Course Overview
Ted Baker  Andy Wang
COP 5641 / CIS 4930
Instructors
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Ted Baker
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Andy Wang
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Office: LOV 207A
Office hours: after class and by appointment
Office: LOV 264
Office hours: after class and by appointment
Class website:
www.cs.fsu.edu/~baker/devices
Meeting Place and Times
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Monday – Friday: 12:30am – 1:45pm


LOV 301 (sometimes at LOV 016)
In addition
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You will spend lots of time on projects
Projects will need to be done in the lab,
unless you have a PC that you:
 Don't mind trashing, through kernel bugs
 Can bring into the lab for demos
 Have your own device
Course Objectives

Make yourself into a Linux kernel “hacker”,
who can:
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Configure, compile, and install a Linux kernel
Do the same for a kernel module
Navigate and read the Linux kernel sources
Use the API for internal kernel services
Design and implement a kernel module
Modify, or design and implement a device driver
Measure the performance of your implementation
Applicability of Kernel Hacking Skills
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
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Software engineering
Concurrent programming
Thesis and dissertation
Employment
Prerequisites
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COP 4610
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or, COP 5570
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Undergraduate Operating Systems
Advanced Unix Programming
or,
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Proficiency in Unix environment and C, and
General knowledge of operating systems design
principles
Course Material
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
Lecture notes (posted at the class website)
Required textbook


Writing Linux Device Drivers
ISBN: 978-1448672387
Course Material

Recommended additional textbook



Linux Device Drivers, 3rd Edition
ISBN: 0-596-00590-3
Online version (free)

http://www.lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3
Class Grading
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Assignment 1 (individual):
Assignment 2 (individual):
Assignment 3 (individual):
Assignment 4 (team + report):
Quizzes:
10%
15%
15%
30%
30%
Class Participation


Grade will be reduce by 1% for each missed
class
Exceptions:
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
Documented illness, deaths in the family and
other documented crises, call to active military
duty or jury duty, religious holy days, and official
University activities
Other cases pre-approved by the instructor
Assignments


Reading
Programming
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You will be provided access to a PC (LOV 16)


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First three assignments: lab. exercises
Last assignment: team projects
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
It may need to be shared
Each member will evaluate the contribution of the other
team members
Warning: they get more difficult, exponentially
Some Possible Team Projects
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Device drivers
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New kernel features/optimizations
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Video cards
Cellular phone sensors
LED devices
Solid-state storage (e.g., flash)
Mechanisms to optimize flash deletes
Mechanisms to track and categorize storage I/Os
Mechanisms to perform secure deletion
Your ideas?
BEWARE

Assignments may be very time consuming
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Non-deterministic bugs
Obscure bug symptoms


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Not much information about where an error occurred
Need frequent reboots and OS reinstallations
Implications
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Start your projects early
You are responsible for backing up your work
BEWARE
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If you plan to use your own computer


You will need to bring in your machine to
demonstrate your code
You might trash your hard drives
Some Useful Tools
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Virtual machines
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VMWare
Xen
Virtual PC
User Mode Linux (UML)
These take time to learn and install
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Will not help when you get to a real device driver
No time to cover them in class
You will need to teach yourself
Quizzes
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Several short quizzes


On average, one quiz per week
Not necessarily announced in advance


(Dates on calendar are just illustrative.)
Missed quizzes

For excused absences or lateness

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Make-up arrangements must be made with instructor
Usually, an oral examination
Class Grading

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91% - 100%
89% - 90%
85% - 88%
81% - 84%
79% - 80%
75% - 78%
71% - 74%
69% - 70%
64% - 68%
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
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

61% - 63%
59% - 60%
0% - 58%
D
DF
Computer Accounts, etc.
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ACNS account (@garnet.fsu.edu)


Grade posting will be via Blackboard
Card activation for 016 Love lab

Fill out survey form and turn it in to Dr. Wang


Need your FSU card number
The door PIN that you want
Course Policies
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Attendance mandatory
Honor code: read your student handbook
Students with disabilities


Report to Student Disability Resource Center
Bring me a letter within the first week of class
Things for you to do
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

Fill out survey form and turn it in to Dr. Wang
Read chapters 1 and 2 of the text
Do lab assignment 1