OS2 World Community Forum
Public Discussions => General Discussion => Topic started by: RickCHodgin on December 04, 2017, 10:49:03 pm
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I'm planning to purchase this system to continue development on:
VIA EPIA-M910 (https://www.viatech.com/en/boards/mini-itx/epia-m910/) for US$250.
If anybody has a different machine they'd like me to do development on please let me know. I'll be placing the order before Christmas.
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My goals are to get ES/2 working well on this lower-end system, so that it will really zoom on faster computers.
If any of you would like to purchase this machine, then you can become testers for me throughout ES/1 and ES/2 development. The first pre-alpha release is planned to be ready sometime early next year (James 4:15).
The first versions of a pre-ES/2 kernel (codenamed "Al-x" (pronounced "Alex")) should ready several months after that, and will include a basic environment to test and stress the various kernel components. This will include developing all of the features that OS/2's kernel supports today, plus extensions and allowances for those abilities it does not provide for. The stress testing will be comprehensive and rigorous. At that point, Al-x will be a stand-alone kernel in and of its own right suitable for branching off into any new OS that people want to design from that base.
And then after I get to that point, focus will be made to provide the full API interface necessary to let the existing OS/2 binaries boot and run natively as they do in OS/2 today, but when running in the ES/2 kernel. My goal is 100% compatibility, 100% support of all existing software, 100% ability to run on any PentiumPro-or-later CPU.
I would like to ask for developers to come on board and help me when I get to the point where I'm developing Al-x and ES/2. I know together we can achieve that which will give us a real and powerful open source 64-bit OS/2 future (through ES/2).
Note: I am doing all of this because the Lord has blessed me with these abilities, and I am giving the best of what He first gave me back to Him. I am doing it expressly and purposefully in His name, striving with great passion to do it right, and to do a fantastic job at all points. My goal is nothing less than the best I have to offer. No shortcuts. No half-thought-out ideas. And I'm not above admitting where I've made mistakes, back-tracking, and coming back and doing it right. I want eyes on what I'm doing so people can help steer and guide me. I am one man and I can make mistakes, but with many working together it's much harder to make mistakes over the long haul.
Note: Please consider helping in a like manner. Even if you don't know low-level software development, if you have a desire to work on a project like this, and a desire to learn, I can teach you. I'm more than happy to put in the time for serious individuals.
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To be clear and succinct: My goals are to create the Al-x kernel as a stand-alone kernel.
Once created it can serve as a springboard into any other operating system people want to develop.
I will create a fork off Al-x which will then be used to create the ES/2 kernel, which I intend to be a fully compatible kernel with OS/2's kernel. I'm currently looking through much literature to get a comprehensive view of what the kernel requires. I am finding a lot of documentation, and even a lot of documentation on internal data structures, so it's looking like it's going to be possible.
My goals are (1) get Al-x working stand-alone. (2) Port Al-x to es2krnl, and get OS/2 booting with the ES/2 kernel. (3) Begin writing replacements for all of the OS/2 programs one-by-one.
Part of (1) will include working on base compilers and assemblers to allow compatible ES/2 binaries to be built for (3).