Chapter 13 — Mutexes, Semaphores, and a Console Lock

Chapter 13 — Mutexes, Semaphores, and a Console Lock
This entry is part 13 of 35 in the series Writing A Linux Style Operating System From Scratch

In Chapter 12, we added wait queues and blocking keyboard input: Now we need synchronization primitives that ordinary kernel code can use. This chapter adds: A mutex provides mutual exclusion: only one thread may hold the protected resource at a time. OSDev describes a mutex as a mutual-exclusion mechanism, similar to a binary semaphore, used

Chapter 12 – Wait Queues and Blocking Keyboard Input

Chapter 12 – Wait Queues and Blocking Keyboard Input
This entry is part 12 of 35 in the series Writing A Linux Style Operating System From Scratch

In Chapter 11, we added the first blocking primitive: That gave the scheduler a way to remove a thread from the ready queue until a future timer tick. Now we need a more general primitive: This is the foundation for real kernel I/O. A keyboard reader should not spin like this: It should block: This

Chapter 11 — Blocking Primitives, Sleep Queues, and Scheduler Hygiene

Chapter 11 — Blocking Primitives, Sleep Queues, and Scheduler Hygiene
This entry is part 11 of 35 in the series Writing A Linux Style Operating System From Scratch

In Chapter 10, we added timer-driven preemption: Now we need the next scheduler capability: blocking. A runnable thread competes for CPU time. A blocked or sleeping thread does not. OSDev describes a blocking process as one that waits for an event, such as a semaphore or message, and is removed from the active scheduling queue

Chapter 10 — Timer-Driven Preemptive Multitasking

This entry is part 10 of 35 in the series Writing A Linux Style Operating System From Scratch

In Chapter 9, we built cooperative multitasking: That works, but it has a major weakness: A thread like that can monopolize the CPU forever. This chapter adds the next step: timer-driven preemption. With preemptive scheduling: OSDev describes preemptive multitasking as scheduling where an interrupt, usually timer-driven, allows the kernel to take control away from the

Chapter 9 — Cooperative Multitasking and Kernel Threads

This entry is part 9 of 35 in the series Writing A Linux Style Operating System From Scratch

We now have enough foundation to start multitasking: This chapter adds the first scheduler. Not a preemptive scheduler yet. A cooperative scheduler. That means each kernel thread keeps running until it voluntarily calls: “` cthread_yield(); textkernel thread objectper-thread kernel stackready queuex86 context switch assemblythread_create()thread_yield()thread_exit()round-robin cooperative schedulingtwo-thread test textcreate two kernel threadsswitch between them cooperativelyprove both

Chapter 7 — A Real Virtual Memory Mapping Layer

Chapter 7 — A Real Virtual Memory Mapping Layer
This entry is part 7 of 35 in the series Writing A Linux Style Operating System From Scratch

In Chapter 5 we enabled paging, but only with a fixed identity map: In Chapter 6 we built a heap, but it still had an important weakness: because only the first 16 MiB were identity-mapped. Now we fix the architectural problem. This chapter adds a small virtual memory manager, or VMM: This lets the kernel

Chapter 6 — Building the First Kernel Heap

Chapter 6 — Building the First Kernel Heap
This entry is part 6 of 35 in the series Writing A Linux Style Operating System From Scratch

In Chapter 5, we enabled paging with a simple identity map: That gave us a working paged kernel, but not yet a comfortable way to allocate variable-sized objects. The physical memory manager gives us whole pages: But kernel code usually needs smaller objects: So this chapter builds the first kernel heap. We will keep it

Writing a Linux-style Operating System From Scratch

Writing a Linux-style Operating System From Scratch
This entry is part 1 of 35 in the series Writing A Linux Style Operating System From Scratch

Today, we are beginning a new article series: “Writing a Linux-Style Operating System From Scratch.” In this series, we will walk step by step through the process of creating our own operating system from the ground up. Many operating system tutorials stop shortly after the system boots and prints a simple message on the screen.

Introduction to Code Pages: Legacy Character Encoding Systems

Introduction to Code Pages: Legacy Character Encoding Systems

Code pages were once the backbone of character encoding in computers, providing a way to map binary values to text in different languages. However, they had significant limitations, particularly when dealing with multiple languages at once. This article explores the history of code pages, how they were used, and why they have been largely replaced by the modern Unicode standard, which offers a universal character set for all languages.

Implementing Regular Expressions (RegEx) from Scratch in Python

Implementing Regular Expressions (RegEx) from scratch in Python provides a deeper understanding of how RegEx works. This tutorial guides you step-by-step through creating a RegEx engine using finite automata, covering essential RegEx operations, converting RegEx to NFA using Thompson’s Algorithm, and building a full-featured RegEx engine.