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This is a really, really cool project. Some fun quotes: > In fact, selfie goes one step further by implementing microkernel functionality as part of the emulat

This is a really, really cool project. Some fun quotes: > In fact, selfie goes one step further by implementing microkernel functionality as part of the emulator and a hypervisor that can run as part of the emulator, on top of the emulator, and even on top of itself, all with the same code. > The design of the compiler is inspired by the Oberon compiler of Professor Niklaus Wirth from ETH Zurich. The design of the selfie microkernel is inspired by microkernels of Professor Jochen Liedtke from University of Karlsruhe. As someone who is vaguely trying to learn more about / get involved in kernel development, the easiest place to start figuring things out is in simpler kernels like this or Minix. (Then followed by OpenBSD. Then later on NetBSD / FreeBSD. Then much, much further, Linux. [Haven't spent time looking into Illumos yet but it's on the list.]) But I haven't actually been able to contribute much more than ports to any of these yet.

nickpsecurity 10y ago
Here's another one designed for that: https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.828/2012/xv6.html https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.828/2012/xv6.html
- eatonphil 10y ago
  Thank you! I saw Xv6 once before but haven't read that much about it. I will add it to my to-read-list.
  - timClicks 10y ago
    One of the neat things about Xv6 is that the references in the documentation refer to line numbers in the OS source code.
david-given 10y ago
...I have just installed Minix 2 on my new laptop; a 386 with 1MB RAM, running at 16MHz, with a 80MB (with an M) hard drive. In 16-bit mode, it runs beautifully (there's not quite enough RAM for the bigger 32-bit binaries). It's a pretty good Unix, with networking support, cut down versions of all the standard tools, it comes with full source and several toolchains making it almost completely self-hosted, and it'll rebuild its own kernel in 13 minutes. It is beautiful. If you're interested in operating systems, definitely take a look. (There is a Minix 3, but I find it doesn't have the same minimalist charm.) http://minix1.woodhull.com/ http://minix1.woodhull.com/
- nickpsecurity 10y ago
  "There is a Minix 3, but I find it doesn't have the same minimalist charm" They have same name but aren't really related. Minix 3 is a new OS designed to take place of a modern UNIX with higher reliability. They ported a NetBSD userland to get UNIX apps working. Main benefits are reincarnation server and more code being user-mode (i.e. limiting damage).
  - Esau 10y ago
    I installed Minix 3 the other day in VMWare Fusion virtual machine. It felt a lot like running NetBSD due to the userland reason you mentioned. The one oddity I noticed in my brief testing was that the Minix DHCP client doesn't allow for setting your own hostname, even though NetBSD's does.
0xcde4c3db 10y ago
> The design of the selfie microkernel is inspired by microkernels of Professor Jochen Liedtke from University of Karlsruhe. It might be worth noting that Liedtke is the architect of the reasonably well-known L4 microkernel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L4_microkernel_family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L4_microkernel_family

nickpsecurity 10y ago

Here's another one designed for that: https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.828/2012/xv6.html https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.828/2012/xv6.html

eatonphil 10y ago
Thank you! I saw Xv6 once before but haven't read that much about it. I will add it to my to-read-list.
- timClicks 10y ago
  One of the neat things about Xv6 is that the references in the documentation refer to line numbers in the OS source code.

david-given 10y ago

...I have just installed Minix 2 on my new laptop; a 386 with 1MB RAM, running at 16MHz, with a 80MB (with an M) hard drive. In 16-bit mode, it runs beautifully (there's not quite enough RAM for the bigger 32-bit binaries). It's a pretty good Unix, with networking support, cut down versions of all the standard tools, it comes with full source and several toolchains making it almost completely self-hosted, and it'll rebuild its own kernel in 13 minutes. It is beautiful. If you're interested in operating systems, definitely take a look. (There is a Minix 3, but I find it doesn't have the same minimalist charm.) http://minix1.woodhull.com/ http://minix1.woodhull.com/

nickpsecurity 10y ago
"There is a Minix 3, but I find it doesn't have the same minimalist charm" They have same name but aren't really related. Minix 3 is a new OS designed to take place of a modern UNIX with higher reliability. They ported a NetBSD userland to get UNIX apps working. Main benefits are reincarnation server and more code being user-mode (i.e. limiting damage).
- Esau 10y ago
  I installed Minix 3 the other day in VMWare Fusion virtual machine. It felt a lot like running NetBSD due to the userland reason you mentioned. The one oddity I noticed in my brief testing was that the Minix DHCP client doesn't allow for setting your own hostname, even though NetBSD's does.

0xcde4c3db 10y ago

> The design of the selfie microkernel is inspired by microkernels of Professor Jochen Liedtke from University of Karlsruhe. It might be worth noting that Liedtke is the architect of the reasonably well-known L4 microkernel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L4_microkernel_family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L4_microkernel_family