Download

Here's the latest TINOS source code snapshot. It includes a kernel binary file ready to be booted. I recommend that you follow the steps outlined below to quickly get TINOS up and running (hopefully) and check out what's there for you to play with.

Step 1. Downloading the stuff.

Download the latest TINOS source code snapshot. Click on the link below:

This archive was created using tar and gzip utilities. You can upack it by typing the following:

$ gzip -d tinos.tar.gz
$ tar fx tinos.tar

Step 2. Getting GRUB

Skip this step if you already have grub. Otherwise, let me tell you a little more about it. Grub is a cool little bootloader that can boot many commercial operating systems as well as all the weird things like your own kernels. It also handles many free systems like Linux, FreeBSD, Mach, VSTa and possibly others. It can read its configuration file from FAT, FFS or ext2fs filesystem partition.

You may get grub at http://www.uruk.org/grub. The website has all the information you need to get acquited with grub and set it up. You don't have to install it on your hard disk, a bootable floppy will do. See the next section.

Step 3. Booting TINOS

If you have grub installed on your box, simply add a new entry to its configuration file, like this one:

title=TINOS
root=(hd0,2)
kernel=/home/tinos/bin/kernel
boot

Alternatively, boot from grub floppy, wait for command line and type the following:

command> root=(hd0,1)
command> kernel=/home/beavis/tinos/bin/kernel
command> boot

In both cases point to the appropriate partitions where TINOS is ("root" command) and correct path to the kernel file ("kernel" command). Optionally, after you have verified that kernel boots, you may add "module=/module/path" command before issuing "boot". This will load a sample user mode process along with the kernel. The process will be started when kernel boots.

Step 4. Playing with TINOS

OK, I've booted it and what now. Well, if everything went smoothly you should be seeing a kernel console prompt by now. Now you can verify whether read-only IDE driver and ext2fs filesystem work on your system.
Try typing "ide". You should see a list of IDE devices present on your system. If something got screwed at this point, please drop me an e-mail.
Next you might wanna type "dev". This should scan all the partitions on the specified IDE drive.
You can type "mount" to mount an ext2fs filesystem readonly. Then try "ls" or "ls -l" (long listing) to dump root directory. You can navigate through directories using "cd" command, but it's currently stupid and you have to give it an inode number (which is displayed along with the name)

Copyright (c) 1998 Bart Sekura