Customer Reviews

Mmurtl V1.0

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This book provides someone with whose skilled in C and assembly with enough knowledge to build a full fledged real-time operating system. Although it can be used as a practical text, all example source code is for the Intel 80386+ processers. The book allows you to do just what the title says it does, and in a wonderfully easy to understand way. Although if you really are going to set out and do it, it is suggested that you have a refrence to the platform you are using near you. Also contains the occasional bit of humour. Ironically enough, the "sample" operating system provided in the book technologically far outstrips a certain commercial OS.... worried Bill :->?

Looking over the other comments, this book appears to be muchin demand. I'm glad I bought a copy years ago when it first came out,even though I haven't gotten around to reading it until now. I've been interested in writing an OS for years, and I knew I'd want the information in this book sooner or later, so I bought it for my library. Good thing, since it's now out of print. (And no, you can't buy it from me. I need it too!)

When I did a Google search for "MMURTL" (the name of the OS described in the book), I discovered that Sensory Publishing is offering this book online, under the name "MMURTL-V1.0"....

The thing most of the reviews seem to be missing is that this was written in 1995 (when Linux didn't even -function-) and OSS was in reality, barely off the ground. Most reviews carp about how this os/book is a "no show" - that's not really the point. It shows all of the bits necessary to write an OS from scratch.

Apparently, few of the readers have actually worked in industry.

This book (er, CD) is wonderful. I corrected myself because itonly seems to be available for order in CD format (acrobat *.PDF)online at

Richard Burgess takes you step by step through his efforts to develop a working OS (called MMURTL). The approach is unique for an OS text. He packs more than just theory and concepts into this book. He also shows you how to put them into practice. I'm only about halfway through the book. I bought the electronic version about two weeks ago and cannot put it down (or turn it off in the case with the CD). If you want to see a different approach to OS development and you are not afraid of C code or Assembly language, then give this book a read. You won't be disappointed. Oh, one more thing, the electronic version of this book is half the price of the original SAMs edition and worth every penny.

This book (under the name "MMURTL V1.0") can be found on Sensory Publishing's website:http://www.sensorypublishing.com/mmurtl.htmlYou can purchase a PDF of the book (and the source of the OS itself), or pay extra for a printed copy in addition to the PDF. (My original review was truncated before the URL for some reason.)

I bought this book used, have it in my hot little hands, and no, guys, it's not for sale. I have to admit that I haven't read very far into it, but I love what I see so far. Which is to say, Burgess writes a lot like me, giving more of a personal journal than a textbook.

Some reviewers seem to think that this approach disqualifies the book. It doesn't. Burgess wasn't _TRYING_ to write a textbook -- he says that up front. To complain because it isn't one misses the point entirely.

Another reviewer didn't like MMURTL because it's not competitive with Windows.

Huh?

Yet others didn't like it because it's not Linux. What can I say? For some people, Linux _IS_ their religion.

Let's get it straight: Burgess never claimed to be writing the next great commercial OS, the successor to Windows or Linux. He never claimed to be writing an OS that had only C or C wrappers; he never claimed that he was writing an OS that would be portable across platforms. He gave his goals at the very outset: To learn to write OS's by doing it; to eschew backwards compatibility to other versions, other OS's, or other designs. And to put in only the things he needed. He delivers all those things in spades. Anyone who doesn't like those goals, bought the wrong book and should have read the flyleaf first.

One reviewer has said that he didn't like Burgess' assembly language style or quality. I can't comment on that -- haven't gotten that far yet. But be assured that if I also don't like it, I won't write a bad review. What I'll do is what Burgess has urged us to do from the get-go, which is to change it and personalize it to taste.

There is something that one needs to consider before purchasing a book of this type: for what platform was it designed. This particular book is an excellent and comprehensive guide to creating your own 32-bit operating system. The catch is the 32 bit part. The operating system which one is taught to build will be designed to run on the 386 and 486 platforms. These systems are not as widely used today as they once were. Today's platform is the 64-bit, which was virtually unheard of in the 1980's to early 90's when this book was written. This book does teach you the basics, and will whet your appetite to program better things. For this, I highly recommend the book.

This book is awesome! It teaches the reader to make a great 32-bit OS and it does it extremely effectively. I recommend it to ANY programmer with interest in OS development. Every interesting OS topic is discussed and viewed in clarity.

This book had everything from an os to assemblers and compilers source, even a few utilitys. Insteed of just writting about his operating system, he takes you thought the steps of writting your own for any platform.

If you want to learn how to write your own OS, this is the book for you! It answered all of the questions I ever had about writing an OS. It's the best book I've found for this type of development.