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TBOS 1.1 Progress

Well, my plan to release by the 18th was a bust...

So, I inadvertently fixed an error which was causing me to look for another error which caused me to do a complete rewrite of tbosload.sys, and once that was giving me sh!t, I pulled three lines of code out of the kernel, built the old tbosload.sys, put it all on a floppy, and it now officially works. Don't ask what, just wait for the release!

Let's just say AUTOEXEC.BAT was undoubtably one of the most useful DOS thingies ever. :)

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I'm planning, from now on, to release TBOS in two separate packages: the source version and the install version. The install version will use the new features with setup.bin to create a working setup disk.

The Future for TBOS

Recently, while working on hash 0.4.0 for the release of TBOS 1.1.0 in a few days, I started thinking about what would happen to TBOS in the next few months (TBOS 1.x releases.) I came up with the following releases and their major features:

• TBOS 1.1 - hash 0.4, setup.bin
• TBOS 1.2 - multi-user capabilities, serial access
• TBOS 1.3 - partial MS-DOS and MikeOS compatibility
• ...
• TBOS 2.0 - port/write assembler, increase programming capabilities

There's a "Profit!" in there somewhere, but I don't exactly know where. It's after the ellipses, I think.

Windows Server 2003 as a Domain Controller

I love it.

I downloaded the WS2003 180-day trial recently and installed it in VMware Server II. This afternoon, I painstakingly set up a DNS server and Active Directory, and recently got a Windows XP and a 98 client logging into the domain. Granted, I need to give each a static IP instead of using the router's DHCP server, but it connects to the network and the internet fine!

I've also set up a document/network drive system that works wonders. The X: drive is set to be the user's nice little chunk of the small 20GB virtual drive I'm using.

Now I just need to get a crapload of people using my server :P

Lookit Me, I'm a Crusader

An ongoing holy war is that of Linux vs. Windows vs. Mac. Normally, that wouldn't be a bad thing, and we'd all be taking sides. Windows would be winning, since it's what the new folks these days are being brought up on and 99 percent of store-bought computers are loaded with some edition of Vista.

Another bunch of holy wars, albeit smaller, are the license wars: BSD vs. GPL, etc. Personal choice? BSD. What's winning? Depends on who you talk to.

This can continue on and on. IE vs. FF, Gnome vs. KDE, to a lesser extent WPA vs. WEP, the list goes forever.

To quote ThymeCypher: "You forgot the even worse Apple monopoly. I’d like to see someone DARE an open source OSX clone like ReactOS without Apple threatening various lawsuits and every fan boy out there immaturely throwing F-bombs and whatnot as if you have to be worthy to breathe the same air as Steve Jobs. Pshh."

Can Cityscape

So my family drinks a LOT of soft drinks, and we stack the cans on the coffee table. Sometimes they make nice cityscapes. Here's a recent one:


This one's a bit older:

TBOS32 progress, TBOS 1.1.0

TBOS32's timer IRQ is fixed, and I hope to have the first version of TBOS32 out by the end of this week!

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I also hope to have released TBOS 1.1.0 by the 18^th. As of right now, a text editor and terminal pager are not on my critical priorities list, but increasing the screen resolution and doing up a new "setup" program are.

To-do list:

• CRITICAL - write new setup program
• CRITICAL - allow 640x480 text mode to be used - done!
• HIGH - define a TBOS ABI
• HIGH - create "program-kernel interface area"
• MEDIUM - get a simple login system working
• LOW - write terminal pager
• LOW - write text editor (might leave this up to someone who wants to tackle it)

As you can see, it's a good two or three days of intense coding or a few weeks of "ahh, I'll get around to it later!"