I really wish that was a an open source project that took developers and/or students from start to finish of an operating system. I should preface that and say that it should be easy to understand and use. I know about xv6 and I feel like that's too complex. I've found MikeOS [2] but I will have to study/extract it into pieces.
In any case - I really think this practice should be more widespread. Unfortunately, I've found many people to offer "lazy criticism" they point out something is wrong but don't want to offer any help to make it better. The Rooks Guide to C++ is a perfect example of this - yeah it's not perfect and doesn't contain all C++ knowledge you could ever know about (there have been a lot of negative criticism about the book). But that's not the point - it's designed for people who know nothing about programming to learn about C++ in a 16 week course. It's goal isn't to replace the Stroustrup expert C++ book.
[1] http://www.amazon.com/Operating-System-Concepts-Abraham-Silb...
In no particular order:
1- http://www.amazon.com/C-Programming-Language-2nd-Edition/dp/...
2- http://www.amazon.com/The-Answer-Book-Solutions-Programming/...
3- http://www.amazon.com/The-Standard-Library-P-J-Plauger/dp/01...
4- http://www.amazon.com/C-Traps-Pitfalls-Andrew-Koenig/dp/0201...
5- http://www.amazon.com/Expert-Programming-Peter-van-Linden/dp...
6- http://www.amazon.com/Data-Structures-In-Noel-Kalicharan/dp/...
7- http://www.amazon.com/Data-Structures-Using-Aaron-Tenenbaum/...
8- http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Algorithms-C-Kyle-Loudon/dp/...
9- http://www.amazon.com/Code-Complete-Practical-Handbook-Const...
10- http://www.amazon.com/Design-Patterns-Elements-Reusable-Obje...
11- http://www.amazon.com/The-Mythical-Man-Month-Engineering-Ann...
12- http://www.amazon.com/The-Programming-Language-4th-Edition/d...
13- http://www.amazon.com/The-Standard-Library-Tutorial-Referenc...
14- http://www.amazon.com/API-Design-C-Martin-Reddy/dp/012385003...
15- http://www.amazon.com/The-Linux-Programming-Interface-Handbo...
16- http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Systems-Programmers-Perspecti...
17- http://www.amazon.com/System-Programming-Unix-Adam-Hoover/dp...
18- http://www.amazon.com/Memory-Programming-Concept-Frantisek-F...
19- http://www.amazon.com/Memory-Management-Implementations-Prog...
20- http://www.amazon.com/UNIX-Filesystems-Evolution-Design-Impl...
21- http://www.amazon.com/PCI-System-Architecture-4th-Edition/dp...
22- http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Serial-System-Architecture-E...
23- http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-PCI-Express-Hardware-Deve...
24- http://www.amazon.com/Serial-Storage-Architecture-Applicatio...
25- http://www.amazon.com/SATA-Storage-Technology-Serial-ATA/dp/...
26- http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-BIOS-Developing-Extensible-Inte...
27- http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Assembly-Language-Program...
28- http://www.amazon.com/Linux-Kernel-Development-3rd-Edition/d...
29- http://www.amazon.com/Version-Control-Git-collaborative-deve...
30- http://www.amazon.com/Embedded-Software-Primer-David-Simon/d...
31- http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Embedded-Systems-C/dp/1565...
32- http://www.amazon.com/Making-Embedded-Systems-Patterns-Softw...
33- http://www.amazon.com/Operating-System-Concepts-Abraham-Silb...
34- http://www.amazon.com/Performance-Preemptive-Multitasking-Mi...
35- http://www.amazon.com/Design-Operating-System-Prentice-Hall-...
36- http://www.amazon.com/Unix-Network-Programming-Sockets-Netwo...
37- http://www.amazon.com/TCP-Illustrated-Volume-Addison-Wesley-...
38- http://www.amazon.com/TCP-IP-Illustrated-Vol-Implementation/...
39- http://www.amazon.com/TCP-Illustrated-Vol-Transactions-Proto...
40- http://www.amazon.com/User-Interface-Design-Programmers-Spol...
41- http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Interfaces-Jenifer-Tidwell/d...
42- http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Interfaces-Jenifer-Tidwell/d...
43- http://www.amazon.com/Programming-POSIX-Threads-David-Butenh...
44- http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/embedded/hwsw/software/hd-gma#d...
45- http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/architectu...
46- http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/embedded/hwsw/hardware/core-b75...
47- http://www.hdmi.org/index.aspx
48- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface
49- http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Device-Drivers-Sreekrishnan-...
50- http://www.amazon.com/Making-Embedded-Systems-Patterns-Softw...
51- http://www.amazon.com/Python-Programming-Introduction-Comput...
52- http://www.amazon.com/Practical-System-Design-Dominic-Giampa...
53- http://www.amazon.com/File-Systems-Structures-Thomas-Harbron...
54- ...well, I'll stop here.
Of course, the equivalent knowledge can be obtained by trial-and-error, which would take longer and might result in costly errors and imperfect design. The greater danger here is that a sole developer, without the feedback and interaction of even a small group of capable and experienced programmers could simply burn a lot of time repeating the mistakes made by those who have already trenched that territory.
If the goal is to write a small RTOS on a small but nicely-featured microcontroller, then the C books and the uC/OS book might be a good shove in the right direction. Things start getting complicated if you need to write such things as a full USB stack, PCIe subsystem, graphics drivers, etc.
I also think for understanding how operating systems work, nothing beats writing your own! I learned most of the concepts by building a toy OS during the better part of my undergraduate studies. I highly recommend this for people who like coding and are afraid of jumping into the theory too quickly. For example, analyzing memory allocation algorithms is never as interesting as when you have to pick one for your own kernel!
This argument was at its root a "theory" vs. "getting it done" now argument. I think thats why it resonates.
[1]https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Operating-Systems-Andrew-Tanen... [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MINIX
This is a debate about how OS's should be structured. There is some merit to Tanenbaums MicroKernel approach, but ultimately its slower and for an OS that matters, thus Linux being ascendant . Also everywhere gcc was ported could compile and run linux.
Microkernels "lost" but there was a microkernel called "Mach" worked on by Avie Tevanian who went to Next then to Apple. I think OS-X is kinda microkernel based (if they're still using XNU which is loosely based on the mach microkernel.).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XNU
I still miss HPUX RTE for PARISC(Real Time Extensions) for sending jobs to specific processors or processor sets, disabling interupts....
If you like OSs. I like the case studies in the dinosaur book: (stupid text-book prices though....)
[4] https://www.amazon.com/Operating-System-Concepts-Abraham-Sil...