26 lines
1.5 KiB
TeX
26 lines
1.5 KiB
TeX
\chapter{Introduction}
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\label{ch:introduction}
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Computer systems are very useful, because they are able to interact with the ``outside world'', for
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instance by reading values from sensors, controlling external appliances or interacting with a user
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through human interface devices. In each of these scenarios, the system's CPU has to react to
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``external changes'', like a key press or sensor reading. An efficient hardware solution to this
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problem are ``interrupts''.
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In this thesis, support for the ``APIC'', a modern and widely used interrupt controller
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architecture, introduced by Intel for the Pentium 4 processor, will be implemented into hhuOS, ``A
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small operating system for learning purposes''~\cite{hhuos}. This support will cover a complete
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replacement of the older ``PIC'' interrupt controller, introduction of an alternative timer - a
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part of the APIC architecture - for scheduling, and utilizing the APIC to boot multiprocessor
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systems.
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The following chapter explains important background concepts, in \autoref{ch:implementation} the
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required steps to use the APIC and their implementation are explained in general,
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\autoref{ch:verification} deals with the verification process of the developed software on emulated
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and real hardware, and \autoref{ch:conclusion} draws conclusions regarding the previous
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implementation and future improvements.
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Specific details on the code created during this thesis are given in \autoref{ch:listings},
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separated from the main body.
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\clearpage |