Re: How the heck do I get started?

From: Someone Something
Date: Sat Aug 21 2010 - 15:32:44 EST


As for Ben's remark on Linux Device Drivers, I don't really have any
hardware that I could write a device driver for, would a USB mouse do,
or is that too complex? I do have a microcontroller or two lying
around, would be feasible to write a software bootloader for them?

On Sat, Aug 21, 2010 at 3:26 PM, Someone Something <fordhaivat@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I have joined the kernel newbies mailing list, and I am reading
> through the website.
> A long term (3 month) goal for me would be to fix up the 0.01 kernel
> so it compiles and boots.
>
> If you look at the code in head.s and boot.s, they are written in
> different styles, comments are different (| instead of # or ; ), do
> have to get rid of them to make it compile correctly?
>
> On Sat, Aug 21, 2010 at 2:25 PM, Lisa Milne <lisa@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> On Sat, 21 Aug 2010 13:56:19 -0400
>> Someone Something <fordhaivat@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>> Hello everyone,
>>>
>>> I am a pretty so so C programmer (I've written small networked stuff,
>>> a simple game engine, GUI tools etc.), I just do programming as a
>>> hobby and I'm a middle school student. I am interested in low level
>>> programming and I dabble in assembly, so, I downloaded the latest
>>> kernel source and the sheer size of it just blows my mind. How should
>>> I get started hacking on it? Writing modules, or just browsing through
>>> the code and trying to understand it? Any books you guys recommend?
>>> I'm pretty sure that you're sick and tired of these newb questions,
>>> so, I actually did some research, and I do have a few concrete
>>> questions.
>>> 1) Does the linux kernel use pages AND segments? Or just one of them?
>>> If its pages, how does it deal with the wasted memory at the end of
>>> each page? Very small pages?
>>> 2) I looked at the 0.01 kernel and it has this weird mix of nasm and
>>> gas syntax for its assembly. Why's that?
>>> 3) Is there some kind of tracker for the kernel where it lists bugs
>>> and stuff?
>>> 4) If I do have a patch I'd like to submit, how would I do this?
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks a lot,
>>> Dhaivat
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>>
>> Hi Dhaivat,
>>
>> I'd recommend you join the kernel newbies mailing list, and look around
>> their website, it's the best place for getting started with kernel
>> development.
>>
>> http://kernelnewbies.org/MailingList
>>
>> --
>> Lisa Milne <lisa@xxxxxxxxxx>
>>
>
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