Some proof of the concept: ClassiOS
(http://www.petros-project.com/index.php/products/classios.html) was written in Delphi. Not an open source project, but it shows it can be done.

Christo

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Some proof of the concept: ClassiOS (http://www.petros-project.com/index.php/products/classios.html) was written in Delphi.

Thanks for pointing this out, I didn't know that one yet.

Not an open source project, but it shows it can be done.

Sure it can - but is it worth time?

One possibility beeing worth the effort might be some sort of "micro OS" for use on embedded computers with ARM or AVR cpu. This would require writing a small RTL but the overall work is a lot smaller than writing a full OS.

But if one needs a TCP stack or display driver or sth. like that the point has come where linking in foreign code starts and the purity of object pascal is gone.

Marc

Exactly. Other that a "cool" or "wow" factor. :-)

I'd say if whoever has enough drive to try something like this, simply start by implementing the kernel. Something relatively simple so that your PC can boot using a Object Pascal written kernel. No matter if there is no user interaction, shell or user level programs. Just show that you CAN write a bootable kernel in Object Pascal would already achieve the "wow" factor.

Regards,
- Graeme -

_______________________________________________
fpGUI - a cross-platform Free Pascal GUI toolkit
http://opensoft.homeip.net/fpgui/

I have a question about this, relating to what the free pascal compiler can actually do ?

Does free pascal compiler actually implement and support the entire x86 instruction set/registers ?

Since "application space" is different from "kernel space".

For example:

asm
    // full instruction set support possible ?
end;

Bye,
Skybuck.

I think others to this list may have seen my prior post on how this 'challenge' of writing a OS kernel in Object Pascal could be met using the Unix/Linux history as a guide.

It probably wouldn't be worth the additional effort needed to write the entire kernel in Object Pascal in much the same way the neither the Unix or Linux kernels were written entirely in C.

What would be interesting in a OP/Kernel would be how the a modern microkernel design could implemented in Object Pascal and the programming techniques used
to follow the current OS system paradigms (including data structures).

I'd be interested in how the OP system made the trade-offs in terms of performance versus size (code/data), how portable it could be (to other processor architectures) and then a comparison of it speed for various tasks.

I'd be more interested in implementing something new (and useful) using OP features. Something like what A2 (formerly Bluebottle) OS do using Active Oberon:
- Kernel level garbage collector
- It's FAST (a good prove that object orientation and garbage collection don't have to result in a slow system like most Java-based OSes)
- Portable (can run on other OSes as application)

That's why I start making one. I hope I can implement something like (or better than) that.

It is supposed to support it and since the FPC assembler tables are derived from the nasm ones, I guess they are rather complete.