Selling a Newly Created Linux

You can sell GPL software as long as you comply with the terms set out in the license - most notably making the source code (and any changes you make) available to whoever you distribute the binaries to.

If you would rather not deal with the GPL, use the BSD kernel. It makes absolutely not sense whatsoever to re-implement all that work.
 
Go for it Mokusei. Pursue it with all you got. Even if you struggle and give up, you can say that you gave it a try.

I would trawl some local users groups and see if you can get some more people on board.
Click to expand...

You are going to need all the help you can get, you'll have to gather a workforce of sorts, outline a plan with them and not sleep for the next few years. This is really a mammoth task, but not impossible if you can gather the correct resources. If I was a developer I would help out too, but I think the most I may just be able to create a "hello world" application for you:) Let me know if you're interested.

Good luck, will be following this thread for updates.
 
timvdwest said:
but I think the most I may just be able to create a "hello world" application for you:) Let me know if you're interested.

.
Click to expand...

LOL....i had to do a little program like that when stydying VB6. Brings back memories. After that it became habit with me to create as many runtime errors and infinate loops as possbile lol...god knows how I passed my exams hehe.
 
Mokusei said:
Like licenses that I need to comply with, not being able to go commercial without revealing source, etc.
Click to expand...

The BSD kernel is licensed under the the BSD license. It allows you to keep derivative works closed source. You really should read up on the license - it is short and concise. While you're at it read up on the kernel. Wikipedia should be your first port of call.
 
by the time you are done with your OS, we will all have moved to cloud computing

...do you know how many man hours this is going to take?!
 
Part of the problem is that if you get a team of people working with you,. You will need to put in agreements regarding your partnership. There might be a need for non-disclosure agreements. And possibly the small matter of payment. Good luck and godspeed.
 
Mokusei said:
Just for clarity, is BSD and FreeBSD the same thing? Or is FreeBSD an operating system built on BSD?
Click to expand...

Forgive me for being short, but it would be in your best interests to do some reading at this point. This would be a good starting point.
 
Mokusei said:
Hahaha, don't worry. I will be writing a fresh kernel, not rewriting Linux's kernel. The old man can calm down. I'm not going to reveal anything at this stage, but what I can say is that before I tackle any of this, I'm going to do some serious C and Assembly studying. Then I'll be set to write my kernel and bootloader.
Click to expand...

You are either very naive or very stupid.
 
I can say one thing, good luck. Knowing a bit about both C/C++ and how internal OS components work, this is no easy task no matter how you look at it.

Best would be to start on your own with a Concept OS that works in a virtual machine, much like ReactOS ( http://www.reactos.org ) started out speaking of which I need to check how they have progressed. What they are doing is more interesting, they are writing an OS that is trying to be Windows compatible, even with drivers, so much so that the user will be able to throw windows drivers at it and work out of the box. Maybe something to think about when writing your own kernel.

Also have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Unified_Kernel who is making the Linux kernel binary compatible with windows so that one can use windows drivers on it.

Using ideas like that, one can get rid of the driver problem, but expect to have some windows related problems to your OS if you do that.

Again...good luck dude.
 
Are you really sure you would want to start a new OS from the ground up and charge for it?

Remember that it took Windows, Apple and Linux some 20 years to get where they are today, and there are millions of people behind both projects.

Get your planning sorted, decide on what you want to do, draw up some white papers and release it with a mock-up to the public or sponsors to see if you could get some other people on board, you are going to need it!
:)
 
Dude, go to Finland, ask for a certain Mr Linus Torvalds and chat to him before you undertake this journey. (There might be a very long que in front of his house, but just hang in there and you will persist).

He might be able to give you a few tips and point you in the right direction. :)
 
Dude, I don't want to discourage you but why? Commercially it's bound to be a failure. If you are doing this as a learning experience then cool. Maybe look at things like HURD, real-time kernel, Minix, Plan9, VMS etc.

I'm no programmer but I love assembly ( coding the metal :D ) so I dunno if I could be of any help to you.

You do realise how big a project this is? Kinda something you have to devote the rest of your life to...
 
Good luck with this task. However my advice would be first customise a Linux distro either Ubuntu/OpenSuse and if you release a finished working project. Linobuntu/Linosuse then you have achieved something.

After that then start thinking of a new OS. In reality you don't want anything with Linux. If you rewrite your own kernel it is not Linux and the hours you will spend will drive you insane.
 
Mokusei said:
I will, of course, accept the help from people like 'ponder' who uses Assembly and can assist me in various parts of my venture.
Click to expand...

Let me be clear, I'm no programmer. I like assembler and have used it from a engineering perspective, 8088, 8052, 6502, 680x0, PIC.
 
Mokusei said:
Sounds like a sound piece of advice. I might decide to go that route. It will also give me a few guidelines in working with C in an actual working kernel. I will try to get as many people on board as possible, preferably people that I know personally, so that the workload can be shared. I will, of course, accept the help from people like 'ponder' who uses Assembly and can assist me in various parts of my venture.
Click to expand...

Well if you need any help you can ask me as I have some experience with this.
 
Why don't you form a working group of like-minded people who want to achieve the same thing? Then people can be delegated tasks?

A one man show will never work in my opinion. Unless you already have coded in-depth programs before? Even then it will not work. The whole point of an OS is that is must appeal to people and work on nearly every type of hardware. Therefore your views on it may not correspond to joe blog.

But whatever you do, goodluck :) :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X