to_shout - Bare-Metal Output Library

A lightweight, platform-independent output library designed for bare-metal environments, embedded systems, and OS kernel development. No standard library dependencies required!

Features

Platform Independent: Works on any system with VGA text mode or custom output implementation
Type-Aware Output: Automatically detects variable types and formats output appropriately
Multiple Formats: Supports decimal, hexadecimal, and binary output
Color Support: Change text colors for better debugging visibility
No Dependencies: Doesn't require any standard library functions
Bare-Metal Ready: Perfect for OS development, bootloaders, and embedded systems

Installation

Simply include to_shout.h in your project:

#include "to_shout.h"

Quick Start

// Initialize VGA output
vga_init();

// Basic output
to_shout("Hello, bare-metal world!");
to_shout(42);
to_shout(-123456789);
to_shout(3.14159f);

// Specialized output
to_shout_hex(0xDEADBEEF);    // Output as hexadecimal
to_shout_bin(0b10101010);    // Output as binary

// Colored output
set_color(COLOR_YELLOW, COLOR_BLACK);
to_shout("Warning message!");
set_color(COLOR_RED, COLOR_BLACK);
to_shout("Error message!");

// System information
to_shout_info();

API Reference

Core Functions

to_shout(x) - Type-aware output for any supported type
to_shout_hex(x) - Output value as hexadecimal
to_shout_bin(x) - Output value as binary
to_shout_info() - Display system information

Output Control

vga_init() - Initialize VGA screen
set_color(foreground, background) - Set text colors
platform_putchar(c) - Low-level character output

Supported Types

Integers (int, long)
Floating point (float, double)
Characters (char)
Strings (char*, const char*)
Hexadecimal output (unsigned int)
Binary output (unsigned int)

Customization

To adapt for different platforms, modify the platform_putchar() function:

// Example for UART output
static inline void platform_putchar(char c) {
    while (!(UART_STATUS & UART_READY)) {}
    UART_DATA = c;
    if (c == '\n') platform_putchar('\r');
}

Examples

Basic Usage

vga_init();
to_shout("Booting system...");
to_shout(42);
to_shout(3.14159);
to_shout_hex(0x123ABC);

Error Reporting

set_color(COLOR_RED, COLOR_BLACK);
to_shout("ERROR: Invalid memory address");
to_shout_hex(memory_address);
set_color(COLOR_WHITE, COLOR_BLACK); // Reset to default

Debug Output

// Debug function with color coding
void debug_message(const char* msg, int value) {
    set_color(COLOR_CYAN, COLOR_BLACK);
    print_str("[DEBUG] ");
    set_color(COLOR_WHITE, COLOR_BLACK);
    print_str(msg);
    print_str(": ");
    to_shout(value);
}

License

This project is licensed under the LGPL-3.0 License - see the LGPL-3.0 for details.

Contributing

Fork the project
Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
Open a Pull Request

Acknowledgments

Inspired by the need for simple output in bare-metal environments
Designed for educational use in OS development courses
Tested on x86 real mode and protected mode

Support

If you find this library useful, please give it a star on GitHub!

Ferki-git-creator/to_shout

to_shout - Bare-Metal Output Library

Features

Installation