Agreed. I just wanted to talk in general to make sure that people weren't too intimidated. I think a hobby OS is a great way to become a better programmer.
About the course: the extent to which we were guided was minimal by design. It wasn't a matter of "here's a skeleton, here are steps A, B, and C to get it working", but rather "here's an API, implement it; here are some general design ideas". I think that this is comparable to what you'd get if you sat down with a book on your own, and so I hope that it might give people a decent idea of the level of difficulty of such a project.
I emphatically agree with your point about the difficulty of a newbie + PCI situation, although a year still seems steep.
About the course: the extent to which we were guided was minimal by design. It wasn't a matter of "here's a skeleton, here are steps A, B, and C to get it working", but rather "here's an API, implement it; here are some general design ideas". I think that this is comparable to what you'd get if you sat down with a book on your own, and so I hope that it might give people a decent idea of the level of difficulty of such a project.
I emphatically agree with your point about the difficulty of a newbie + PCI situation, although a year still seems steep.