jal@acc.flint.umich.edu (John Lauro) (06/13/90)
I am about to start designing a complete operating system from the bottom up. It will be similar in power of Unix, but be much more efficient with memory and other resources. If it is ever completed, the package with source will be distributed either under the GNU license, or as shareware. I am lacking the skills necessary in the following areas, and would like information (or at least a reference) on them. - Interrupt driven hard drive access (standard MFM for now) - Low level keyboard I/O - Getting the 386 in protected mode from either a boot disk, or running a program from dos. (DOS file access does not need to be preserved, so I don't want to spend the $$$ for a DOS extender.) (I have some knowledge of the last two, but have no references at all for hard drive access except through dos/bios.) Much of the memory management, file structure, signals, and pipe handling is planned out in a way to use the 386 to it's fullest potential. I am also interested in anyone who would be interested in working on this project with me, via correspondence through email. (They should have a 386 or 386SX with some hard drive space to spare.) Flamers: I know the world may not need another, or want another os. This is for my own experience. Recommendations (via email) as to a more appropriate newsgroup are welcome. Thanks for any help or suggestions. - John Lauro john_lauro@ub.cc.umich.edu