Operating System Kernel Fundamentals: Building a Multitasking Kernel in C

Understanding how operating system kernels interact with hardware is fundamental to low-level software engineering. This text-based course walks you through the core concepts of kernel architecture, guiding you from foundational operating system theory to constructing a functional multitasking kernel prototype. What you'll learn: Understand essential kernel terminology, boot procedures, and CPU execution modes. Implement interrupt handling, system calls, and hardware timer management. Manage physical and virtual memory using foundational paging concepts. Configure context switching and process scheduling for simple multitasking. Build low-level C projects using GNU tools, including GCC, the GNU linker, and Makefiles. Test and verify kernel code using modern emulation workflows. You will start with key terminology and hardware fundamentals before reading about memory layout, interrupt handlers, process control blocks, and build configurations. Designed for beginners in low-level programming with a basic grasp of C, this material provides a clear path into systems software without unnecessary friction. Start reading today to master the inner workings of operating system kernels.