FYSOS: The System Core (Fysos: Operating System Design)

This book is Volume 1 of the series, FYSOS: Operating System Design, and will take the reader from the point the computer boots up, through the boot code, through the file system loader, and then to the kernel. It explains in detail, each step of what it takes to create a minimum working, multi-threading operating system. Includes chapters on how to retrieve information from the BIOS, find partitions on the media, move to 32-bit protected mode, creating a memory manager, a task scheduler, and other necessities of operating system design.

The available CD-ROM (upon request) contains complete source code of this minimal operating system, and many utilities for use in your development. This book also includes suggestions, examples, and other source code to help you build your operating system.

This book, and its continued series of books, does not expect you to build the next great wonder of the computer world. It simply will help you with your interest in controlling the computer’s hardware, from the point the BIOS releases execution to your boot code to the point of a fully working Graphical User Interface.

It is not required that you know much about operating system design, though a strong knowledge of x86 Assembly Language programming and a moderate knowledge of an Intel®/AMD® x86 computer’s hardware is expected to use this book.