Written by Tom on Tuesday 05/06/07
Context switch: A context switch is the computing process of storing and restoring the state (context) of a CPU such that multiple processes can share a single CPU resource. The context switch is an essential feature of a multitasking operating system. Context switches are usually computationally intensive and much of the design of operating systems is to optimize the use of context switches. A context switch can mean a register context switch, a task context switch, a thread context switch, or a process context switch. What constitutes the context is determined by the processor and the operating system.
Device Drivers: Or software driver is any computer program that allows other programs to interact with a
computer hardware device, or else to work as if they are interacting with a particular device. In other words, a driver is an interface for communicating with the device, or emulates a device. A driver typically communicates with the device through the computer bus or communications subsystem that the hardware is connected to. When a program invokes a routine in the driver, the driver issues commands to the device, and when the device sends data, the driver invokes routines in the program.
Hard Real Time: The classical conception is that in a hard or immediate real-time system, the completion of an operation after its deadline is considered useless - ultimately, this may lead to a critical failure of the complete system.
Hard real-time systems are typically found interacting at a low level with physical hardware, in embedded systems. For example, a car engine control system is a hard real-time system because a delayed signal may cause engine failure or damage. Other examples of hard real-time embedded systems include medical systems such as heart pacemakers and industrial process controllers.
Interrupt Hardware/Software: In computing, an interrupt is an asynchronous signal from hardware indicating the need for attention or a synchronous event in software indicating the need for a change in execution. A hardware interrupt causes the processor to save its state of execution via a context switch, and begin execution of an interrupt handler. Software interrupts are usually implemented as instructions in the instruction set, which cause a context switch to an interrupt handler similar to a hardware interrupt. Interrupts are a commonly used technique for computer multitasking, especially in real-time computing. Such a system is said to be interrupt-driven.
Interrupt Handler: An interrupt handler, also known as an interrupt service routine (ISR), is a callback subroutine in an operating system or device driver whose execution is triggered by the reception of an interrupt. Interrupt handlers have a multitude of functions, which vary based on the reason the interrupt was generated and the speed at which the Interrupt Handler completes its task.
An interrupt handler is a low-level counterpart of event handlers. These handlers are initiated by either hardware interrupts or interrupt instructions in software, and are used for servicing hardware devices and transitions between protected modes of operation such as system calls.
Interrupt latency: Is the time between the generation of an interrupt by a device and the servicing of the device which generated the interrupt. For many operating systems, devices are serviced as soon as the device's interrupt handler is executed. Interrupt latency may be affected by interrupt controllers, interrupt masking, and the operating system's (OS) interrupt handling methods.
Interrupt request: In computing, an interrupt request (or IRQ) is a phrase used to refer to either the act of interrupting the bus lines used to signal an interrupt, or the interrupt input lines on a Programmable Interrupt Controller (PIC). Interrupt lines are often identified by an index with the format of IRQ followed by a number. For example, on the Intel 8259 family of PICs there are eight interrupt inputs commonly referred to as IRQ0 through IRQ7. In x86 based computer systems that use two of these PICs, the combined set of lines are referred to as IRQ0 through IRQ15. Technically these lines are named IR0 through IR7, and the lines on the ISA bus to which they were historically attached are named IRQ0 through IRQ15.
Kernel: the part of an operating system that provides the most basic services to application software running on a processor and also provides an Abstraction Layer between Application Software and Embedded Hardware.
Preemptive multitasking: Pre-emption as used with respect to operating systems means the ability of the operating system to preempt or stop a currently scheduled task in favour of a higher priority task. The scheduling may be one of, but not limited to, process or I/O scheduling, among others.
Non-preemptability arises, for instance, when handling an interrupt. In this case, scheduling is avoided until the interrupt is handled. Making a scheduler preemptible has the advantage of better system responsiveness and scalability.
Protected Mode: Has a number of new features designed to enhance multitasking and system stability, such as memory protection, and hardware support for virtual memory as well as task switching. It is sometimes abbreviated p-mode and also called Protected Virtual Address Mode in the Intel iAPX 286 Programmer's Reference Manual (iAPX 286 is just another name for the Intel 80286). In the 80386 and later 32-bit processors, a paging system was added and is part of protected mode.
Most modern x86 operating systems run in protected mode, including Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD and Microsoft Windows 3.0 (which also ran in real mode for compatibility with Windows 2.x applications) and later.
Real Mode: (also called real address mode in Intel's manuals) is an operating mode of 80286 and later x86-compatible CPUs. Real mode is characterized by a 20 bit segmented memory address space (meaning that a maximum of 1 MB of memory can be addressed), direct software access to BIOS routines and peripheral hardware, and no concept of memory protection or multitasking at the hardware level. All x86 CPUs in the 80286 series and later start in real mode at power-on; 80186 CPUs and earlier had only one operational mode, which is equivalent to real mode in later chips.
RTOS: A real-time operating system (RTOS) is a multitasking operating system intended for real-time applications. Such applications include embedded systems (programmable thermostats, household appliance controllers, mobile telephones), industrial robots, spacecraft, industrial control (see SCADA), and scientific research equipment.
An RTOS facilitates the creation of a real-time system, but does not guarantee the final result will be real-time; this requires correct development of the software. An RTOS does not necessarily have high throughput; rather, an RTOS provides facilities which, if used properly, guarantee deadlines can be met generally (soft real-time) or deterministically (hard real-time). An RTOS will typically use specialized scheduling algorithms in order to provide the real-time developer with the tools necessary to produce deterministic behavior in the final system. An RTOS is valued more for how quickly and/or predictably it can respond to a particular event than for the given amount of work it can perform over time. Key factors in an RTOS are therefore a minimal interrupt latency and a minimal thread switching latency.
Scheduling: is a key concept in computer multitasking and multiprocessing operating system design, and in real-time operating system design. It refers to the way processes are assigned priorities in a priority queue. This assignment is carried out by software known as a scheduler.
In real-time environments, such as mobile devices for automatic control in industry (for example robotics), the scheduler also must ensure that processes can meet deadlines; this is crucial for keeping the system stable. Scheduled tasks are sent to mobile devices and managed through an administrative back end.
Services:A Linux service is an application (or set of applications) that runs in the background waiting to be used, or carrying out essential tasks. I've already mentioned a couple of typical ones (Apache and MySQL). You will generally be unaware of services until you need them.
Shell: A Unix shell, also called "the command line", provides the traditional user interface for the Unix operating system and for Unix-like systems. Users direct the operation of the computer by entering command input as text for a shell to execute. Within the Microsoft Windows suite of operating systems the analogous program is command.com, or cmd.exe for Windows NT-based operating systems.
The most generic sense of the term shell means any program that users use to type commands. Since in the Unix operating system users can select which shell they want to use (which program should execute when they login), many shells have been developed. It is called a "shell" because it hides the details of the underlying operating system behind the shell's interface.
Soft Real Time: A soft real-time system on the other hand will tolerate such lateness, and may respond with decreased service quality (e.g., dropping frames while displaying a video).
Soft real-time systems are typically those used where there