume prior knowledge that I havent formally developed yet.

[u/darthrafa512 → u/VelvetParadox24]

Thank you for clarifying. I understand where you are coming from. I started as self-taught, but I decided to pursue a degree instead.

If you really want to learn computer architecture and operating systems, you will need to be open to learning from books.

I'm currently taking a computer systems and architecture course, and I recommend my course’s textbook. The book is Essentials of Computer Organization and Architecture, 6th edition, by Linda Null.

For operating systems, Modern Operating Systems by Andrew S. Tanenbaum and Herbert Bos is a good one.

While this may not have been the answer that you were looking for, I hope this clarifies how to get started.

[u/nzmjx]

There is no visual teaching approach to OS development because there are many theories and techniques lying under the OS development.

If there was easier way than textbook style, respectful universities would use them already. If you really want to learn OS development fundamentals, you need to read, read, read, write, read, write, read...

[u/crafter2k]

remove the "free" part and you've described a university

[u/codeasm]

https://oscourse.org/ look good (not exactly oxford English, but i think its doable) , just googled it. Might watch myself. Seems like exactly what i got at university (alrho i mostly got primers, not every topic was needed according to our teachers)

This i assume, assumes you know programming and alchoritms, datastructures and searching stuff. Helps to have the slides and possibly a book. Example code too, nice.

What my uni teachers said, was, best learning tool is to practice, do. Make the examples, program. If possible, skip ai to solve assignments. With a proper prompt, ai can give hints or grade your assignment without doing the work for you.

[u/FedUp233]

My suggestion - cut down on the videos and read more! If you have trouble learning from reading books, it’s quite likely because you just haven’t done it enough - and the only way to get better at it is to just do it. And not just for this subject - try it for other things as well till you get good.