44 points by rusty_os_enthusiast 1 year ago flag hide 26 comments
alexgo 1 year ago next
This is incredible, I've always wanted to build my own OS! Can you share more about what motivated you to do this? Also, how long did it take you?
srmag 1 year ago next
I built this OS as a personal project during the pandemic. It took me around 8 months part-time. I've always been fascinated by operating systems and thought this would be a good opportunity to learn and build something.
rustacean 1 year ago prev next
This is really cool! Did you run into any difficulties using Rust to build an OS? Was it difficult to manage memory allocation?
srmag 1 year ago next
Thanks! Rust is a pleasure to use. I did have to deal with some low-level details related to memory management, but the Rust compiler's safety guarantees really helped. I used the mmalloc library for memory allocation.
yukino 1 year ago prev next
That's amazing! I'm blown away by the amount of work that went into this. Did you write all the device drivers yourself from scratch?
srmag 1 year ago next
Yes, I wrote all the device drivers myself. It was a lot of work, but I learned a lot about how hardware and software interact. For example, I had to write a driver for my network card to connect to the internet.
ravenclaw 1 year ago prev next
That's so cool! How performant is your OS compared to other popular OSs like Linux or Windows?
srmag 1 year ago next
It's hard to compare performance directly since I haven't run any benchmarks yet. However, my OS is designed to be lightweight and fast, so I would expect it to be more performant in some areas than Linux or Windows.
momokun 1 year ago prev next
I'm curious, did you write any system utilities or applications for your custom OS? What are they like?
srmag 1 year ago next
Yes, I've written a few basic system utilities, like a shell, file manager, and text editor. They're still a work in progress, but they're functional enough for me to use regularly. I'm looking forward to improving them over time.
blueberry 1 year ago prev next
Do you have any screenshots or videos of your OS in action? I'd love to see what it looks like!
srmag 1 year ago next
Sure! Here are some screenshots of my OS: (link to images) And here's a short video: (link to video)
sunglasses 1 year ago prev next
This is insane! Have you thought about open-sourcing your code? I'm sure a lot of people would be interested in contributing or learning from your work.
srmag 1 year ago next
Thanks! Actually, I was planning to open-source the code once I cleaned it up and made it more presentable. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. It's definitely on my to-do list.
caffeine 1 year ago prev next
I have to ask, how do you even go about building an OS from scratch? It seems like such an impossible task!
srmag 1 year ago next
It's a big task, but it's not impossible. You have to start by learning about the low-level details of how computers work, like memory management, interrupt handling, and system calls. Then you can start building the different components of the OS, like the kernel, device drivers, and system utilities. It's a lot of work, but it's also incredibly rewarding.
evilcat 1 year ago prev next
I'm blown away by this! I've always wanted to know how to build an OS from scratch. Do you have any resources or pointers for someone who wants to get started?
srmag 1 year ago next
Sure, there are a few good resources out there for learning about OS development. One of my favorites is 'Operating System Concepts' by Abraham Silberschatz, Peter B. Galvin, and Greg Gagne. It's a classic textbook that covers a lot of the fundamental concepts. I also recommend checking out some online tutorials and courses, like the OSDev Wiki or the 'Writing an OS in Rust' series on Youtube.
fizzbuzz 1 year ago prev next
This is amazing work! What do you plan to do with your custom OS moving forward? Are you planning to add more features or use cases?
srmag 1 year ago next
Thanks! My plan is to keep improving the OS and adding more features over time. I'm currently working on better system utilities, more device drivers, and better networking support. I also want to add support for more hardware architectures. Ultimately, I hope to create a fully functional, lightweight OS that can be used for everyday tasks and applications.
notch 1 year ago prev next
This is seriously impressive! How do you feel about people clone your project or build on top of it? Have you considered creating a community around it?
srmag 1 year ago next
Thanks! I'm definitely open to people cloning or building on top of my project. In fact, I'd love to see what other people can do with it. And yes, I've thought about creating a community around it. I'm planning to set up a Github repository with issue tracking, documentation, and a forum for community discussions.
osdev 1 year ago prev next
This is an impressive achievement! I've seen a lot of OS projects come and go on HN, but this is one of the most complete and polished ones I've seen in a long time. Keep up the good work!
rcon 1 year ago prev next
This is incredible! I'm going to have to try this out for myself. Thanks for sharing!
pof 1 year ago prev next
This is really cool! How well does it run on older hardware?
srmag 1 year ago next
I've tested it on a few older machines and it seems to run reasonably well. However, I haven't done extensive testing on older hardware. It's definitely something I'm interested in exploring further.