dutra / x86_kernel

x86 Kernel developed from scratch for learning purposes

Amora Kernel

Amora is a simple x86 kernel being developed from scratch as a side project for learning purposes.

Currently the kernel has a booloader written in Assembly which sets the GDT, enters protected mode and load a kernel written in C. The kernel has a simple screen driver and handlers for interrupts and the IRQ, which is partly written in Assembly. The PIT interrupt (IRQ0) has been implemented, giving the kernel a periodic interrupt that will be used by the process scheduler later.

Progress

• Booloader
• Screen driver
• Partial Interrupt handler
• Partial IRQ handler
• Timed interrupt with PIT
• Keyboard Interrupt handler
• Keyboard driver
• Flat Paging
• Memory handler
• Multitasking
• VFS
• File system
• User mode

Compiling and Installing

You just need to run

	$ make

to compile the code. A file called os-image will be created. You can either copy it to a floppy disk or a hard drive with

	# dd bs=512 if=os-image of=/dev/sdX

where sdX is your floppy disk or hard drive device name. However, if you do not have a floppy disk lying around or a spare hard drive, you can run it in qemu (assuming you have it installed) with

	$ make run

Debugging

In order to debug the kernel, we can use qemu+gdb. You can run

	$ make debug

to start qemu in debugging mode, with the processor stopped. It will wait for a gdb connection, which can be established with target remote :1234 typed in gdb.

License

The MIT License (MIT)

Learning Material

• Operational Systems: Design and Implementation by Andrew Tanenbaum
• Principles of Computer System Design by Jerome Saltzer
• MIT Xv6
• Writing a Simple Operational System by Nick Blundell
• James Molloy's Kernel Development Tutorials
• OSDev.org wiki
• Bona fide OS Developer

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No penguins were harmed during the development of this kernel