Is it possible to write an
OS that will fit onto a 3 ½"
floppy that can then write
device drivers for all the
devices it discovers on the
system and build itself into a fully
functional and useful
desktop OS? The basic intent is to start out with just a bare-bones OS that can write to a
hard drive, whether this requires some hints files or not; a hint
file would be one that has a listing of a particular device and its specifications.
Update 19:04 Thu Aug 17 2000:
Just to make my original thought clear: this OS writes itself. No external help, unless it be through hints files. I'd rather that not be an
obnoxious point, but that's part of the challenge.
Update 20:12 Sat Oct 27 2001:
This challenge may also be construed to be
Self-improving genetic programming.
See also http://www-ia.hiof.no/~rolando/SIG/ for more details.