Operating Systems for Single-Threaded Computers

This booklet addresses OS technology for domains where the software does not depend on the presence of hardware interrupts or the CPU mode bit. These systems cannot rely on timer interrupts to multiplex the CPU, so there is effectively only a single thread of execution that executes the OS and all of the application code. This approach is especially effective on small, embedded systems where the designers do not wish to introduce the complexity associated with concurrent program execution. Read the material published here, use it, give me feedback about its weak and strong points.

Thanks,
Gary Nutt

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Distributed Systems
  3. Distributed Programming
  4. ST System Organization
  5. Devices and Device Managment
  6. File Management
  7. Memory Management
  8. Managing Coroutines

This site has lecture notes, examples, short explanations of key concepts, traditional exercises, and lab exercises. Currently, this site is experimental, evolving, and free (although at some time in the future there will be a small fee for its use).