alt Hacker NewsShow HN: My self-written hobby OS is finally running on my vintage IBM ThinkPad
Finally got my hobby OS up and running on real hardware. I love the old IBM thinkpads, so thought it was the perfect machine to get it working on. Been working on it for quite some time now, but this has been a big milestone!
Comments
I think the default system font should be a more condensed variant; it would make the system look much more refined. There are a number of areas where it's clear you need more horizontal space for characters. Each character should have less width, and there should be as little space between the characters as possible - just a single pixel ought to be enough at the font size and resolution you're using.
I don't know anything about your font system; I'm assuming it's fixed width bitmap fonts? I don't know how hard it would be to make these changes within your codebase so if it's too much work then don't worry about it.
I've been building a web OS site from scratch for a while now (not as technically impressive as what you're doing) and I just got through a total rewrite of the font classes, so it's at the top of my mind.
This is great! What would you do differently if you started again today? What are your thoughts on language suitability for the lower level parts (ie. Sticking to c or a simple subset of c++ or any of the newer languages)?
Given the myriad of resources available, how did you manage to keep the project engaging rather than copying others people code?
Congrats! Looks great coming from someone who had a Commodore PET 2001 in 1977. I have been toying with KolibriOS and MenuetOSx64, but I would sure like to try rolling my own OS. You did it! Keep truckin'!
Just adding this comment to say congratulations and how impressed I am by your project! I've been an OS Dev fan since my teens and it feels great to see this achievement come to life. I am a little curious to know how the graphics subsystem is initialized. I wish you the best of success.
I wish I could spare time like this to work passion projects.
Forget practicality.
Forget "go to market" strategy.
Forget target fit.
Just build and learn.
Hi, I'm in this field about decades and trying to learn OS development. I've an idea of FASM, NASM, FASM-G. But I need to study the output of assembler program. So I can understand how the OS is actually works in the binary level. Do you learned opcodes for the particular architecture? What did you for device driver programs? Can you please list out the steps to develop my own OS.
That is so awesome! I'd really like to see more people bringing back the spirit of early computing with much more tinkering at the computer rather than app level.
I've been thinking about doing a long term hobby project of creating a personal computer - one where I create the entire software stack myself and can know the provenance of every bit that goes into the system (though I can't do the same with the hardware, unless I can get enough performance out of an FPGA to run everything on it).
Until now it seemed unrealistic but you proved it's possible! And looks like you're even implementing a hobby C compiler: https://github.com/joexbayer/C-Compiler
Could you elaborate on how this compiler interacts with the operating system? Specifically, how does it handle features like structs, and what are the current limitations or planned enhancements in this area?
Easily one of the most impressive passion projects I've seen here in a long time. Out of curiosity, why did you opt to write your own C compiler?
Is there any chance of booting this on a raspberry pi someday?
I'd love a non-linux minimal single-user OS that boots in <1 second
It's interesting that a few of these projects seem to be reaching milestones at the same time. It's reassuring to see that there are people out there who are still working on this deep of a level with computers and sharing their results with us.
Rock on!
Looks great! I wanted to try it on my old 2010 computer but I can't find it anymore... these days things are always getting rid of old stuff, keep it up!
fun usage of recursion in your factorial function on the third screenshot
Amazing work! I tried a few years ago to write my own OS, seeing what you have achieved is very impressive and inspiring. Congrats!
I see some Turbo C/QBasic love on that editor.
Kudos for the project.
Nice! I was just thinking about an old eee pc I have somewhere and how I might revive it. What's the performance like?
Congrats a great work. Your machine still looks neat as well. Taken care well.
Ooh, I have a sweet R31 I might try this out with, if it's not too old!
Great job! How did you get started in this ? Seems like a lot to figure out on your own
Congrats on running on real hardware, rather than something like qemu!
>The password for admin is 'admin'
Brb, hacking your thinkpad
been messing with old laptops myself so i get it - hitting a milestone like this feels way better when its your own code running for real
I'd love to see more of this - eventually there will be some new OS concept, as opposed to everything just being a rehash of the same old ideas from the 1970s. (For reference, the VAX 11/780 was announced in 1977, and we run on fundamentally the same model of hardware today. Nothing particularly exciting or different than VMS or UNIX is being used in today's operating systems.)
An example of a radically different way to think is TempleOS.
Congrats on hitting the milestone! This is exactly the kind of work I want to see on HN: passion projects just for the sake of making something, not advertisements, market news, or AI bullshit.
Oh man I wish such big accomplishments were documented on video like Andreas Kling did with SerenityOS https://www.youtube.com/@awesomekling .. learned a lot from his videos
great project! congratulations
Let me guess, you're trying to dethrone Microsoft, aren't you?! Well, good luck with that!
Just kidding. This is really impressive.
There are two types of people that I think of as gods: drummers (but not the bad ones) and OS developers (even the bad ones).
Congrats!
Oh this is cool! I have a couple of 386/486 machines that would be fun to test on.
Are you planning on cardbus/pcmcia support and wifi?
I think you could easily give the UI a refresh, modernize it a bit :)
These things are way better to see than stupid AI. It’s not going to “sell”, but it’s a tech person being creative and doing their craft.
I used to study a lot of hobbyist OS development in my late teens. It was awesome, I still try doing small kernels from time to time (last one was a RISCV small kernel that printed a message to my partner).