Date: 2003/03/08 11:12
From: "Rudy Koot" <rudykoot@hotmail.com>
To: carl@ggpl.org
>From: Carl Vilbrandt <carl@ggpl.org>
>To: rudykoot@trinary.tk
>Subject: Trinary - Hello!
>Date: Fri, 07 Mar 2003 15:04:18 +0900
>
>Hello! Rudy - I am Carl Vilbrandt...of the University of Aizu Computer
>Arts Lab.... introduction page = http://www.u-aizu.ac.jp/~vilb. In Japan.
>
>I am 57 and have never written an OS.... However I am teaching an OS
>class.... in a very special computer/digital university only ..... and
>would like to have as a class project have the students create an OS or
>work on an OS project like yours...... soooooo I would like to
>ask you a few questions.
>
>Unlike the US OS is only one class not two. How long did it take you
>to create Trinary....
> Could it be done as a project....
> Do you think it could be a good learning experience.....
>
>In general the students here learn by doing...and working in groups.
>
>Are you any good at leading a group? Could you lead a group of students to
>create an OS or even work on Trinary?
>By lead I mean give some step by step tasks for some one who has basic C
>programing skills?
>
>If you are interested in a cultural and learning Japanese language which is
>very difficult to learn.
>I would really like to have you in our lab some day....... We are doing
>some very exciting things that you might be interested in. All of the work
>we do is under the Greater Good Public Licenses agreement. see
>http://www.ggpl.org
Alright, how can I even begin to awnser al these questsion, well better
start with some info about myself
Name:
Rudy Koot
Country:
Holland / The Netherland (That's the small piece of land to the east of
England)
Age:
17
Languages:
Dutch, English (and a little German, French and Latin)
Now your questions:
How long did it tak me to create Trinary:
Well I did about a year of research reading books,browsing the Internet,
studiing Linux sources, learing assembler and more. I didn't write a single
piece of code (unless you count the assembler).
I've been working on it for three months now. But most of the time was lost
creating useless things like the writing a bootloader. Apart from that I'm
still going to school so I don't have too much time (but still alot). Also
alot of time is wasted by tracking down very small bugs. So rember that if
you write your own OS. Make sure you create alot of code that helps your
debug the OS. Normal debuggers don't work. Also you need a PC emulator (or a
SPARC if you write it for a SPARC obviously).
I there for suggest you start with TriOS 03.03.08 because
- It's writen in GCC
- It has a GOOD bootloader (Protected Mode + Paging)
- It has exception handling
- If your remove the scheduling code (I STRONGLY SUGGEST THIS, it was only
for testing purposes) it has no real OS features, allowing you to write an
OS from the ground up.
Could it be done as a project:
Yes, but only if you and your students are very motivated.
Is it a good learnign experience:
After you've written an OS you'll be familiar the compurer's most intimate
details. But it is also the perfect project to implement the tings your
learned the first year at university (balanced trees and so), you realy need
to use them alot. Because it is quite a large project you will have to learn
how to work as a team. Properly deviding tasks, correcting eachothers code,
thinking about interface before writing the code, write GOOD documentation
(that's more than just commenting your code).
Me leading a group of students:
I think you should have to be able to physicaly talk to eachother in the
beginning of the project, something that would be quite hard to do for me.
But I'll be happy to awnser any question you have.
I'd like to hear more from you, your projects and that lab so don't hesitate
to sent me another e-mail.
- Rudy Koot
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