From what I remember, QBASIC was not only a programming language but a software environment as well - and therefore it ran somewhat like an interpreter? Meaning that you couldn't write a program in it that would be able to stand alone. The code had to be executed from within the QBASIC software program.

You could start linking your own EXEs starting QB 4.5, I believe. Or at least that's the first version I had when I started creating my own. Executables were large, so I assumed it just attached the interpreter and libraries you used for you program to the executable. It's impossible to create an OS in VB because it relies on the Windows OS. As far as QBASIC, I think you might be able to, but most of your program would be composed of assembly calls. It'd still be a very limited program still.

You can't make an OS in QBASIC. QBASIC can compile to .com files, but these run under DOS (ie. they use DOS interrupts to print to screen, get keystrokes, access disk etc.). You would have to start with C or C++ and write your own API for your OS. I've thought of doing this a few times, but it would be very difficult to make it work with all hardware (notice how even windows, which has an immense library of drivers, has trouble with this sometimes). Good luck though .

Hi Everyone,

Yes it is possible to use basic language to make an operating system but you cannot use visual basic as you need runtimes. The only basic compiler that i can think of for creating your own os is Rapid-q by William Yu. But this compiler will create all .exe files thus all you have to do is to write .asm codes to run the main desktop executable. As for common controls and dialog boxes these can be created using Rapid-q but the only problem i see is trying to create your own custom fonts which can be very very hard. As for the use certain libraries for the kernel you can use gpl dos programs like freedos.

I hope this helps you

Yous Sincerely

Richard West

Creating an OS in visual basic 6.0 :rolleyes:

this is not possible atleast with vb bcuz vb program run
on windows platform even vbrun can't do
anything... :o vb sucks.... but VB.NET is something diffrent and i like
that

and if u r really want to code a OS :eek: than go for ASM
bcuz u can do anything in this language but remember it's
not a toy launguage like VB...u really needs to work hardddddd on
this language for many years

i am sorry but no one here ans me correctly or i did not get it :lol:

what i wanted to know is that if some how realy magicaly if i am able to install the runtimes needed for VB is it possible to create an OS in VB i am saying this due to the fact that OS is not that complecated as they look only if u know what to do and what u want

the os i am trying to create is for backing up files when windows or lunix has crash so i just boot with my os boot cd and back up nothing else so if possible rec me some cool easy language to do this very thing :lol:

and please try to ans my first question in yes or no and if yes tell me the method to do it :lol: thx for all ur reply realy nice...

No, it is NOT possible to create an operating system with Visual Basic (any version), because they require certain runtime libraries. Pre .NET versions require a file called vbrunxxx.dll (where 'xxx' is the version, such as '300' would be version 3.0) VB for DOS (version 1.0) requires a VBRUN100.LIB in order to run. This is true, even if you create a "self-contained" EXE file. All of these libraries require you to have MS-DOS or MS Windows installed, because they all are linked to Microsoft's OS-specific code (interrupts, external DLL's, etc), and cannot run unless you have those libraries. And those libraries require OTHER libraries, which require OTHER libraries (such as gdi32.dll and kernel32.dll - hence, an OS).

As for QBasic, it is technically not possible to create an OS because it requires runtime modules (these modules are linked into the EXE if you create a stand-alone EXE file), and they also use MS-DOS interrupts, which would need to be programmed from your OS EXACTLY the way DOS does (in essence, re-creating MS DOS).

Although it is *TECHNICALLY* impossible, it is not impossible on a theoretical level. If you had the patience and knowledge, you could create your own compiler for QBasic so that it produces pure code (not interpreted like QB code). This would essentially be creating a similar compiler as to Linux's gcc or Borland's DOS compiler for C/C++. Then, you could require that the QB program (the BAS file, not the actual EXE) declare "include" statements to add runtime libraries for functions such as file I/O and screen printing (this is what C/C++ does).

What it all boils down to is this: It doesn't matter WHICH language you use to create your OS... as long as there is a compiler that will create code that does not require libraries to run. The outcome of this language would be a VERY small key word base (if you look up the keywords for the core C language [not including those functions provided by #include lines], then you'll find that there are only a handful of keywords).

So the ultimate answer to this question is... No, it's not possible to write an OS in VB 6 because the VB6 runtime libraries are copyrighted by Microsoft, and therefore, you cannot create the proper runtime librarires in order to create your own compiler in order to write an OS with it. Also, regardless of which language you use to write the operating system, you MUST use ASM to write your boot loader, as it requires some pretty low-level stuff to make the machine useable.

I hope this helps. If you are still interested in using a BASIC style language to create an OS, then I would suggest looking into either creating your own BASIC compiler (prefereably a 32-bit compiler), or finding a copy of BASM (a BASIC to ASM translator).

If that is all you want, then check out Knoppix. It's a pretty neat Linux system that runs completely from a CD. You never have to install ANYTHING to a hard drive.

www.knoppix.org

Does anyone know of a program that is almost like an easy os creater..in otherwords no programing necissary?

That depends on what you consider "easy" and what you consider "programming". I don't think there's really a program like this out there (yet), but there is LFS (Linux from Scratch). However, LFS is FAR from "easy", since you have to compile most of it yourself, find your own packages, and compile most of them.