Operating Systems 2

• Text 1: Linux Kernel Hackers Guide
• Text 2
  • Title: Linux Kernel Internals
  • Authors: M. Beck, H. Böhme, M. Dziadzka, U. Kunitz, R. Magnus, D. Verworner
  • Addison-Wesley
  • ISBN: 0-201-33143-8
• Recommended text:
  • Title: The Design and Implementation of the 4.4BSD Operating System
  • Authors:
    • Marshall Kirk McKusisk
    • Keith Bostic
    • Michael J. Karels
    • John S. Quarterman
  • Publisher:Addison-Wesley
  • ISBN: 0-201-54979-4
  • Bookpool Web page for purchasing

1. Linux Memory management Home Page
2. The UVM Home Page
3. A virtual memory tutorial
4. Caching Home Page

Unix links

• Other course materials: A free Unix (Linux, or one of the three BSD's)
  Cheap Bytes (a cheap source for Unix CDs)
• Linux Home Page
• Turbo Linux for the PPC
• Apple's Linux Home Page
• The three BSD's (the first two use the revolutionary UVM virtual memory algorithm):
  • OpenBSD (the world's most secure operating system). Runs on the following architectures: x86 (of course), sparc, amiga, hp30, Mac 68K, mvme, 68K, and PowerPC.
  • NetBSD (a highly portable operating system). Runs on everything (well, almost everything). It was the first unix-like OS to be ported to the Mac 68K.
  • FreeBSD (the world's fastest operating system and basis for Apple OSX). Runs on: x86, Alpha, and PowerPC.
  Note: all three BSD's may be downloaded and installed from the net. CD's are also available for them (check the web sites) or cheapbytes.
• Linux for the iMac
• Linux Documentation Project
• General techy news (somewhat Linux oriented)
• BSD news
• Latest Unix software
• Ranish Partition Manager
  A program that installs under windows and allows booting multiple operating systems (Linux, windows, the BSD's, etc.). It is also a powerful tool for creating and managing disk partitions.

Goals of this course:
To teach the student various aspects of the internal working of the Linux operating systems, including:

1. How to write device drivers.
2. Implementation of virtual memory.
3. Kernal scheduling algorithms.

There will also be several exams.

• Introduction to device drivers.
  1. Accessing drivers: the /dev directory
  2. Interface with the kernel: use of kmalloc, mmap and munmap.
  3. Case study: the VGA driver.
  4. First assignment: recompile the Linux kernel.
• Low-level device controller considerations
  1. The language of device controllers.
  2. Case study: the Linux mouse driver.
  3. Use of outp and inp commands.
• Structure of a sound card: Wav, midi, and FM components. Analogue to digital interface.
  1. Case study: initializing the CS4232 sound card.
  2. First exam: fully annotate the source code of the joystick driver.
     This involves explaining what all of the variables are used for and listing the device controller commands used.
• Programming the analogue to digital interface (ad1848).
• Memory management in Linux.
  • Case study: the UVM virtual memory system in NetBSD.
    UVM Thesis (postscript format)
    UVM Thesis (pdf format)
  • Pseudo code for the BSD 4.4 virtual memory system
  1. Implementation of virtual memory.
  2. Virtual memory in Linux verses that of BSD-based systems.
     • Linux Virtual Memory Page (discusses many different virtual memory systems and possible future developments for Linux.
  3. inodes vs mnodes. Implementation of shared virtual memory. mmap.
  4. Implementation of the ext2 filesystem