Member Avatar for arvin2006

hello there everyone!! is there anyone who can help me to start creating an operating system. i don't have any idea on to start. i understand c language, but i dont have enough knowledge for such process. all i need is the simple concept or the simple/basic code for creating such.. pls help me. i will appreciate your responses. thanks!! God bless.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by maddy10988

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Short, practical roadmap to actually get started (build something that boots in days, not years).

You already have the right instinct, — start tiny and iterate. Read the suggestions from , , and , then follow this hands‑on path:

  1. Toolchain and emulator: build or install a cross toolchain for your target (example: i386), and use an emulator (QEMU or Bochs) so you can test and snapshot safely.
  2. Minimal boot path: either write a 512‑byte boot sector that uses BIOS services (real mode) or use a multiboot/UEFI boot method to jump to a C entry point. Keep the first kernel extremely small.
  3. Small, testable goals: get a function kmain() that prints text to VGA memory. Confirm you can boot it repeatedly. Then add one low‑level feature at a time: GDT, IDT + PIC, timer interrupt, keyboard.
  4. Next layers: physical memory allocator, paging, a tiny scheduler, then syscalls and a simple driver or filesystem. Each feature should have its own tests under the emulator.

Quick tips and common pitfalls:

  • Build with -ffreestanding -fno-builtin and a linker script that sets the correct load address.
  • Use a cross‑compiler; using the host compiler often produces incompatible binaries.
  • If the kernel seems to hang, check stack setup, entry symbol names and calling conventions, and whether interrupts are enabled/disabled correctly.
  • Debugging: run the OS in QEMU and attach GDB or use serial output before adding video code.

Tiny example kernel (needs a bootloader/linker script to run):

/* tiny kernel: prints to VGA text mode */
void kmain(void) {
    volatile unsigned char *vga = (volatile unsigned char*)0xB8000;
    const char *s = "Hello, kernel!";
    for (int i = 0; s[i]; ++i) {
        vga[i*2] = s[i];
        vga[i*2+1] = 0x07;
    }
    for (;;) asm volatile("hlt");
}

Start with that, iterate, and ask specific questions about the step you’re on (bootloader, GDT, paging, linking, etc.). Good luck — small wins compound fast.

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Member Avatar for Salem

This has some good information as well

Member Avatar for arvin2006

hello everyone! thank you for your responses. i greatly appreciate though years have passed by, and here i am again. God bless

Member Avatar for mohanrajp

i am going to create os in c please help me.how to start and create.

commented: First you bump an old thread - and then you don't even bother to take note of the resources quoted in the previous posts. +0
Member Avatar for maddy10988

i will create os please help me?

commented: My conclusion is that you're incapable of reading - so an OS is out of the question. -4
commented: You do the coding and I'll do marketing, yeah, that'll work -1
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