OSDev.org

Hello,
I'm developing a OS for GameBoy Advance, then I want to share some of my knowledge on this wonderful platform with the others. Also show that every GameBoy Advance game is an OS, as you're always directly in contact with the hardware. You will never see a layer that will act like a OS when doing things for GBA, because of this that game development for this platform was a painful process.

Then I want to know if everyone will like if I put some good tutorials about this, from the ground-up. And also, where I should put it on the wiki(because I don't know the right place for something like this).

Best Regards,
Nathan Paulino Campos

Hi:

Why not just add the stuff to the wiki, then announce it? You'll need to augment the ARM section a bit, too. Create a category for your chipset and a description of the I/O architecture, memory subsystem, etc, and get going . You'll want to provide a description of how the video device works too.

--All the best
gravaera

Thanks very much. By the afternoon I will start my work at the wiki.

Take a look on my OSDev sample OS that I've posted: http://forum.osdev.org/viewtopic.php?p=178308#p178308

I will post the screenshot of my OS later.

Nathan wrote:Also show that every GameBoy Advance game is an OS, as you're always directly in contact with the hardware.

Your definition of an operating system is flawed.

Nathan wrote:You will never see a layer that will act like a OS when doing things for GBA, because of this that game development for this platform was a painful process.

I don't see how that can be considered a 'painful process'. The hardware of the GBA is so limited that it should be even easier to programme for the GBA than for MS-DOS.

Nathan wrote:Then I want to know if everyone will like if I put some good tutorials about this, from the ground-up. And also, where I should put it on the wiki(because I don't know the right place for something like this).

I wouldn't mind it, but I'm not the one here to decide if this place is suitable or not either. If anything the ideal place would be the ARM-section as gravaera said.

Nathan wrote:Take a look on my OSDev sample OS that I've posted: http://forum.osdev.org/viewtopic.php?p=178308#p178308

That is as much an operating system as all the Hello World kernel samples spread around over the internet. It is a start to an operating system, but it's not an operating system, to be exact.


Regards,
Stephan J.R. van Schaik.

I don't have troubles with having a GBA barebones - the only thing with a GBA platform is that it doesn't really have the peripherals to become a true OS - it can hardly store anything over sessions. So IMO anything you build for it will essentially wind up being a 10-in-1 game pack, over which you argue that the menu is an "operating system".

It is perfectly possible to swap cartridges during runtime a-la floppies, so one could write an 'OS' cartridge that loads itself into IWRAM or EWRAM (or even unused VRAM), monitors for the cartridge removal ISR, then loads data from the new cartridge.

I would actually be interested in this. Another section I would like to see is a set of PS3 OS information and a PS2 OS. Linux has been ported to both, and people with the appropriate systems (and appropriate mods) could take advantage of this, if only for entertainment purposes.

I could post documents for the Cell architecture if they're not already up there (will look). I don't know enough about the architectures to write anything more than a brief description though.

@Nathan
I'm curious, are you testing your OS on actual GameBoy Advance hardware, or just an emulator? (I assume you use an emulator for quick tests to ensure that certain features work.)

Cheers,
-Aaron

AaronMiller wrote:I'm curious, are you testing your OS on actual GameBoy Advance hardware, or just an emulator? (I assume you use an emulator for quick tests to ensure that certain features work.)

Cheers,
-naota

Yeah, I test on both. I use VirtualBoy Advance for some simple tests and my own GameBoy Advance SP to test them on the real hardware.

Is it possible to write to the card during runtime? If so, I don't see why it couldn't be an OS. An OS with limited input, but an OS.

If you're going to make a tut, here's some things I'd like to know:

• How to write pixels to screen.
• How to get keydowns.
• How to make a beep.
• How to read from cartridge.
• Assuming it's possible, how to write to cartridge.

P.S. Where are you getting you documentation from? I haven't looked for any, but I'd assume Nintendo would be pretty closed to outsiders wanting docs. Much like ARM is with their processors.

Unix 5, not an OS? Click the picture.

TylerAnon wrote:If you're going to make a tut, here's some things I'd like to know:

• How to write pixels to screen.
• How to get keydowns.
• How to make a beep.
• How to read from cartridge.
• Assuming it's possible, how to write to cartridge.

P.S. Where are you getting you documentation from? I haven't looked for any, but I'd assume Nintendo would be pretty closed to outsiders wanting docs. Much like ARM is with their processors.

The pixel plotting tutorial will be on the barebones, that will have a image displaying tutorial too. The keydowns, sounds and cartridge will be available soon.

TylerAnon wrote:Unix 5, not an OS? Click the picture.

Yeah, but that is a command-line. My OS is entire in graphical mode.