Programming Forums - View Single Post

Darkhack · Dec 22nd, 2005, 10:37 AM

Windows, Mac, Linux. These are the big three we think of. Sure there are others, like BSD, Solaris and other unix-like operating sytems. But to my point. These operating systems have thousands of programmers. That's not to say you can't get make something great by your self. Just look at SkyOS, that was programmed by a single person for most of its lifetime. I think I read somewhere that he has other people helping him now. I am not doubting that Sendla OS as a whole is possible, because it very much is, however your hopes of having an OS that "runs windows applications, macintosh programs, linux programs and more" is almost zero.

I think it would be very possible to run windows/mac/linux programs if you were refeering to something like Java or a .net platform. But if you are saying that you can run these applications natively than thats a big problem. You would have to write your kernel to support all of their API's and except every possible command that could come from either of these systems. I won't say its impossible, because if you really think about it, it could be possible to emulate the entire operating systems core functions. It would basically be like programming VMWare into the OS except you would not only have to program the software but also the API's for that OS. One would have to emulate everything. Take in account that windows uses a registry while mac doesn't and these other differences ect, that would otherwise be impossible because of contradictions. One would also have to compile everything from source on this OS because if a new version of Linux/Mac/Windows comes out, you will have to rewrite a very large portion of your OS.

I am not mocking you. Just giving a little insight about the difficulty of writing such an OS that would run programs from all those platforms. WINE has been going at it for over a decade and it still isn't very good at running windows programs.

My personal recomendation is to start off with a version of Linux that will allow you to get really close to the operating system. Maybe something like Gentoo or LFS (Linux From Scratch) and when you get better you can write your own distrobution.

Dec 22nd, 2005, 10:37 AM	#10
Darkhack Hobbyist Programmer Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Kansas City Posts: 102 Rep Power: 3	Windows, Mac, Linux. These are the big three we think of. Sure there are others, like BSD, Solaris and other unix-like operating sytems. But to my point. These operating systems have thousands of programmers. That's not to say you can't get make something great by your self. Just look at SkyOS, that was programmed by a single person for most of its lifetime. I think I read somewhere that he has other people helping him now. I am not doubting that Sendla OS as a whole is possible, because it very much is, however your hopes of having an OS that "runs windows applications, macintosh programs, linux programs and more" is almost zero. I think it would be very possible to run windows/mac/linux programs if you were refeering to something like Java or a .net platform. But if you are saying that you can run these applications natively than thats a big problem. You would have to write your kernel to support all of their API's and except every possible command that could come from either of these systems. I won't say its impossible, because if you really think about it, it could be possible to emulate the entire operating systems core functions. It would basically be like programming VMWare into the OS except you would not only have to program the software but also the API's for that OS. One would have to emulate everything. Take in account that windows uses a registry while mac doesn't and these other differences ect, that would otherwise be impossible because of contradictions. One would also have to compile everything from source on this OS because if a new version of Linux/Mac/Windows comes out, you will have to rewrite a very large portion of your OS. I am not mocking you. Just giving a little insight about the difficulty of writing such an OS that would run programs from all those platforms. WINE has been going at it for over a decade and it still isn't very good at running windows programs. My personal recomendation is to start off with a version of Linux that will allow you to get really close to the operating system. Maybe something like Gentoo or LFS (Linux From Scratch) and when you get better you can write your own distrobution.