Ideas Page

Introduction

This is an ideas page for new developers.

Ideas

Sortable list of ideas for easy navigation

Idea Name	Area	Programming Language
File system	Kernel	FASM (Assembler)
Widget toolkit	System wide	FASM (Assembler), C
Port PolarSSL	Library	C/FASM
XMPP/Jabber client	Application	Assembler/FASM
Fasmg port	Application	FASM/FASMG (Assembler)
Unicode library	Library/Application	FASM (Assembler)
Document viewer	Library/Application	FASM (Assembler)
Virt-IO driver	Kernel	FASM (Assembler)
Loop device driver	Kernel	FASM (Assembler)
GIMP plugin for skins	Application	C/Python/Scheme
RSS/Atom news reader	Application	FASM (Assembler)

File system

• Primary goal: Add write support for ext4 file system (ext4 reading and ext2 writing are already supported).
• Additional goal: Improve write support for NTFS file system.
• Language: FASM (Assembler)
• Links: Ext4 Disk Layout

Widget toolkit

• Primary goal: Extend Box_lib (a set of separate widgets) to create a full-featured widget toolkit, design architecture and implement focus handling, callbacks and other core ideas.
• Additional goal: Integrate created box_lib widgets to the C-framework, extend framework with font handling, layout manager
• Language: FASM (Assembler), C (framework)
• Links: basic idea, list of toolkits

Port PolarSSL

• Primary goal: Make a working port of PolarSSL (as native KolibriOS MS COFF library) and add it to the automatic build-system.
• Additional goal: Update HTTP library (written in FASM) to support HTTPS.
• Language: C/FASM
• Links: Forum thread about polarSSL, HTTP library on WebSVN

XMPP/Jabber client

• Primary goal: Write a basic XMPP/Jabber library and client for KolibriOS.
• Additional goal: Implement some xmpp extentions.
• Language: Assembler/FASM
• Links: XMPP spec, XMPP extentions, Unfinished XMPP client for KolibriOS

Fasmg port

Tomasz Grysztar (creator of FASM) introduced FASMG, a new assembler engine. It would be nice to support its new syntax in KolibriOS.

• Primary goal: Write FASMG application like FASM one. Port standard KolibriOS macros to FASMG syntax.
• Additional goal: Implement macros for compatibility with FASM.
• Language: Assembler/FASM/FASMG
• Links: FASMG overview, FASMG manual

Unicode library

Unicode is a huge and sophisticated standard. Nevertheless modern OS should provide libraries with Unicode related routines like NFC, NFD, sorting, comparing, etc.

• Primary goal: Write a tiny Unicode library with core Unicode algorithms and example application.
• Additional goal: Upgrade existing applications to use the new library.
• Language: Assembler/FASM
• Links: libutf

Document viewer

Document viewer is a vital part of any desktop operating system. Text, config and source code files can be viewed by existing text editors, however binary documents viewer is still required.

• Primary goal: Design API for a document viewer extendable with plugins, implement it as a KolibriOS application.
• Additional goal: Write some plugins like PDF or DJVU.
• Language: Assembler/FASM
• Links: Zathura plugin system

Virt-IO driver

Virtio is a virtualization standard for network and disk device drivers where just the guest's device driver "knows" it is running in a virtual environment, and cooperates with the hypervisor. This enables guests to get high performance network and disk operations, and gives most of the performance benefits of paravirtualization.

• Primary goal: Write kernel driver for, say, virt-io Ethernet card.
• Additional goal: Write more drivers.
• Language: Assembler/FASM
• Links: Virt-IO wiki

Loop device driver

• Primary goal: Write loop device driver and example application to manage loop devices.
• Additional goal: Prepare a set of disk images to be used in filesystem unit tests.
• Language: Assembler/FASM
• Links: loop device overview

GIMP plugin for skins

KolibriOS skins are currently written in FASM. It is inconvenient to design them as there is no realtime preview and all skin images are edited separately.

• Primary goal: Write a GIMP plugin to open/save KolibriOS skins.
• Additional goal: Create more skins.
• Language: C/Python/Scheme
• Links: How to write a GIMP plugin

RSS/Atom news reader

RSS and Atom are standards for web feeds. They are XML based and easily processed via AsmXml library. Corresponding user application would be a big plus to usability of KolibriOS.

• Primary goal: Write RSS news reader as a standalone KolibriOS application.
• Additional goal: Add Atom support to the app.
• Language: Assembler/FASM
• Links: AsmXml library, RSS, Atom

Most importantly...Have Fun!