Getting Started - Materials and Setting Up

Introduction
Finally, the time has come to setup the operating system. And what do need? A lot of things. Here's what they are. I have shortened the list to absolute basics.

First you need to choose between the User Kit and the Dev Kit. It is recommended that new users start with the User Kit but move later to the Dev Kit. The User Kit is a snapshot stable version of Cosmos including a ready made installer. The User Kits however often are quite a bit out of date as compared to the Dev Kit and is only occasionally updated.

The Dev Kit is the live source which the Cosmos Team develops directly against. The Dev Kit has the latest and greatest features, but at various times has known issues, and sometimes may not even build. Thus to use the Dev Kit be sure to join the Gitter channel and inquire about the current status before using the Dev Kit or updating it.

Prerequisites (Things to download first and install):
Userkit


 * Visual Studio 2019 – Download
 * Visual Studio 2019 Workload: .NET Core Tools – .NET Core cross-platform development
 * .NET Framework 4.6.2 Developer Pack – Download
 * VMWare Player Workstation 16 OR Bochs 2.6.x (Virtual Machine to run OS)

Devkit


 * Cosmos (Click Download ZIP on the GitHub page)
 * Inno Setup (To Download Cosmos)
 * Patient Mind (Also A Must)

I put the last one in there because you definitely need it. Creating operating systems take time. So don't, please don't, give up in the next hour or two. Understand that coding is a skill acquired over time, and you might not get it at first. Please do note that this is NOT a tutorial on C# and that you should visit other tutorials on C# if you are just starting out.

Setting Up
Userkit:


 * 1) Download the latest release of Cosmos (download the exe file)
 * 2) Wait for the download to complete then run the installer. Allow it to run as admin. Make sure VS2019 is NOT running when you do this.
 * 3) Click “Next” then “Install”
 * 4) Wait for the install to progress. Tip: At the end the installer may look like it has stalled, but it is still doing something in the background. WAIT for the “Finish” button to become available.
 * 5) Cosmos should now be installed.

Devkit

Here is a video on how to install the Userkit. Follow the video, to see how to make your first Cosmos Project.

What's that Virtual Machine word I saw?
Never fear little Jimmy! A Virtual Machine is a program that runs OSs over the current OS. There are two different type of virtual machines. Regular VMs are Virtual Machines that run the operating system with minimal to no hardware abstraction. Instead, in the guest OS, you have to install a program that does the hardware abstraction for the VM. The other type of Virtual Machine is the Virtual Emulator. A Virtual Emulator has it's own BIOS (Read about it somewhere else) and Hardware abstraction. I hope this clears everything up.