MicroOS Operating System

MicroOS Operating System is a 32bit graphical operating system in development. It is being developed for the x86 family of processors.

Operating Systems

An operating system is an envirement that provides the core set of tools that software, such as games, graphics applications, word processing software, etc., need. Operating Systems (OS) provides the basic security, memory management, task management, and services for these applications. It is responsible for executing these programs, and handling errors.

x86 Family of Processors

The "x86" family of processors represent Intels 8086, 80286, 80386, 80486, 80586 (Pentium) processors. MicroOS is being written for compatibility with 80386 and newer processors. MicroOS is being built with absolute portability in mind, so we plan support for other processors.

MicroOS Basic Design

Why another operating system? We feel most of todays operating systems are large and overcomplicated. MicroOS will use a "Hardware abstraction layer", for portability between the hardware and MicroOS Shell. This means that only the HAL will be hardware dependent. The HAL will provide the interface between the Kernel and the hardware. The Kernel will be a Micro-Kernel, which will execute device drivers independent of the kernel. For portability purposes, Device drivers are not required to go through the HAL.

MicroOS Shell Core

MicroOS Kernel will then load and execute the MicroOS Shell Core program. This program will allow basic input and output tasks, and execution of programs. It is a command shell, allowing internal and external commands. Each command are programs that use the command shell library.

Graphical User Interface (GUI)

After initialization, the Command Shell Core program will execute the primary GUI Core. The GUI Core communicates with the Shell Core program, and provides the API interface for all graphical aspects of the system.

Permissionss

All applications must communicate with MicroOS either through the Graphical API, or through the Shell Program. All Ring0 programs, such as device drivers, can communicate through either the Shell Core or HAL.

Because this OS is in early development, changes can be made at any time.

MicroOS Operating System :: Latest Update

Latest image

• Languages: C, x86 Assembly Language
• Compilier: DJGPP GCC
• Linker: LD-elf; custom linker script
• Image tools: objcopy, makeboot (Custom ISO image program)

We test MicroOS on Bochs emulator, laptop and PC computers. It uses its own bootloader. MicroOS currently does not have a filesystem nor a memory manager. It does not have any input at the moment. It only installs what it displays when it is starting up. Because of this, MicroOS does nothing else but what is displayed in the picture. It does, however, have a Red Screen of Death (RSOD) for fatal errors.

MicroOS Download

If you would like to try MicroOS, Download latest build here! (MicroOS.zip, 12 KB) This is a 1.44 MB Floppy image that can be burned onto either a bootable CD, or a bootable floppy.

Contact Information

If you have any questions, or need any help burning the floppy image of MicroOS Operating System, please Contact us.