ClassiOS alpha release 0.001

[peter]

For those patient folks who want to kick the tyres on classios, it's finally here. Note this is a 0.001 release, just to prove that it exists and boot a kernel.

Practically no functionality - the shell does not much at all. Commands are "dir", "cd", "type" and "exit".

It took quite a bit of work to make a bootable cd - hence the delays. If anyone wants floppy bootable or hdd bootable, they'll have to wait until I have a few utilities. You can build one yourself if you have a fat image utility, but you'll need specific boot sectors for the fat type you need.

To try out the ISO, download from

http://www.tattsoft.com/Downloads/classios/iso/classios-alpha-1.zip

and unzip the archive. There will be a file called CLASSIOS.ISO.

For VMware users, I suggest creating a blank VMware session (choose "Other" operating system), and point the virtual CD drive to the ISO file, make sure the floppy drive is disconnected/removed then boot up. Hopefully all will be well

If you are brave enough, you can burn a real CD and try it on the machine of your choice. I had mixed results on live real hardware so far (1 of 3 booted fully) - in my experience, ATAPI hardware is a little tricky so I'll need to do a little more work.

ENJOY!!!

P!

[adem]

I dont have VMWare setup anywhere else, so I had to try it under Win2K3 64bit but it kept giving me BSOD each and every time I attempted to run it. I gave up after 6-7 boots.

I wonder if anyone has had a similar experience.

[peter]

hmm. that's odd.

I have tried it on vmware workstation 4.5.2 on Windows XP pro, and also vmware server 1.0.4 running over linux ubuntu. I'll post a sample vmx shortly.

P!

[peter]

Here's a sample vmx.

I have zapped out any sensitive info. UUID/ethernet addresses. see ### in config

#!/usr/bin/vmware
config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "4"
scsi0.present = "TRUE"
memsize = "256"
ide0:0.present = "TRUE"
ide0:0.fileName = "/home/peter/Desktop/CLASSIOS.ISO"
ide0:0.writeThrough = "TRUE"
ide1:0.present = "FALSE"
ide1:0.fileName = "/home/peter/Desktop/CLASSIOS.ISO"
ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"
floppy0.startConnected = "FALSE"
floppy0.fileName = "/dev/fd0"
Ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
displayName = "Classios CDROM boot"
guestOS = "other"
priority.grabbed = "normal"
priority.ungrabbed = "normal"
powerType.powerOff = "hard"
powerType.powerOn = "hard"
powerType.suspend = "hard"
powerType.reset = "hard"

ide0:0.redo = ""
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
uuid.location = ""

###uuid.bios = "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
###ethernet0.generatedAddress = "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
###ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

ide0:1.present = "FALSE"
ide0:1.fileName = "/home/peter/Desktop/CLASSIOS.ISO"
ide0:1.deviceType = "cdrom-image"

ide0:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"

[peter]

Here's a screenshot of it running

[adem]

It's probably due to something at this end here.

For some reason, VMWare decided not to run anymore --even after a couple of uninstall and install cycles.

[mike]

It works here (I used the vmx file you provided above) and is extremily
exciting .
The only error I encountered was errno TLS index = 1
when trying to execute command "exit". It dumped some numbers
for VirtualAlloc and didn't exit anything, continued to work fine after
that.

I was unable, however, to configure it in MS Virtual PC 2007, for some
reason it wouldn't start, there's probably a problem with Virtual PC not
allowing single ATAPI IDE drive, it always maps it to D while leaving
C for nothing ot empty virtual hard drive.

Also, I wonder why did you change Win32 over, say, BSD or nix?
Would it be because you know how to reuse existing Win32 drivers?
If so, then this might be a great reason.

Sicnerely,
Michael

[peter]

The error messages you mentioned are not errors, just debug information. The line saying TLS is just reporting the TLS (Thread Local Storage) index for the internal Win32 errno used by GetLastError(). The other message is reporting the addresses of virtual memory requested by the application.

I will try it out on Virtual PC when I get a moment, but you should be able to boot with a hard drive on IDE 0:0 and CD-ROM on IDE 0:1 or IDE 1:0, just as long as the hard drive does not have a FS installed.

Yes, one of the reasons for doing Win32 is that there are a lot more drivers around - it leaves an option open to use them but not at this stage as it would require full NT driver compatibility. There is however a more compelling reason, and that is that software development is greatly accelerated when using Delphi. I have a full range of refactoring and extreme programming tools at my disposal, which make kernel writing much easy and will ultimately produce a very solid product.

P!

[peter]

I tested it with Virtual PC and my latest version seems to work.

Here's is the next alpha. http://www.tattsoft.com/Downloads/classios/iso/classios-alpha-2.zip

In this version I have cleaned up a lot of debug messages, and it can now execute a program from the command line (try one of the hello programs, or the shell.exe).

Also, some improvements to networking. It tries a BOOTP/DHCP on VMware (no nic driver for Virtual PC yet), and I have IPv6 support compiled in. You should be able to ping both the IPv4 address and IPv6 address.

P!

[mike]

Nope, stil doesn't work here on Virtual PC 2007.
I've posted zip with my vmc file, vhd file (empty) and
screenshot of startup. Hope that helps.

http://www.contextsoft.com/misc/ClassiOsTest.zip

Michael

[peter]

hmm.... I tried with VPC 2004. Haven't tried 2007.

Seems to work fine with CDROm n primary and secondary IDE controllers.

I will give 2007 a whirl to see what happens.

P!

[peter]

I have just verified that it boots in VPC 2007. I even used your configured virtual machine. BTW, it will even boot in 4 megs of ram


P!

[mike]

Nope, still no luck here on Virtual PC 2007.
My version of Virtual PC is : 6.0.156.0
Computer: Intel Core 2 Duo, Windows XP, 2002, SP2
Could it be something with dual core processor?

Michael

P.S. I hope I don't bother you. It's not really important to me
that it works under VPC, I'm just reporting testing results if you
are interested. I don't think that this is a priority, unless it helps
you find debug the OS.

[peter]

It's ok - only too happy to seek input on how it's running in various places . At the moment, I'm struggling on with a older single core athlon 64 workstation, and hope to get an Intel quad-core soon. It's possible VPC is complaining about the hardware virtualization. Have you tried disabling that?

P!

[mike]

Yes, I tried disabling hardware virtualization. I also tried to turn on
and off practially all options available, including com and lpt ports,
setting different memory sizes, etc. It could also be that I have
installed some VPC addons which helps integrating mouse (so it's not
locked by VPC), however, I don't think this is the case, because
the addon is usually installed into the OS running inside VPC.
However, I'm not sure. The thing is, everything boots okey, but
the shell wouldn't start. It might help if you add debug traces so we
can see where it hangs.


Michael