Computer Buses
A 16-bit bus can transfer 16 binary bits simultainiously. This requires 16 separate metal traces on a PC board. We also need traces for control signals. The whole group of traces is referred to as a bus. More ...
Challenges of Programming Multicore Systems
Operating system designers must write scheduling algorithms that use multiple processing cores and application programmers, mustmodify existing programs and design new programs that are multithreaded. More ...
CPU Cache Basics
After the processor accesses a location in memory, there's a high probability that the next location in memory that it will access is in the same area of memory. So to make the computer run faster, a a smaller, faster memory called a cache is placed between main memory and the processor. More ...
Operating System Process Scheduling Queues
The objective of multiprogramming is to have some process running at all times, to maximize CPU utilization. To meet these objectives, the process scheduler selects a process from a queue for execution on the CPU. More ...
The Computer's Chipset
A computers memory and peripheral ports connect through two highly integrated chips called simply the chipset. The chipset consists of a northbridge chip and a southbridge chip. More ...
Multilevel Queue CPU Scheduling Algorithm
With many CPU scheduling algorithms, all processes are placed in a single queue, and the scheduler selects the process to run. In practice, it is often easier to have separate queues for each priority, and the scheduler simply selects the process in the highest-priority queue. More ...
First-Come, First-Served CPU Scheduling Algorithm
CPU Scheduling deals with the problem of deciding which of the processes in the ready queue is to be alocated the CPU. There are many different CPU scheduling algorithms. In this article we describe first-come, first-served scheduling. More ...
Operating System Memory Protection in a Paged Environment
Memory protection in a paged environment is accomplished by protection bits associated with each frame. For example read-write, read-only or execute-only bit, and valid-invalid bit. Normally, these bits are kept in the page table. More ...
Monolithic Kernel vs Microkernel vs Hybrid Kernel
An operating system consists of two parts, the kernel space which operates in privileged mode, and the user space which operates in unprivileged mode. More ...
CPU Process Scheduling
CPU scheduling is the basis of multiprogrammed operating systems. By switching the CPU among processes, the operating system can make the computer more productive. More ...
The AMD Athlon 64 X2 Processor
The Athlon 64 X2 is the first dual-core CPU manufactured by AMD.
It is essentially two Athlon 64 cores on one die joined together with additional control logic. The cores share one dual-channel memory controller. The benefit of dual-core processors is their ability to process more software threads at the same time. However, many programs are written with only one thread. More ...
The Motherboard Chipset
Because the chipset dictates the bus speed, type and amount of memory, and the type and number of I/O ports, much of a computer's performance is determined by its chipset. More ...
