Operating system design, the Xinu approach
by Douglas E. Comer · first published 1984
11mentions
8recommended by
10HN commenters
2011–2025first – last mentioned
80% recommend20% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Hands-on guide to building a small operating system from scratch, walking through design choices step by step; suits programmers who want a deeper grasp of how a machine and its OS actually work.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…systems and write your own toy OS. It really gives you a deeper understanding of what it means to program a computer and operating systems require use of all the classical data structures. I like the book Operating System Design: The Xinu Approach because it walks you through the design and implementation of a real operating system that is small enough to understand in its entirety. But whatever path you take, studying operating systems will make…
on “Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces” ↗…https://www.pearson.com/us/higher-education/program/Mc-Kusic... ...and there's more: - "xv6: a simple, Unix-like teaching operating system" https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.828/2020/xv6/book-riscv-rev1.pd... - Douglas Comer's book "Operating System Design - The Xinu Approach" (https://xinu.cs.purdue.edu) - Gernot Heiser's "Inside L4/MIPS" (https://ts.data61.csiro.au/publications/papers/Heiser:IL4.pd...)
on “A Commentary on the Sixth Edition Unix Operating System” ↗I actually can't find the book you are referencing. I do see: "Operating System Design: The Xinu Approach" and also the books "Internetworking with TCP /IPvolumes1-3." Might you have a link to the title you are referencing here? I have read the Internetworking series which is excellent.
on “Let's code a TCP/IP stack, 1: Ethernet & ARP (2016)” ↗Also, XINU, “ Operating System Design - The Xinu Approach”[0] The book isn’t free, but I’ve found it to be fun to work through. The projects are centered around building and running on small boards like beaglebone, Galileo, and more recently raspi (although…
on “Xv6, a simple Unix-like teaching operating system” ↗…both books by Hennessy and Patterson ("Computer Architecture: The Hardware/Software Interface" and "Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach"). On the OS implementation side, I still like Comer's "Operating System Design: The Xinu Approach" quite a lot. While this book is quite old, I learned OS design from Comer (and am still teaching this at university level 30 years later...). https://xinu.cs.purdue.edu A good complement would be Cox/Kaashoek/Morris…
on “Ask HN: After Charles Petzold's Code and Nand2Tetris, What Next?” ↗Personally, I enjoyed the "Operating System Design: The Xinu Approach", by Comer: http://www.amazon.com/Operating-System-Design-Approach-Editi...
on “Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces” ↗…level constructs actually run on the machine which is exciting to say the least. The book is accompanied with optional lectures. https://iucompilercourse.github.io/IU-P423-P523-E313-E513-Fa... ------ Operating System Design: The Xinu Approach, Second Edition Unlike most operating system books, this one goes over the implementation of a simple embedded operating system ( Xinu ) and explains its mechanics by going over its code and internal…
on “Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?” ↗Operating System Design Volume 2: Internetworking with XINU, 1987. ISBN 0-13-637414-X 025 Shows how to add IP/UDP to a simple Unix-like OS. You might want to also read volume 1: Operating System Design - The XINU Approach, Second Edition, 2015. ISBN 9781498712439 https://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/comer/osbooks.html
on “Ask HN: Do any books on OS Design cover TCP/IP stack implementations and algos” ↗As mentioned Operating system design: the xinu approach is a great book
on “The OS Classics” ↗…liability for damages incidental or consequential, nor is the software warranted for correctness or suitability for any purpose. Portions of this software are documented in the book: Operating System Design -- The Xinu Approach, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, Linksys version 2012, Second Edition 2015. This software may not be sold or published in printed form without written permission from the copyright holders. <<<<end…
on “Xinu Is Not Unix” ↗Comer has a new edition of "Operating System Design: The Xinu Approach" that focuses on a Linksys/Cisco router. I've not read the text officially yet, but the drafts were very interesting. Purdue CS grad students use Xinu for the OS course projects (http://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/cs503/).
on “Unix v6 Ported to ANSI C” ↗