can i write a bootable program in C++?

[asdfghjkl2007]

i know this may sound very strange but it's because I just started to lear c++ ( at school we learn pascal although we are in the 3 milenium ) , i have some big ideas, and i just don't know how to put them in practice .

so can anybody tel me how can i write a program on witch a computer can start ?
if you want you can call it a mini os.
ok. " os " it sounds like a big thing but i'm willing to learn.
do i have to know assembler or c++ is inaf ?
can you recomand me any book or web site?

[willakawill]

i know this may sound very strange but it's because I just started to lear c++ ( at school we learn pascal although we are in the 3 milenium ) , i have some big ideas, and i just don't know how to put them in practice .

so can anybody tel me how can i write a program on witch a computer can start ?
if you want you can call it a mini os.
ok. " os " it sounds like a big thing but i'm willing to learn.
do i have to know assembler or c++ is inaf ?
can you recomand me any book or web site?

Hi. You could go download some linux source code and fry your brain with it :)

[macklin01]

Hi. You could go download some linux source code and fry your brain with it :)

That's a really nice idea. :) In particular, you might consider looking at the boot loaders: grub and lilo.

Other bootable open source projects worth looking at are memtest86, Darik's Boot 'n' Nuke, and freedos.

If you do end up writing something fun and bootable, please post source code here, as I'm sure we'd all enjoy looking! (But be _very_ careful that you don't take the Boot 'n' Nuke software and end up destroying a hard drive! Well, then again, be careful that you don't nuke a master boot record, either! ;)) -- Paul