Author Topic: How To Write an OS (Read 49283 times)

SirCmpwn · « **on:** September 09, 2010, 07:19:08 pm »

Hello!
Several people may want to write their own OSes, but I know from experience that it is very hard finding out where to start. I have put together a small tutorial and a basic kernel so that anyone who wants to can get started building their own OSes.

If anyone wants to skip the struggle of simply getting something to boot, I have attached KnightKernelBasic, which is what I gave to Eeems to build Rouge on. It requires ZDS, and I recommend using TI Developer with it as well.

Every OS needs these, just to boot:
*Page 00
*A valid OS header

But if you want it to actually do anything useful, it needs to:
*Initialize the LCD
*Set up memory
*Initialize the stack

You should have some other stuff, but that's all you really *need.* In order to boot and display something pretty, you really just need to have page 00, the stack, LCD, and a header. A basic OS header looks like this:

Code: (OS) [Select]

	jr Boot
  	db 0,0,0,0,0,0
	db 0, 0 ; rst 08h
	db 0,0,0,0,0
	db 0, 0   ; rst 10h
	db 0,0,0,0,0
	db 0,0   ; rst 18h
 	db 0,0,0,0,0
	db 0, 0 ; rst 20h
	db 0,0,0,0,0
	db 0,0   ; rst 28h
	db 0,0,0,0,0
	db 0,0   ; rst 30h
	db 0,0,0,0,0,0,0
	db 0, 0 ; rst 38h / System Interrupt
 	db 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
	db 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
	jp Boot
	dw 0A55Ah
Boot:
        ; This executes at boot

You could copy this into a document and start coding at Boot: and have an OS. This is also valid and signable, and may be sent to a calculator. It is worth noting that you need to have an interrupt or risk crashing the calculator. Add it at rst 38h:

Code: [Select]

; System Interrupt Routines
SysInterrupt:
	exx
	ex af, af'
	in a, (04h)
	bit 0, a
	jr nz, HandleON
	bit 1, a
	jr nz, HandleTimer1
	bit 2, a
	jr nz, HandleTimer2
	bit 4, a
	jr nz, HandleLink
	jr InterruptDone
HandleON:
	in a, (03h)
	res 0, a
	out (03h), a
	set 0, a
	out (03h), a
	; ON interrupt
	jr InterruptDone
HandleTimer1:
	in a, (03h)
	res 1, a
	out (03h), a
	set 1, a
	out (03h), a
	; Timer one interrupt (might be best to merge with timer 2)
	jr InterruptDone
HandleTimer2:
	in a, (03h)
	res 2, a
	out (03h), a
	set 2, a
	out (03h), a
	; Timer two interrupt
	jr InterruptDone
HandleLink:
	in a, (03h)
	res 4, a
	out (03h), a
	set 4, a
	out (03h), a
	; Link interrupt
InterruptDone:
	ex af, af'
	exx
	ei
	ret

This is a basic interrupt with blank spots to put your code. In order to actually compile and test your OS, you need to sign it. It may also be useful to convert it to a ROM for testing. TI Developer will do this for you automatically, but if you don't want to use ZDS or TI Developer, you can use os2tools.

Simple code to set up the LCD so you can draw on it:

Code: [Select]

	ld a, 40h
	out (10h), a
	ld a, 05h
	call LCDDelay
	out (10h), a
	ld a, 01h
	call LCDDelay
	out (10h), a
	ld a, 3
	call LCDDelay
	out (10h), a
	ld a, 0F6h
	call LCDDelay
	out (10h), a

And to set up memory (ROM 00\ROM 01\RAM 01\RAM 00):

Code: [Select]

    ld a, 1    ; Set flash page 1 in bank 1.
    out (6), a
    in a, (2)    ;get calc version
    rlca ;Roll bit 7 into carry.
    ld a, 41h ; Set ram page 1 in bank 2.
    jr nc, LowerModel
HigherModel:
    out (5),a
    ld a,81h
    out (7),a
    jr Done
LowerModel:
    out (6), a
    out (7),a
Done:

Now go build some OSes!

qazz42 · « **Reply #1 on:** September 09, 2010, 07:28:11 pm »

O_o woah

do we have to use ZDS? I find ZDS very confusing

(of course, I dont think I will be writing OSes very soon

)

SirCmpwn · « **Reply #2 on:** September 09, 2010, 07:29:03 pm »

You don't have to use ZDS. I just recommend it.

meishe91 · « **Reply #3 on:** September 09, 2010, 07:36:52 pm »

I added this to the tutorial thread. It looks great.

What are TI-Developer, ZDS, and os2tools though?

qazz42 · « **Reply #4 on:** September 09, 2010, 07:38:08 pm »

ah, ok

now, how would the .bin be turned into a .8xu?

SirCmpwn · « **Reply #5 on:** September 09, 2010, 07:40:49 pm »

TI Developer does it for you, qazz42, or you can use the programs included in os2tools.
meishe91, they are respectively, a development tool to simplify the process (written by yours truly), an IDE, and tools for signing OSes and such.

qazz42 · « **Reply #6 on:** September 09, 2010, 07:46:42 pm »

hmm, I will keep this in mind when I learn asm

meishe91 · « **Reply #7 on:** September 09, 2010, 07:53:34 pm »

Ah ok, so you wrote all of them?

DJ Omnimaga · « **Reply #8 on:** September 09, 2010, 08:07:14 pm »

He wrote TI-Developer.

Also nice tutorial Sir, I'll sticky this topic in case. I recommend people to be careful with OS projects, though. Those are ambitious projects and I do not recommend them for novice programmers.

calcdude84se · « **Reply #9 on:** September 09, 2010, 08:15:48 pm »

I've already posted this on Cemetech, but I'll also do it here.
[cross-post starts here]
Tutorials are always good

However, I recommend you use .org, unless ZDS doesn't support that.
In the end you will need to compile it. Here's my current OS build script (not that is has anything to build right now

)

Code: [Select]

tools\brass "src\Page $00.z80"
tools\bin2hex "Page $00.bin" 20 0000 > "Page $00.hex"
tools\brass "src\Page $1D.z80"
tools\bin2hex "Page $1D.bin" 20 4000 > "Page $1D.hex"
tools\ostools-0.1\multihex 00 "Page $00.hex" 1D "Page $1D.hex" > os.hex
tools\ostools-0.1\packxxu os.hex -o os84.8xu -t 83p -q 0A -v 0.01 -h 255
tools\ostools-0.1\packxxu os.hex -o os83.8xu -t 83p -q 04 -v 0.01 -h 255
tools\rabbitsign\rabbitsign -t 8xu -k tools\keys\0A.key -K 0A -g -p -r os84.8xu
tools\rabbitsign\rabbitsign -t 8xu -k tools\keys\04.key -K 04 -g -p -r os83.8xu
del os83.8xu os84.8xu
copy src\PartesOS.h + *.inc PartesOS.h
del *.bin*
del *.hex
del PartesOS*.8xu
ren os83-signed.8xu "PartesOS 83+.8xu"
ren os84-signed.8xu "PartesOS 84+.8xu"

Note that you need OS Tools and RabbitSign (Windows version here). You'll also need the OS signing keys.
You can customize this to fit your needs (right now it's set to how my folders are set up, along with the OS name). Note that you need to set your assembler of choice to produce hex output. (Brass for some reason doesn't handle it properly, so I wrote my own bin2hex program. TASM doesn't have this problem)
The -v argument of packxxu can be changed to reflect OS version, though the other arguments should be left as is. Note that this script builds OS's for both the 83+(SE) and 84+(SE).

And yes, go build some OS's!

SirCmpwn · « **Reply #10 on:** September 09, 2010, 09:24:22 pm »

Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on September 09, 2010, 08:07:14 pm

He wrote TI-Developer.

Also nice tutorial Sir, I'll sticky this topic in case. I recommend people to be careful with OS projects, though. Those are ambitious projects and I do not recommend them for novice programmers.

Thank you, and OSes are indeed not for the beginning programmer. This is an extremely advanced tutorial.

DJ Omnimaga · « **Reply #11 on:** September 09, 2010, 10:00:12 pm »

ANother thing to consider is that when KOS comes out, let's not flood the OS scene with like 40 third party OSes with no compatibility between each others. With computers we already have troubles keeping up with 3 different kind of popular OSes

jnesselr · « **Reply #12 on:** September 09, 2010, 10:04:11 pm »

How do you have the interrupt code be at 38h?

TC01 · « **Reply #13 on:** September 09, 2010, 10:06:03 pm »

This is potentially very useful for people who want to create an OS! I remember reading somewhere in something about the keys that there should be documentation on how to create an OS... now there is.

It's a shame that there's no documentation for building a 68k OS (that I know of, anyway), as I wanted to eventually have a go at a WFRNG OS for 68k calcs (after I actually learn 68k assembly)...

DJ Omnimaga · « **Reply #14 on:** September 09, 2010, 10:08:07 pm »

Quote from: TC01 on September 09, 2010, 10:06:03 pm

I wanted to eventually have a go at a WFRNG OS for 68k calcs

-.-

I wonder if there are still some stuff somewhere about 68K calcs that could explain it... maybe the tutorials are in French, though. Maybe you would have to ask the author of Pedrom

Author Topic: How To Write an OS (Read 49283 times)

SirCmpwn

How To Write an OS

qazz42

Re: How To Write an OS

SirCmpwn

Re: How To Write an OS

meishe91

Re: How To Write an OS

qazz42

Re: How To Write an OS

SirCmpwn

Re: How To Write an OS

qazz42

Re: How To Write an OS

meishe91

Re: How To Write an OS

DJ Omnimaga

Re: How To Write an OS

calcdude84se

Re: How To Write an OS

SirCmpwn

Re: How To Write an OS

DJ Omnimaga

Re: How To Write an OS

jnesselr

Re: How To Write an OS

TC01

Re: How To Write an OS

DJ Omnimaga

Re: How To Write an OS