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  1. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    So I was wondering what developement processes are involved in development a full operating system. I know you have to get all the driver support figured out, file system rules, codec compatibility, language support and so much more.

    Or what about independent systems like LINUX? How much work goes into them?? The lines of code must be enormous and beyond comprehension with the amount bulk in computers these days. Makes dos look like kids play
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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  2. I can only image how long it takes to develop an OS. I am working with a major, major company (under NDA, cannot disclose anything else) just to update a program and we have been testing this for about a year and development started 19 months ago.
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    From scratch? Longer than you would care to think about.
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  4. Member Faustus's Avatar
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    Its quite insane really. An entire OS is a HUGE project. Thats why even as much as they suck MS is actually amazing to make a product as good as they do all things considered. Especially when you remember that they support 9/10ths of everything under the sun.
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    Originally Posted by Flaystus
    Its quite insane really. An entire OS is a HUGE project. Thats why even as much as they suck MS is actually amazing to make a product as good as they do all things considered. Especially when you remember that they support 9/10ths of everything under the sun.
    Yep!!!
    Like they say... until you can make something better.... don't bitch!!!!!
    When you make something better... then you have earned the right to criticize a certain program 8)
    Although i have also criticized alot of window's OS :P
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  6. Member Faustus's Avatar
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    Apple made OS X, its better. 8)
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    Originally Posted by Flaystus
    Apple made OS X, its better. 8)
    Actually, most of OSX is based on BSD. Apple just tweaked a Unix distro.
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  8. Member Faustus's Avatar
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    If you call building a new gui from the ground up around a Kernal "tweaking a distro" then yeah. But in general I don't remember unix being very Plug and Play.
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  9. Much of what you get when you purchase or install an OS these days is not really part of the OS in the strictest terms.

    An OS consists of a few things:
    Kernel/task scheduler
    File system
    Driver APIs (not the drivers themselves)
    primitives such as semaphores, critical sections etc
    interrupt handlers
    timer services
    memory manager
    and a few other bits and pieces.

    A fancy GUI is not part of the OS
    A Media player is not part of the OS
    An internet browser is not part of the OS (though the TCP/IP stack probably is)

    So the answer to the original question is something like "less than most people would claim but still a hell of a lot of man hours"

    There are 10 kinds of people in this world. Those that understand binary...
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    Originally Posted by Faustus
    Apple made OS X, its better. 8)
    OS X was written for Apple only. It should work better. I imagine if OS X was offered for every current Windows-based PC, you would hear of alot more problems... and I'm not just talking about security holes. Think of the almost infinite number of hardware configurations Windows has to work with. It's pretty amazing that Windows works at all.
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  11. Member Faustus's Avatar
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    I disagree. Those things HAVE become part of the OS in many ways.

    Its like saying the Radio is not part of the car, but they wouldn't sell many cars if the model came with no radio. Alot of people are going to go buy their own radios, but many more are not and obviously

    All those extra things are needed because of the people use their computers.

    I've been preaching for years about the concept of PC as a media delivery device. And it seems even MS is finally catching on. Kinda vindicating in a way.
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  12. Originally Posted by Faustus
    I disagree. Those things HAVE become part of the OS in many ways.
    A car is still a car without a radio. Just because a user demands it does not make it part of the car. The same is true of an OS. Go beyond the world of personal computers in to embedded systems and you will find many OS's in use which don't come with lots of unneccesary applications. Even things like Windows embedded versions don't come with Media player or Internet explorer!
    There are 10 kinds of people in this world. Those that understand binary...
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  13. Member Faustus's Avatar
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    Of course, they are not mainstream compuer OSes. Its still a car but remove enough of those things and see the reviews the car gets.
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  14. Originally Posted by Faustus
    Of course, they are not mainstream compuer OSes. Its still a car but remove enough of those things and see the reviews the car gets.
    The point I am trying to make is all those extra components are not really part of the OS. If they are missing and a competitor has them, at the same or similiar price, then you can expect the competitor to sell better. It still doesn't make them part of the OS, they are extras, applications, the computer will still function without them.
    There are 10 kinds of people in this world. Those that understand binary...
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  15. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by flaystus
    disagree. Those things HAVE become part of the OS in many ways.
    Well remember when Microsoft had to prove that Windows wouldn't work if Internet Explorer wasn't installed on it???? That didn't work out too well in one of their many lawsuits
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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  16. Member Faustus's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by bugster
    Originally Posted by Faustus
    Of course, they are not mainstream compuer OSes. Its still a car but remove enough of those things and see the reviews the car gets.
    The point I am trying to make is all those extra components are not really part of the OS. If they are missing and a competitor has them, at the same or similiar price, then you can expect the competitor to sell better. It still doesn't make them part of the OS, they are extras, applications, the computer will still function without them.
    Your basicly pulling a dictionary definition. What I'm saying is to the public it is not so set in stone and what they want defines what the product is.
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  17. Knew It All Doramius's Avatar
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    You looking to create your own OS there Yoda? Do like it's been done for the past 15+ years. Use the stuff that's out there already and tweak/build upon it. Maybe change a few things to make it more your own. It's like using the material of a Sauder school desk, and building a Home entertainment center that holds a 52"TV. And if you're worried it'll end up like s**t, the Sauder material was s**t in the first place. :/
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  18. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    No I'm not going to make my own os doramius

    Just curious and its way too complicated to conceive of
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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  19. Video Restorer lordsmurf's Avatar
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    For as much as people complain about Windows coming with too many programs, I'm always surprised by how packed full of crap those Linux distros are. Same for Apple computers.

    I think integrated browsers, media players and other things are fine. It's nice to have a default system as part of the base OS install. It's not asking much. And if you don't like them, install an alternate and don't use the other ones. You can always delete the shortcuts and hide the EXE's and folders where the integrated component are. Change your file attributes to use the alternates. Problem solved.

    I cannot even fathom how long creating an OS takes. I would assume they start by expanding on old code and replacing things piece by piece. Even a "from scratch" OS is based on some sort of programming language, right? It's not just machine code. This is so out of my league, but an interesting topic.
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  20. Member thevoelk's Avatar
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    I had to do a simple one in college. It was a mix of assembler, C++, and VB. I'm sure more advanced ones have SQL and other programming languages involved, and the programming is a lot more refined than what we did. It was pretty cool to actually do it. If I remember right, Windows 98 has over 11 million lines of code, one can only imagine what XP/Vista has.
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  21. Knew It All Doramius's Avatar
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    I'll start counting next week. See you all in about 20 years with an estimated count. :P

    New operating systems are just revised old ones with strong improvements. It's taken around 60 some years to get computers working the way they do, and each time engineers see room for improving, they do it. THat's how you get version 2.1.1.5.3.7.8.4
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