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Anonymous — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:15:24 CDT

(Text in red = Comments)

We'd love to get your book recommendations. Also, we haven't published many book reviews lately. Are you willing to write a review? Contact me.

	A true classic from Andrew Tanenbaum. A must-have for every serious operating system developer.BUY
	Modern Operating Systems, 3/E Andrew S. Tanenbaum
	An expanded Part II of Tanenbaum's Distributed Operating Systems, covering material from the original book, including communication, synchronization, processes, and file systems, with new material on distributed shared memory, real-time and fault-tolerant distributed systems, and ATM networks. Contains case studies in Amoeba, Mach, Chorus, and OSF/DCE. This is a serious book.BUY
	This second edition is updated to reflect recent advances in the field. Emphasizes design approaches such as openness, scalability, transparency, reliability, and security, and introduces new technologies including ATM networking, internetworks, multicast protocols, and distributed memory sharing. Includes case studies of networking and interprocess communication, distributed file systems, name services, and replication.BUY
	The one book regarding compiler writing. A great resource and an answer to pretty complex questions.BUY
	Now fully up to date and even more comprehensive than before, this latest 4th edition of The Indispensable PC Hardware Book will continue to amaze and delight with its detailed explanation of every aspect of PC hardware. Whether you're a newcomer to the field or a veteran systems programmer you'll relish the very latest scoop on hot topics including Pentium Pro, the PCI Chipset and SCSI III.BUY
	Linux Kernel Development details the design and implementation of the Linux kernel, presenting the content in a manner that is beneficial to those writing and developing kernel code. While the book discusses topics that are theoretical, it does so with the goal of assisting programmers so they better understand the topics and become more efficient and productive in their coding.BUY
	A textbook for an introductory course in operating systems at the advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate level, providing a clear description of the fundamental concepts that underlie operating systems. It assumes familiarity with general computer organization and a high-level language. This edition is revised to include new and updated information, examples, diagrams, and an expanded bibliography.BUY
	Also from Andrew Tanenbaum, comes complete coverage of operating systems, plus all the design and implementation issues with a complete operating system--MINIX.BUY

OSNews Book Reviews
This list will be relatively easily updated by entering the links from this search

OSNews, frequently, reviews a number of technical books including,

"The Best of FreeBSD Basics" - Reviewed on 2008-07-02
"Foundations of GTK+ Development" - Reviewed on 2007-05-23
"The Book of JavaScript" - Reviewed on 2007-02-21
"Designing the User Interface" - Reviewed on 2006-07-07
"User Mode Linux" - Reviewed on 2006-05-14
"Practical Mono" - Reviewed on 2006-02-09
"The Book of Postfix" - Reviewed on 2006-02-07
"Mac OS X Maximum Security" - Reviewed on 2006-02-09
"Linux Debugging and Performance Tuning" - Reviewed on 2005-12-02
"Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment" - Reviewed on 2005-10-04
"Apple I Replica Creation: Back to the Garage" - Reviewed on 2005-03-23
"Linux Kernel Development, 2nd edition" - Reviewed on 2005-03-17
"AppleScript: The Missing Manual" - Reviewed on 2005-02-16
"Mono: A Developer's Notebook" - Reviewed on 2004-10-31
"Moving to the Linux Business Desktop By M10arcel Gagn" - Reviewed on 2004-10-13
"Two Technical BSD Books Reviewed" - Reviewed on 2004-08-12
"A Practical Guide to Red Hat Linux" - Reviewed on 2004-08-10
"Learning Python" - Reviewed on 2004-07-22
"Understanding the Linux Virtual Memory Manager" - Reviewed on 2004-06-30
"The Official GNOME 2 Developer's Guide" - Reviewed on 2004-05-25
"Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X, Second Edition" - Reviewed on 2004-05-24
"Linux Pocket Guide" - Reviewed on 2004-04-16
"Best Damn Windows Server 2003 Book Period" - Reviewed on 2004-03-10
"C++ GUI Programming with Qt 3" - Reviewed on 2004-03-10
"Spidering Hacks" - Reviewed on 2004-01-14
"Code Reading: An Open Source Perspective" - Reviewed on 2003-11-27
"Linux Kernel Development" - Reviewed on 2003-11-06
"Core Mac OS X and Unix Programming" - Reviewed on 2003-07-16
"Maximum Wireless Security" - Reviewed on 2003-02-20
"UNIX Unleashed, Fourth Edition" - Reviewed on 2002-08-11
"MultiTool Linux" - Reviewed on 2002-06-07
"Solaris 8 Administrator's Guide" - Reviewed on 2002-06-06
"Learning Red Hat Linux, 2nd Edition" - Reviewed on 2002-05-06
"Understanding Open Source Software Development" - Reviewed on 2002-04-30
"Mac OS X Unleashed" - Reviewed on 2002-04-16
"MacOSX - The Missing Manual" - Reviewed on 2002-03-12
"Programming with Qt, 2nd Edition" - Reviewed on 2002-03-04
"Learning Carbon" and "Learning Cocoa" - Reviewed on 2002-02-13
"Practical PostgreSQL" - Reviewed on 2002-02-06
"FreeBSD Unleashed" - Reviewed on 2002-01-30
"Linux System Administration - A User's Guide" - Reviewed on 2002-01-24
"Cocoa Programming for MacOSX" - Reviewed on 2002-01-04

How to Write Your Own OS

So, You Want to Write an Operating System

We could really use some new links here.

In6.org - digg-like Operating System resources site

(These links are a "must see" if you are after OS-related specs, docs etc.)

alt.os.development (Google Groups)
Alt OS Development FAQ
OSDev.org (Merged with the old megatokyo.)
Chris' OS Center
Bona Fide OS Development
OSDev News (stagnant since ~2006)
QNX System Architecture Guide (a perfect introduction into microkernel OS design)
Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition (Open Books Project)
Write your own Operating System (Dark Fiber)

OS Source

SiliconBunny

Microsoft Windows

BSD

Syllable

Syllable

OS/2

QNX RTP

Amiga

Other Code

FreeBSD source code
GeekOS source code (GPLv2)
Haiku source code
Linux kernel source code (GPLv2)
LoseThos (public domain, source can only be viewed and compiled natively. Boot the CD to look around.)
NewOS source code(stagnant since ~2005)
Prex source code (BSD)
QNX RTP source code (Realtime Microkernel OS, perfectly suited for concurrency based on the Actor pattern)
Syllable source code(Multithreaded C++ design)
Windows kernel source code (Academic access)
SpaceNet

Resource Links

Resource links for several mainstream operating systems

GNU/Linux

Solaris:

http://www.sun.com

AIX

Apple Macintosh/MacOS X

BeOS, Zeta, Haiku

Irix

Microsoft Windows

Syllable

Syllable

OS/2

BSD

QNX RTP

Amiga

Other

Aros - open source, clone of AmigaOS 3.1
DexOS - open source, 32-bit Dos type OS
FreeVMS - open source OpenVMS clone
GeekOS - open source (GPLv2), C, x86, educational
GNU Hurd - GNU project's replacement for the Unix kernel
IBM i OS - big business OS for big iron
JNode - open source java OS
KolibriOS - fork of MenuetOS
LoseThos - open source, 64-bit X86, public domain

Menuetos - open source, monolithic kernel, all-assembler
MikeOS - open source, 16-bit X86, assembler, learning OS
Minix3 - open source, microkernel, C, teaching OS, also intended for embedded use
Prex - open source (BSD), microkernel, C, x86, arm, embedded use
Plan 9 - open source, distributed OS, research vehicle
ReactOS - open source Windows clone
SkyOS - closed source, monolithic kernel, mostly C++, desktop OS
VSTa - open source, microkernel, hobby OS, no longer under development
coremark - Coremark is hardware testing & performance analysis platform. Coremak is built-on it's own kernel
letting stable test results & direct access to hardware.

Improving OSNews

Anonymous — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:32:32 CDT

Content-Related

Drive to get more original articles submitted by readers
We can either do a contest like we've done before, or just do a "drive." Even if we can get people to have the original ideas and do the research, it would be easier for one of us to turn that raw material into an article than it would be to write the whole thing ourselves. (Speaking of contests, I have a new, unopened iPod nano that we could use as the prize in a contest)

More review items
...that we haven't bought ourselves, some of which we can give away as prizes as well. A reviews page sounds delicious. --Jordan Spencer

More content without losing so much old content
I propose we force the top "sidebar box" to be "Hot Topics" (or something) where stories with the most comments over the last 24 hours live. Keep good content available, but make sure we can continue to update. [Adam] (I think this suggestion was made before our page 2 project, but it's still a great idea for a widget.

An "idea" pool for articles
Editors and deputies can post ideas and get suggestions. This can also be used to get feedback on original articles before posting. I actually think that the conversations page would be a great place to host this. We should just encourage people to use that area as a space to open up suggestions for debate. This would be a great place to try to get participants to agree to contribute to articles.

More interesting (default) sidebar widgets:

Most popular Original Stories
Recent Conversations
Top recommended stories (probably should only list most recommended in past 30 days)
Most-viewed stories
Highest-ranked comments
Tweets --Kroc

Fix and update the resources page

Improve Google "advanced" search

Get rid of web, NMC and gnomefiles radio buttons
Try this code:
<form action="http://www.google.com/cse" id="cse-search-box">
<div>
<input type="hidden" name="cx" value="partner-pub-6467510223857492:um5hda6c24j" />
<input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1" />
<input type="text" name="q" size="31" />
<input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" />
</div>
</form>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.google.com/coop/cse/brand?form=cse-search-box&lang=en"></script>

Resurrect OSnews Jobs (jobs.osnews.com)
People are looking for work. Maybe we can get more traction. One of the reasons why it never took off was probably because we didn't have a good way of keeping the job board prominent for the readers. Any ideas here?

See the attached image to see how sharing a story on Facebook ends up. Do you know anything about how facebook picks out that information? We need to figure out how to give them a good pic. Obviously, the meta tags in our header play a part, and I just made some updates to the meta information that I'd be grateful if you could put it in the right place (I don't know where anything is on the system anymore - I'd love a tutorial)

In answer to part of the above, I've been posting a lot of OSNews articles to Facebook. The only times I get a legitimate picture is when there is a picture included with the article-- seems to me that Facebook just picks out any seemingly important pictures on the page.--Jordan Spencer

Revenue Generation

Advertising

We need to do some work to optimize our current advertising. The banner ad at the top is fine, but our ad partners have told me that in their experience, the advertisers will be happier with the the box ad if it's moved from its current location in the bottom right corner, and practically below the fold in some screen resolutions. What they recommend is that we find a way to push it over closer to the text on the page, instead of buried in the sidebar. I'm not sure if there's any way we can accomplish this without a substantial redesign of the page layout, but I'd welcome your ideas. Also, the 160x600 ad is currently so far down it's kind of a throwaway.

Again, anybody up for OSNews stickers? It's not online advertising, but stickers get around-- some people put them on laptops, mobile phones, notebooks (the paper kind), folders, doors, walls, bathroom stalls, public transit signs, powerline poles and stoplight poles, cars, foreheads, and so on.--Jordan Spencer
We've had demand for t-shirts for quite some time. I've never managed to go through with it. If we could come up with some cheeky tech-related shirts, we might be able to make some money on them.
We also have a thing with Tradepub where readers can sign up for free trade magazine subscriptions.

Do OSNews shopping section

Implement NexTag
Do customized Amazon site http://astore.amazon.com/osnews-20

Put Amazon in 160x600 adspace

<script type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/s/asw.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/s/ads.js"></script>

Shopping is a good way to generate revenue, and it's an easy way for people to support OSNews. The big trick is figuring out a good way to make readers mindful of it without shoving it in their faces.
Perhaps get the OSNews t-shirts and mugs more out into the open? Though the company that runs that store is somewhat expensive... have we considered going with a different company? Maybe even contracting with a cheaper company and then selling them ourselves on Amazon or something. We'd make some revenue off of the products sold, and then it'd be the same thing as the sticker idea-- people would advertise OSNews for us by wearing the shirts and bringing the mugs to work for their morning coffee or whatever it is. Maybe we could also expand the products-- add in a mouse pad, USB drives with the logo on them, pens, wristbands, earrings... I'm grasping at straws. Truly, though-- if it was popular enough, I'd say try to get a lot of similar items with the OSNews.com logo slapped on as in the Google Store. I'm not sure how many of these products we've sold or if they'd be that popular if put more out in the open, but it's a thought just the same.--Jordan Spencer

Make some improvements to the back-end

Re-create the icons legend
Add an icon for Virtualization related news.
Where did the money icon go? I liked that one for business-related news.
Someone reported problems logging in and posting while using the mobile site.

Deputies and Beats

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:32:54 CDT

Ryan Quinn quinn.rm@gmail.com - Hardware and Programming
Rahul Sundaram "Rahul" rahulsundaram@gmail.com - Red Hat (employee), Fedora, Open Source
Falko Timme ft@falkotimme.com - Linux-related tutorials
Jayson Knight - jayson.knight@jaysonknight.com - Windows and development
Alexandru Lazar alexandru.lz@gmail.com - programming and computer history
snydeguy@hotmail.com snydeq - open source model, app dev, and general browser/OS topics, as well as labor issues, rights

126 submissions for Rahul
80 submissions for irbis
62 submissions for diegocg
53 submissions for Valour
49 submissions for jayson.knight
44 submissions for falko
43 submissions for AdamW
39 submissions for Moulinneuf
38 submissions for WillM
35 submissions for Hakime
29 submissions for Flatline
27 submissions for Oliver

Research Operating Systems That Never Quite Made it

bediger — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:11:59 CDT

Universities and industrial research labs often produced operating systems that Never Quite Made it in the real world. They often embodied decent ideas that shouldn't get lost.

Sprite - process migration and networked filesystem, Log-structured filesystem
Opal - single, 64-bit address space
K42 - reliability
Mach - emulating other operating systems
Plan 9 - per-process mutable namespaces
L4 and friends: totally microkernel
Amoeba - total distribution

Some of these operating systems certainly contributed mainstream material: TCL comes from Sprite, Apple's OSX has its roots in Mach, as did DEC's OSF/1.

Executable File Formats

bediger — Thu, 22 May 2008 10:04:08 CDT

Many of the key ideas and features of operating systems get embodied in the executable file format. If you want to understand an operating system, you must first understand the format(s) it uses to store executable code and later to start executing it.

a.out
COFF
XCOFF
PE
ELF
Mach-O
VMS image file
MS-DOS ".COM"
MS-DOS ".EXE"
Java .class file

This page should include some discussion of the evolution of object file formats, and note that simple (even dopey) file formats like MS-DOS ".COM" formats came after more elaborate mainframe formats. Talk about reinventing the wheel.

This page should also include some discussion about how some executable file formats implicitly require starting a single thread of execution (.COM, .EXE) while others (Mach-O) don't. Elaborate on the implicit vs explicit things like threads of execution, relocation,

Something should be made of VMS executable file formats - how TYPE.EXE actually gets relocated inside the user's VMS process, not given its own address space, the process of image rundown and how the moral equivalent of a DLL can have its own permissions.

Discussion of static linking, load-time linking, automatic dynamic linking, and explicit dynamic linking.

The AIX Survival Guide

Anonymous — Tue, 20 May 2008 01:52:00 CDT

http://www.amazon.com/AIX-Survival-Guide-Siegert/dp/0201593882
When I left AIX support within IBM around 2002 this was still the golden standard and the book given to every support representative to learn about AIX. It's still essential for people who tend to AIX 4.x installations.