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I am a graduate student, currently working on building a x86_64 unix like preemptive kernel from scratch, as part of a course. Most of the OS dev guides and boo

by Jagat 13y ago

I am a graduate student, currently working on building a x86_64 unix like preemptive kernel from scratch, as part of a course. Most of the OS dev guides and books focus on 32 bit arch and I haven't found a single guide so far that is based on 64 bit arch. Since this this guide seems to be in its inception, I hope someone (hopefully me) will send a pull request for a 64 bit tutorial. Building an OS has been in my bucket list for long and it has been one heck of an experience so far. Here are some good step-by-step OS-from-scratch programming guides http://jamesmolloy.co.uk/tutorial_html/index.html http://jamesmolloy.co.uk/tutorial_html/index.html http://www.osdever.net/bkerndev/Docs/title.htm http://www.osdever.net/bkerndev/Docs/title.htm http://www.ijack.org.uk/ http://www.ijack.org.uk/ http://www.brokenthorn.com/Resources/OSDevIndex.html http://www.brokenthorn.com/Resources/OSDevIndex.html http://viralpatel.net/taj/operating-system-tutorial.php http://viralpatel.net/taj/operating-system-tutorial.php and here's a good wiki for reference http://wiki.osdev.org/Expanded_Main_Page http://wiki.osdev.org/Expanded_Main_Page

mvanotti 13y ago
I think that AMD Developer Guides & Manuals [1] are very good resources for x86_64 System Programming (better than Intel Manuals). They are better explained and focus on x86_64 arch. [1]: http://developer.amd.com/resources/documentation-articles/developer-guides-manuals/ http://developer.amd.com/resources/documentation-articles/de...
- dkersten 13y ago
  I still have a soft spot for the intel manuals.. probably because I managed to get print copies right before they stopped giving them out :)
csmuk 13y ago
Building OS' is fun. I wish I could spend all day doing it but I've been pushed so far up the stack that I spend most of the time arguing with analysts and preparing documentation... I've built two so far which were (and I think still were until recently) used in production equipment. One Forth system (all 8k of it) that ran a PLC system and a tiny (16k) kernel for an M68k system that was a router for a modbus-like protocol over RS485. Nothing x86_64 but nevertheless the most fun I've ever had with a computer.
- girvo 13y ago
  I've been a web developer my entire professional career, and for some ungodly reason I have this need to go work in the embedded sector instead. Am I nuts? ;)
  - csmuk 13y ago
    Not at all!
    - fabriceleal 13y ago
      Could you provide some pointers? I'm kinda in the same situation.
      - csmuk 13y ago
        You really need an EE or CompSci degree these days. That's the first point of call. I don't have either but it was a little different when I started. I managed to build a reputation up on the side and go from there. Eventually people stop asking about qualifications. EE is probably more important than a comp sci education for embedded work. Its a fairly complicated field which deals with things far below the abstraction of a machine. If anyone mentions the word Arduino though, stop listening there and find someone else. They're assumed to be like the real world but are faaaar from it.
        kristoffer 13y ago
        I think that was pretty bad advice. If someone wants to start doing embedded you tell them to go get a CompSci degree (i.e. studying algorithms and logic). And disrespecting Arduino like that does not seem good either. Doing Arduino will actually teach you about both microcontrollers and electronics and there's a lot of nice modules available. Of course it is not like writing your own OS but it's a start, and you can always use the hardware and ignore the Arduino software. The best way to get started in embedded is to begin on a project where you actually build something that you want to build. That will help you with requirements on the platform you choose, be it Arduino, Raspberry Pi, FPGA or whatever.
e12e 13y ago
There's absolutely a void when it comes to a full amd64 assembly (and associated low level) code. It's a shame, because amd64 is actually rather plesant (as opposed to x86) -- and now rather ubiqutous. I haven't really looked at the code, but I guess the following at least contains a bit of example code: http://www.returninfinity.com/baremetal.html http://www.returninfinity.com/baremetal.html Menuetos also looks rather interesting, unfortunately, as I recall the license for the 64bit version puts the code in a bit of a limbo as far how it's actually useful. There's a fork, but not for amd64 afaik.. http://menuetos.net/ http://menuetos.net/ http://kolibrios.org/en/ http://kolibrios.org/en/
- nwg 13y ago
  My hobby OS is x86_64 only, straight C. It's GPLv3. I wrote it with the intention of writing a tutorial, partly because of this void, but still have not written the tutorial :) https://github.com/nwg/nanos https://github.com/nwg/nanos x86_64 bootup / structures https://github.com/nwg/nanos/blob/master/src/boot.asm https://github.com/nwg/nanos/blob/master/src/boot.asm https://github.com/nwg/nanos/blob/master/src/kernel_init.asm https://github.com/nwg/nanos/blob/master/src/kernel_init.asm
steveklabnik 13y ago
There's some stuff about 64 bit over at http://xomb.org http://xomb.org

by Jagat 13y ago

mvanotti 13y ago

I think that AMD Developer Guides & Manuals [1] are very good resources for x86_64 System Programming (better than Intel Manuals). They are better explained and focus on x86_64 arch. [1]: http://developer.amd.com/resources/documentation-articles/developer-guides-manuals/ http://developer.amd.com/resources/documentation-articles/de...

dkersten 13y ago
I still have a soft spot for the intel manuals.. probably because I managed to get print copies right before they stopped giving them out :)

csmuk 13y ago

Building OS' is fun. I wish I could spend all day doing it but I've been pushed so far up the stack that I spend most of the time arguing with analysts and preparing documentation... I've built two so far which were (and I think still were until recently) used in production equipment. One Forth system (all 8k of it) that ran a PLC system and a tiny (16k) kernel for an M68k system that was a router for a modbus-like protocol over RS485. Nothing x86_64 but nevertheless the most fun I've ever had with a computer.

girvo 13y ago
I've been a web developer my entire professional career, and for some ungodly reason I have this need to go work in the embedded sector instead. Am I nuts? ;)
- csmuk 13y ago
  Not at all!
  - fabriceleal 13y ago
    Could you provide some pointers? I'm kinda in the same situation.
    - csmuk 13y ago
      You really need an EE or CompSci degree these days. That's the first point of call. I don't have either but it was a little different when I started. I managed to build a reputation up on the side and go from there. Eventually people stop asking about qualifications. EE is probably more important than a comp sci education for embedded work. Its a fairly complicated field which deals with things far below the abstraction of a machine. If anyone mentions the word Arduino though, stop listening there and find someone else. They're assumed to be like the real world but are faaaar from it.
      - kristoffer 13y ago
        I think that was pretty bad advice. If someone wants to start doing embedded you tell them to go get a CompSci degree (i.e. studying algorithms and logic). And disrespecting Arduino like that does not seem good either. Doing Arduino will actually teach you about both microcontrollers and electronics and there's a lot of nice modules available. Of course it is not like writing your own OS but it's a start, and you can always use the hardware and ignore the Arduino software. The best way to get started in embedded is to begin on a project where you actually build something that you want to build. That will help you with requirements on the platform you choose, be it Arduino, Raspberry Pi, FPGA or whatever.

e12e 13y ago

There's absolutely a void when it comes to a full amd64 assembly (and associated low level) code. It's a shame, because amd64 is actually rather plesant (as opposed to x86) -- and now rather ubiqutous. I haven't really looked at the code, but I guess the following at least contains a bit of example code: http://www.returninfinity.com/baremetal.html http://www.returninfinity.com/baremetal.html Menuetos also looks rather interesting, unfortunately, as I recall the license for the 64bit version puts the code in a bit of a limbo as far how it's actually useful. There's a fork, but not for amd64 afaik.. http://menuetos.net/ http://menuetos.net/ http://kolibrios.org/en/ http://kolibrios.org/en/

nwg 13y ago
My hobby OS is x86_64 only, straight C. It's GPLv3. I wrote it with the intention of writing a tutorial, partly because of this void, but still have not written the tutorial :) https://github.com/nwg/nanos https://github.com/nwg/nanos x86_64 bootup / structures https://github.com/nwg/nanos/blob/master/src/boot.asm https://github.com/nwg/nanos/blob/master/src/boot.asm https://github.com/nwg/nanos/blob/master/src/kernel_init.asm https://github.com/nwg/nanos/blob/master/src/kernel_init.asm

steveklabnik 13y ago

There's some stuff about 64 bit over at http://xomb.org http://xomb.org