Alpha OS

Alpha OS is a personal educational project that showcases my learning journey in developing and understanding the workings of a kernel for x86 processors. The produced kernel is not intended for practical use but serves solely as a learning experience.

Table of Contents

• Project Overview
• Project Architecture
• Getting Started
• Building the Project
• Running the Kernel
• Contributing

Project Overview

The goal of Alpha OS is to provide a hands-on approach to understanding the inner workings of an operating system kernel. Through this project, I have gained insights into low-level programming, system calls, memory management, process scheduling, and more.

Project Architecture

Alpha OS is structured into several key components, each located in their respective directories within the src folder:

• Bootloader (src/boot): Initializes the system and loads the kernel into memory.
• Kernel:
  • src/kernel.asm: Assembly code for initializing the kernel.
  • src/kernel.c: Main C code for the kernel operations.
  • src/kernel.h: Header file for kernel definitions.
• Configuration (src/config.h): Configuration settings for the kernel.
• Disk Management (src/disk): Handles interactions with disk storage.
• File System (src/fs): Provides a basic interface for file operations.
• Global Descriptor Table (GDT) (src/gdt): Manages memory segmentation.
• Interrupt Descriptor Table (IDT) (src/idt): Handles interrupt vectors.
• Input/Output Operations (src/io): Manages low-level I/O operations.
• Memory Management:
  • src/memory: Handles allocation and deallocation of memory.
• Task Management (src/task): Manages the creation, scheduling, and termination of processes.
• Utilities:
  • src/status.h: Status codes and utility functions.
  • src/string: String manipulation functions.
• Linker Script (src/linker.ld): Script for linking the kernel.

For more detailed information, you can explore the src directory.

Getting Started

To get started with Alpha OS, you will need the following tools:

• A cross-compiler for building the kernel.
• QEMU or another emulator for testing the kernel.

Prerequisites

• GCC Cross-Compiler
• Make
• QEMU

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone --branch redo https://github.com/ZiplEix/alpha-OS.git
   cd alpha-OS

2. Set up the cross-compiler: Follow the instructions here to set up a cross-compiler.

Building the Project

To build the project, run the following commands:

make

This will compile the kernel and generate a bootable ISO image.

Running the Kernel

To run the kernel using QEMU, execute:

make run

This will launch QEMU and boot the generated ISO image.

Acknowledgment

The majority of the code in Alpha OS is based on the work of Daniel McCarthy and the OSDev wiki. However, all the code present in this repository has been thoroughly understood and assimilated. The documentation, on the other hand, is entirely my own work.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you have any improvements or fixes, please submit a pull request. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.