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IA-64 Linux Kernel: Design and Implementation
Contributor(s): Mosberger, David (Author), Eranian, Stephane (Author)

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ISBN: 0130610143     ISBN-13: 9780130610140
Publisher: Prentice Hall
OUR PRICE: $61.74  

Binding Type: Paperback
Published: February 2002
* Out of Print *

Annotation: The authoritative guide to the IA-64 Linux kernel implementation.
  • Authoritative and complete description of the Linux kernel for IA-64/IPF (Itanium Processor Family)
  • Provides an in-depth discussion of the ideas and concepts behind the Linux hardware abstraction interfaces, the IA-64 design space, and their actual realization
  • From the lead architects and developers of the IA-64 Linux kernel

The IA-64 architecture and Itanium processors are designed to offer unprecedented levels of performance, expandability, and reliability-- and with the delivery of the IA-64 Linux kernel, that power is now accessible to every Linux developer. In this authoritative book, the IA-64 Linux kernel project's leaders take you "under the hood" with Linux for IA-64, demonstrating exactly how it makes the most of the IA-64's breakthrough capabilities.

They begin by introducing the IA-64 architecture, instruction set, and key features. Next, they cover every major Linux kernel subsystem in unprecedented detail, presenting the interfaces used by Linux to abstract hardware differences and showing how these interfaces have been realized in the IA-64 environment. Coverage includes:

  • Processes, tasks, and threads, including thread interfaces and synchronization
  • The virtual memory subsystem: address spaces, page tables, page fault handling, and coherency
  • Device support: programmed I/O, DMA, and interrupts
  • Symmetric multiprocessing: Linux locking principles and their implementation on IA-64
  • Kernel entry and exit: interruptions, system calls, signals, and user memory access
  • Bootstrapping: firmware, bootloader, and kernelinitialization
  • System performance monitoring: usage, kernel support, and Itanium extensions
  • IA-32 compatibility: architectural support and Linux support for running legacy 32-bit applications

This book not only focuses on the ideas and concepts you need to work with this radically innovative architecture: it illuminates the key issues associated with Linux kernel operation on any platform, existing or new.

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Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Computers | Operating Systems - Linux
- Computers | Programming - General
- Computers | Operating Systems - Unix
Dewey: 005.446
LCCN: 2002018923
Series: Hewlett-Packard Professional Books
Physical Information: 1.22" H x 6.94" W x 9.36" L (1.93 lbs) 400 pages
Features: Bibliography, Glossary, Illustrated, Index, Maps, Table of Contents
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
An authoritative and full-length description of IA-64 and the Linux kernel.

-- Written by the lead architects and developers -- this is information "straight-from-the-source "

-- Provides in-depth concepts behind the Linux platform abstraction interfaces, the IA-64 design space and its actual realization

-- Long shelf life, product track extends through 2005

The book starts with an overview of Linux and the IA-64 architecture and then discusses each major subsystem of the kernel in more detail. Among others, there are separate chapters on how multi-tasking maps onto the underlying hardware, on the virtual memory subsystem, device support (programemd I/O, DMA & interrupts), symmetric multi-processing (SMP), and on the bootstrap procedure needed to bring a computer to live. These chapters place great emphasis not just on the "what," but also on the "how" and "why" of how Linux accomplishes its tasks. Each chapter has two primary components: the first describes the interfaces that the Linux kernel uses to abstract platform differences, and the second describes how these interfaces have been realized for IA-64.

 
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