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Homework 2: OS Kernels, Booting and System Calls
| Assignment Day | September 06, 2016 |
| Due Date | September 13, 2016 (Tuesday) |
Question 1 (OS Kernel Design)
Please read the 1992 Andrew Tanenbaum & Linus Torvald debate (see link).
- What was Tanenbaum's initial complaint(s) about the Linus kernel?
- What problem(s) did Linus have with MINIX?
- What is the conclusion - what is better - micro- or monolithic kernels (and why)?
Bonus 1: read the next link and the next link of the above and find out open source and its contributors, interesting read. (add a paragraph on your thoughts after reading the link for bonus).
Bonus 2: Read the 2006/2008 (slash dot) and Part II of the debate - it is an ever ending debate.(add a paragraph on your thoughts after reading the link for bonus).
Question 2 (Mainstream Operating Systems)
a. What is the latest version of Linux? Is it a micro or monolithing kernel? How does it differ from the previous version?
b. What is the latest version of Mac? Is it a micro or a monolithic kernel? Has Mac gone through some major designs (in terms of being micro or monolitithic)?
c. What is the latest version of Windows? Is it a micro or a monolithic kernel?
Question 3 (Booting)
a. Outline the boot sequence with simple and brief bullet points - each step should be
one or two brief sentence[s].
[optional] - include a diagram.
b. What is a typical size of the Master Boot Record - why this constraint?
Some useful web pages as a starting point:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booting
http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/
Question 4 (System Call)
Contrast the mechanics of a system call in Linux and Microsoft Windows OS (you can pick any Windows System XP and newer). Highlight differences and similarities. You may discuss references/resources on the class list (Piazza).
sumbit as a pdf file on nike in a folder called HW2.
submit HW2 csx730