The overall role of an operating system is to provide the tools required for a software to execute, in order to simplify the life of a programmer in developping the tools and applications required to perform a specific task.  With that in mind, then comes the ability to run multiple simultaneous applications, protection and safeguards between these applications, how these applications will co-exist and have to share access to the same resources.

Looking back at the origin of Unununium, it all started back when V2_OS was identified as seriously lacking proper design and most of its developers agreed to go for a rewrite.  The only problem, these developers couldn’t agree on implementation specific ideas and the whole thing pretty much stagnated for some time.  Myself and a few folks went on to create our own “4th Axis” way of doing things.

4th Axis, as with V2_OS, was aimed to have as little barrier between the software application and the hardware, providing as little as possible abstraction so the entire system would run as fast as possible.  This contrast with common operating systems like Linux, Windows and MAC OS X where applications are severely limited in how they must access the hardware, that they will be pre-empted, they can’t access the memory of another process, etc.  Not that these things are bad, they are helping ensure stability in a world where virus writers are king of the hill.

With the introduction of Unununium, 4th Axis lost its kernel; at least in concept.  Some ideas were introduced like the ability to reload any component in the system no matter how critical it is; so that a reboot would in theory never be required and no component would have to permanently stay in memory.

So now I’m left deciding where this system is headed, whether I implement paging, multiple execution privilege levels, prevent applications from accessing other processes memory or simply allow the whole thing to simply run with as little hinderance as possible.

As there are many other choices all fighting to make the fastest and most stable secure operating system, and I’m not planning on having Unununium run on all machines on Earth and take over the world, the original ideas of V2_OS, which is the root of all this, should be maintained.

Unununium should be a set of tools and libraries to the software, not a security watchdog.  In this essence, Unununium should allow a software application to shut down task switching, or to inspect the entire system memory.  Similarly, it should also allow a software to perform I/O operations as desired.  After all, what the world need is a good “introduction” operating system which can be used to learn how computer works so that they can then step-up to more complex and security intensive systems.

Unununium should come with a set of tools to do multi-tasking, to debug a software, to trace memory accesses. It should come with libraries to access the network, setup the video card, graphic libraries, etc.  Out of all that, it should also allow an application to overtake any of these facets, to replace these components or disable them and even unload them from memory if required.  The idea, is for the operating system to be there to help and complement the software.

With this in mind, now I can concentrate on planning how this will all come together..

Well, if you are like me what happened is:

• You attempted to support everyone’s machine; at least everyone that wanted to help.  The problem is, you can’t possibly write drivers for all the hardware, hell even the companies making the hardware struggle to write proper drivers.  What to do?  Develop for your machine only, and let those contributor of yours come up with their own drivers, stick to your guns as you have no time to lose supporting other platforms.  If you really want everyone to be able to run your OS develop for some virtual machine, like Bochs.
• You probably had the next great idea, but that required a partial or even a complete rewrite; this can be a sign that you either are making great progress or that you completely lacked planning.  What you can do is evaluate if NOT doing these major changes would prevent your system from reaching its goals.  Develop the system to reach your original goals first and only then consider rewriting it differently.  Changing how the system completely behaves or how its designed affect the moral of your followers and contributors.  All the work they put in will have to be redone (even if only partially), they will have to learn the new system and they may even disagree with the changes.
• Some fans or contributor comes along and they love your system, and they convince you to extend the original goals to do more; like you know, become the Next Big Thing or their new desktop.  Well, Linux has been trying to do that for years and only started recently of getting a bit of hold on the desktop.  Don’t try to play the big leagues right away; continue on your path until you have the system completed to your original goals (unless they really and truely don’t make sense anymore).  Once your system is sufficiently developped to perform the duties you originally planned, you can sit down and start planning its expansion.  Trying to develop the system for too many uses right away will only spread your energy too far and you are going to run out of time.  Again, let your contributors contribute and let them come up with the modifications required to perform these extra duties.
• People hear about the system and they want to help you, but they require a little training… and then some more.  Don’t try to guide everyone by the hand and teach them how to write for your operating system.  Create documentation and when people ask a question, let other followers answer questions and concentrate on planning and developing.  If you notice a repeating question, then feel free to update your documentation; you created documentation right?
• You know your goals, but the road to them is a white canvas.  This could become problematic unless you have an innate talent for project planning and an awesome memory; but then if you are so good at project planning you probably would have a plan, wouldn’t you?  Create a roadmap, you should have documented steps for every 40 hours of labor or so.  Keep track at least a loose track of the time you spent on the various phase of each step and add them up; then re-adjust the remaining steps of your roadmap accordingly.  By seeing those milestones go by will allow you to keep track of your progress and encourage you to continue.  It will also allow your followers to have a better grasp of what’s yet to be completed (and maybe even help along).

Its no secret, writing an operating system is a very complex and long endeavour but you can get started really quickly with very little code. Unless you establish yourself clear goals and a proper roadmap to get there, your chances of success are limited.

The Internet is a big place and you can develop quite a following. A large following without proper planning can bring the project to a grind.  If you aren’t a good project planner, then keep the team to a very small crew, potentially yourself only.

Overall, remember that your operating system is a project.  As such, it should be managed like a project.  Reading books on project and team management may be as important or more important than your ability to write a programming language.

It is with pleasure that this site is now back up and running although it is with great sadness that I must admit this project hasn’t seen any development in quite a while.

This project has been a host of activities for quite some time, a hub for young developer enthusiasts to collaborate and learn the intricacies of operating system development.  For many of us, this was a jumping platform to the commercial world, for others, it was a fun project to hang with friends; for me it was both.

The sources of the project can be located on the CVS, as well as some downloadable images which are still in the download section of our SourceForge’s project page.

I hope to have some time to clean up the source code, generate some kind of neatly organized final release.  In the meantime, please feel free to send us your comments!