MyOS v1.2.0

MyOS v1.2.0 - Hardware Information, Scrollback and Command History

MyOS v1.2.0 turns the shell into a much more useful tool. The kernel can now read the boot information from GRUB, identify the CPU, list PCI devices and read the clock. The console gains a working cursor and scrollback, and the shell gains command history.

MyOS is a minimal 32-bit x86 hobby operating system written in C and assembly.

What's New

System and Hardware Information

• meminfo: shows lower and upper memory, where the kernel is loaded, and the full memory map reported by GRUB, with the total usable RAM.
• cpuinfo: shows the CPU vendor and model name, family/model/stepping, supported features (SSE, AVX, and others), and whether MyOS is running inside a virtual machine.
• lspci: scans the PCI bus and lists devices such as network, storage and graphics controllers, with vendor and device IDs.
• sysinfo: a one-screen summary of the OS, CPU, memory, bootloader, PCI device count and virtualization.
• date: now reads the real date and time from the RTC clock instead of reporting that it is unavailable.

Console

• Working cursor: the blinking hardware cursor now follows the text as you type. It is hidden while you are scrolled back.
• Scrollback: the console keeps 275 lines of history. Use PgUp and PgDn to scroll, and Home and End to jump to the oldest and newest output. A [ SCROLLBACK -N ] label shows while you are looking at old output, and typing returns you to the live screen.
• Colors: headings, labels, the prompt and error messages are now colored.
• Better backspace: backspace now works correctly across a line that wraps onto the next row.

Shell and Keyboard

• Command history: press Up and Down to recall previous commands. The new history command lists them (the last 16 are kept).
• More keys supported: arrow keys, Page Up/Down, Home, End and Delete are now decoded, and Caps Lock works.
• reboot: now restarts the computer through the keyboard controller instead of printing a not-implemented message.
• Updated help: lists every command and the navigation keys.

Build System

• make iso builds the bootable ISO and make run builds it and starts QEMU. The GRUB tool is detected automatically (grub2-mkrescue or grub-mkrescue).
• The kernel version is now consistently reported as 1.2.0 by version and about.

Command Reference

Command	Description
help	List available commands
about	About MyOS
version	Show the kernel version
sysinfo	System summary
meminfo	Memory size, kernel location and memory map
cpuinfo	CPU vendor, model, features and virtualization
lspci	List PCI devices
date	Date and time from the RTC clock
history	Commands typed so far
echo <text>	Print text to the screen
clear	Clear the screen and scrollback
reboot	Restart the computer
halt / shutdown	Halt the CPU

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
Up / Down	Recall previous commands
PgUp / PgDn	Scroll the screen up or down
Home / End	Jump to the oldest or newest output
Backspace	Delete the previous character

Known Limitations

• Memory management: the memory map is read and displayed, but there is no page allocator, heap or virtual memory manager yet.
• Line editing: the Left and Right arrow keys do not move inside the command line yet. Use Backspace to correct mistakes.
• Clock: date shows the RTC time, which is usually UTC (in a virtual machine it follows the host clock). There is no timezone support.
• PCI names: lspci recognizes only common vendors and device classes. Others are shown as "Unknown vendor" or "Other device".
• Scrollback size: 275 lines. clear also erases the scrollback.
• Panic handler: kernel_panic exists but is not yet called automatically by other kernel components.
• Interrupts: the keyboard is still read by polling. Interrupt-driven input is planned.

Downloads

File	Description
myos-1.2.0.iso	Bootable ISO image
myos-1.2.0-source.zip	Complete source code, with build instructions in the README
SHA256SUMS.txt	SHA-256 checksums to verify the downloads

Quick Start

QEMU

qemu-system-i386 -cdrom myos-1.2.0.iso -m 128M

Once it boots, try sysinfo, meminfo, cpuinfo and lspci.

VirtualBox / VMware: create a 32-bit Other/Unknown virtual machine with at least 64 MB of RAM and no virtual hard disk, attach myos-1.2.0.iso as the optical drive, and start the virtual machine.

Real hardware: write the ISO image to a USB drive or CD and boot in BIOS / legacy mode.

Note: always take care when writing images to physical drives. Selecting the wrong device can erase existing data.

Verify Your Download

sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS.txt

Build from Source

Extract myos-1.2.0-source.zip and open a terminal in the project directory.

# Build the kernel
make clean
make

# Build the bootable ISO
make iso

# Build and run in QEMU
make run

If you prefer the manual steps:

cp kernel.elf iso/boot/kernel.elf
grub2-mkrescue -o myos.iso iso        # or: grub-mkrescue -o myos.iso iso
qemu-system-i386 -cdrom myos.iso -m 128M

Build requirements: GCC with 32-bit compilation support, GNU Make, GRUB utilities, xorriso and QEMU.

Fedora:

sudo dnf install gcc glibc-devel.i686 make qemu-system-x86 grub2-tools grub2-tools-extra xorriso

Debian / Ubuntu:

sudo apt install build-essential gcc-multilib grub-pc-bin xorriso mtools qemu-system-x86

Upgrading from v1.1.0

No changes to the boot process are needed. v1.2.0 adds new source files (multiboot.c, cpu.c, pci.c, rtc.c and keys.h) and updates boot.S, kernel.c, console.c, keyboard.c, shell.c, linker.ld and the Makefile. Replace your project with the v1.2.0 source archive and rebuild with make clean && make.

Full Changelog

MyOS v1.1.0 to v1.2.0 changelog

License

MyOS is released under the MIT License.

MyOS v1.1.0

MyOS v1.1.0 - Shell Improvements and Kernel Panic Handling

MyOS v1.1.0 focuses on improving the shell experience, making system information more accessible, and introducing the foundation for kernel panic handling.

MyOS is a minimal 32-bit x86 hobby operating system written in C and assembly. This update brings a redesigned welcome banner, a cleaner help screen, seven new shell commands, improved command-line editing, and a new kernel panic handler.

What's New

Improved Shell Experience

• Seven new commands: version, meminfo, cpuinfo, date, whoami, history and shutdown.
• Redesigned help screen: commands are now displayed in a clean, titled and aligned table.
• New welcome banner: the shell greets users with an updated startup banner.
• Improved about command: displays information about MyOS, its implementation in C and x86 assembly, and the kernel version.
• Friendlier error messages: unknown commands now suggest using help to view available commands.
• Clearer shutdown feedback: the halt and shutdown commands display a message informing users that they can close the emulator.

Kernel Improvements

• New kernel panic handler: introduced kernel_panic(message) in src/panic.c.
• Panic screen: displays a MYOS KERNEL PANIC screen along with the supplied error message.
• Safe halt behavior: disables interrupts and halts the CPU when the panic handler is invoked.

The panic handler is available for use by kernel code but is not yet connected to any automatic error-handling paths.

Fixes and Refinements

• Backspace fix: corrected command-line editing so that deleting a character also cleanly removes it from the screen.
• Improved consistency: refined shell messages and command descriptions for a more consistent user experience.

Command Reference

Command	Description
help	Display available commands
about	Display information about MyOS
version	Show the kernel version
clear	Clear the screen
echo	Print text to the screen
meminfo	Display memory subsystem status
cpuinfo	Display architecture and kernel information
date	Display clock status
whoami	Show the current environment
history	Display command-history status
halt	Halt the CPU
shutdown	Halt the CPU
reboot	Not implemented yet

Quick Start

QEMU

qemu-system-i386 -cdrom myos-1.1.0.iso -m 128M

VirtualBox / VMware: create a 32-bit Other/Unknown virtual machine with at least 64 MB of RAM and no virtual hard disk, attach myos-1.1.0.iso as the optical drive, and start the virtual machine.

Real hardware: write the ISO image to a USB drive or CD and boot in BIOS / legacy mode.

Note: always take care when writing images to physical drives. Selecting the wrong device can erase existing data.

Verify Your Download

sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS.txt

Build from Source

Extract myos-1.1.0-source.zip and open a terminal in the project directory.

# Clean previous build artifacts
make clean
Build the kernel
make
Verify Multiboot compatibility (optional)
grub2-file --is-x86-multiboot kernel.elf && echo "Multiboot OK"
Copy the kernel into the ISO directory
cp kernel.elf iso/boot/kernel.elf
Build the bootable ISO
grub2-mkrescue -o myos.iso iso
Run MyOS in QEMU
qemu-system-i386 -cdrom myos.iso -m 128M

If your system uses grub-mkrescue instead of grub2-mkrescue, use that command to build the ISO. Likewise, use grub-file instead of grub2-file if needed.

Build requirements: GCC with 32-bit compilation support, GNU Make, GRUB utilities, xorriso and QEMU.

Fedora:

sudo dnf install gcc glibc-devel.i686 make qemu-system-x86 grub2-tools grub2-tools-extra xorriso

Debian / Ubuntu:

sudo apt install build-essential gcc-multilib grub-pc-bin xorriso mtools qemu-system-x86

Upgrading from v1.0.0

No changes to the boot process or build requirements are needed. Download the v1.1.0 source archive and follow the build instructions above. The new src/panic.c file is already included in the Makefile.

Full Changelog

MyOS v1.0.0 to v1.1.0 changelog

License

MyOS is released under the MIT License.

Thanks for checking out MyOS. More kernel functionality, memory management and shell improvements are planned for future releases.

# MyOS v1.1.0 - Shell Improvements and Kernel Panic Handling

MyOS v1.1.0 focuses on improving the shell experience, making system information more accessible, and introducing the foundation for kernel panic handling.

MyOS is a minimal 32-bit x86 hobby operating system written in C and assembly. This update brings a redesigned welcome banner, a cleaner help screen, seven new shell commands, improved command-line editing, and a new kernel panic handler.

What's New

Improved Shell Experience

• Seven new commands: version, meminfo, cpuinfo, date, whoami, history and shutdown.
• Redesigned help screen: commands are now displayed in a clean, titled and aligned table.
• New welcome banner: the shell greets users with an updated startup banner.
• Improved about command: displays information about MyOS, its implementation in C and x86 assembly, and the kernel version.
• Friendlier error messages: unknown commands now suggest using help to view available commands.
• Clearer shutdown feedback: the halt and shutdown commands display a message informing users that they can close the emulator.

Kernel Improvements

• New kernel panic handler: introduced kernel_panic(message) in src/panic.c.
• Panic screen: displays a MYOS KERNEL PANIC screen along with the supplied error message.
• Safe halt behavior: disables interrupts and halts the CPU when the panic handler is invoked.

The panic handler is available for use by kernel code but is not yet connected to any automatic error-handling paths.

Fixes and Refinements

• Backspace fix: corrected command-line editing so that deleting a character also cleanly removes it from the screen.
• Improved consistency: refined shell messages and command descriptions for a more consistent user experience.

Command Reference

Command	Description
help	Display available commands
about	Display information about MyOS
version	Show the kernel version
clear	Clear the screen
echo <text>	Print text to the screen
meminfo	Display memory subsystem status
cpuinfo	Display architecture and kernel information
date	Display clock status
whoami	Show the current environment
history	Display command-history status
halt	Halt the CPU
shutdown	Halt the CPU
reboot	Not implemented yet

Known Limitations

Several of the new commands are placeholders that report planned features honestly rather than faking them:

• Memory management: meminfo reports that the heap, page allocator and virtual memory manager are not implemented. Reading the bootloader memory map is planned.
• Clock support: date has no clock support yet and does not read a real-time clock (RTC).
• Command history: history shows session status only. Storing and recalling previous commands is not implemented.
• Reboot support: reboot is not implemented and currently displays a message saying so.
• Panic integration: the kernel panic handler exists but is not yet invoked automatically by other kernel components.

Downloads

File	Description
myos-1.1.0.iso	Bootable ISO image
myos-1.1.0-source.zip	Complete source code, with build instructions in the README
SHA256SUMS.txt	SHA-256 checksums to verify the downloads

Quick Start

QEMU

qemu-system-i386 -cdrom myos-1.1.0.iso -m 128M

VirtualBox / VMware: create a 32-bit Other/Unknown virtual machine with at least 64 MB of RAM and no virtual hard disk, attach myos-1.1.0.iso as the optical drive, and start the virtual machine.

Real hardware: write the ISO image to a USB drive or CD and boot in BIOS / legacy mode.

Note: always take care when writing images to physical drives. Selecting the wrong device can erase existing data.

Verify Your Download

sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS.txt

Build from Source

Extract myos-1.1.0-source.zip and open a terminal in the project directory.

# Clean previous build artifacts
make clean

# Build the kernel
make

# Verify Multiboot compatibility (optional)
grub2-file --is-x86-multiboot kernel.elf && echo "Multiboot OK"

# Copy the kernel into the ISO directory
cp kernel.elf iso/b...

MyOS v1.0.0

MyOS v1.0.0

The first public release of MyOS, a minimal 32-bit x86 operating system written from scratch in C and assembly. It boots through GRUB (Multiboot) and starts an interactive command-line shell.

Highlights

• Multiboot boot: loaded by GRUB, with a custom entry point and kernel stack
• VGA text console: 80x25 output with scrolling, backspace and tab support
• PS/2 keyboard driver: scancode set 1 with Shift support
• Interactive shell: line editing and the built-in commands below

Shell commands

Command	Description
help	List available commands
about	Show information about MyOS
clear	Clear the screen
echo	Print text to the screen
halt	Halt the CPU

Quick start

QEMU

qemu-system-i386 -cdrom myos-1.0.0.iso -m 128M

VirtualBox / VMware

1. Create a new virtual machine: type Other, version Other/Unknown (32-bit).
2. Allocate at least 64 MB of RAM. No hard disk is needed.
3. Attach myos-1.0.0.iso to the virtual optical drive.
4. Start the VM. MyOS boots straight to the shell prompt.

Real hardware: write the ISO to a USB stick or CD and boot in BIOS / legacy mode.

Verify your download

sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS.txt

Build from source

Unzip myos-1.0.0-source.zip and follow the build steps in README.md.

License

Released under the MIT License.