Reading materials

Selection of Operating System Papers

Available on the 6.828 schedule.

UNIX

• Youtube Unix intro
• The UNIX Time-Sharing System, Dennis M. Ritchie and Ken L.Thompson,. Bell System Technical Journal 57, number 6, part 2 (July-August 1978) pages 1905-1930. (local copy) You read this paper in 6.033.
• The Evolution of the Unix Time-sharing System, Dennis M. Ritchie, 1979.
• The C programming language (second edition) by Kernighan and Ritchie. Prentice Hall, Inc., 1988. ISBN 0-13-110362-8, 1998.

x86 Emulation

• QEMU - A fast and popular x86 platform and CPU emulator.
  • User manual
• Bochs - A more mature, but quirkier and much slower x86 emulator. Bochs is generally a more faithful emulator of real hardware than QEMU.
  • User manual
  • Debugger reference

x86 Assembly Language

• PC Assembly Language, Paul A. Carter, November 2003. (local copy)
• Intel 80386 Programmer's Reference Manual, 1987 (HTML). (local copy - PDF) (local copy - HTML)
  Much shorter than the full current Intel Architecture manuals below, but describes all processor features used in 6.828.
• IA-32 Intel Architecture Software Developer's Manuals, Intel, 2007. Local copies:
  • Volume I: Basic Architecture
  • Volume 2A: Instruction Set Reference, A-M
  • Volume 2B: Instruction Set Reference, N-Z
  • Volume 3A: System Programming Guide, Part 1
  • Volume 3B: System Programming Guide, Part 2
• Multiprocessor references:
  • MP specification
  • IO APIC
• AMD64 Architecture Programmer's Manual.
  Covers both the "classic" 32-bit x86 architecture and the new 64-bit extensions supported by the latest AMD and Intel processors.
• Writing inline assembly language with GCC:
  • Brennan's Guide to Inline Assembly, Brennan "Mr. Wacko" Underwood
  • Inline assembly for x86 in Linux, Bharata B. Rao, IBM
  • GCC-Inline-Assembly-HOWTO, Sandeep.S
• Loading x86 executables in the ELF format:
  • Tool Interface Standard (TIS) Executable and Linking Format (ELF).
    The definitive standard for the ELF format.
  • Wikipedia page has a short description.

PC Hardware Programming

• General PC architecture information
  • Phil Storrs PC Hardware book, Phil Storrs, December 1998.
  • Bochs technical hardware specifications directory.
• General BIOS and PC bootstrap
  • BIOS Services and Software Interrupts, Roger Morgan, 1997.
  • "El Torito" Bootable CD-ROM Format Specification, Phoenix/IBM, January 1995.
• VGA display - kern/console.c
  • VESA BIOS Extension (VBE) 3.0, Video Electronics Standards Association, September 1998. (local copy)
  • VGADOC, Finn Thøgersen, 2000. (local copy - text) (local copy - ZIP)
  • Free VGA Project, J.D. Neal, 1998.
• Keyboard and Mouse - kern/console.c
  • Adam Chapweske's resources.
• 8253/8254 Programmable Interval Timer (PIT) - inc/timerreg.h
  • 82C54 CHMOS Programmable Interval Timer, Intel, October 1994. (local copy)
  • Data Solutions 8253/8254 Tutorial, Data Solutions.
• 8259/8259A Programmable Interrupt Controller (PIC) - kern/picirq.*
  • 8259A Programmable Interrupt Controller, Intel, December 1988.
• Real-Time Clock (RTC) - kern/kclock.*
  • Phil Storrs PC Hardware book, Phil Storrs, December 1998. In particular:
    • Understanding the CMOS
    • A list of what is in the CMOS
  • CMOS Memory Map, Padgett Peterson, May 1996.
  • M48T86 PC Real-Time Clock, ST Microelectronics, April 2004. (local copy)
• 16550 UART Serial Port - kern/console.c
  • PC16550D Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter with FIFOs, National Semiconductor, 1995.
  • Technical Data on 16550, Byterunner Technologies.
  • Interfacing the Serial / RS232 Port, Craig Peacock, August 2001.
• IEEE 1284 Parallel Port - kern/console.c
  • Parallel Port Central, Jan Axelson.
  • Parallel Port Background, Warp Nine Engineering.
  • IEEE 1284 - Updating the PC Parallel Port, National Instruments.
  • Interfacing the Standard Parallel Port, Craig Peacock, August 2001.
• IDE hard drive controller - fs/ide.c
  • AT Attachment with Packet Interface - 6 (working draft), ANSI, December 2001.
  • Programming Interface for Bus Master IDE Controller, Brad Hosler, Intel, May 1994.
  • The Guide to ATA/ATAPI documentation, Constantine Sapuntzakis, January 2002.
• Sound cards (not supported in 6.828 kernel, but you're welcome to do it as a challenge problem!)
  • Sound Blaster Series Hardware Programming Guide, Creative Technology, 1996.
  • 8237A High Performance Programmable DMA Controller, Intel, September 1993.
  • Sound Blaster 16 Programming Document, Ethan Brodsky, June 1997.
  • Sound Programming, Inverse Reality.
• E100 Network Interface Card
  • Intel 8255x 10/100 Mbps Ethernet Controller Family Open Source Software Developer Manual
  • 82559ER Fast Ethernet PCI Controller Datasheet
• E1000 Network Interface Card
  • PCI/PCI-X Family of Gigabit Ethernet Controllers Software Developer’s Manual

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