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Date:      Fri, 22 May 2009 14:57:54 +0200
From:      Julian Stecklina <js@alien8.de>
To:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Cc:        freebsd-xen@freebsd.org, freebsd-current@freebsd.org, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: My FreeBSD-current/Xen install notes
Message-ID:  <87pre1nvl9.fsf@tabernacle.lan>
References:  <d763ac660905180553x5c7b3c5bq61acab3d28810a24@mail.gmail.com> <Pine.LNX.4.64.0905190807290.887@localhost> <d763ac660905182052t294e588bu593f1d660aef8b52@mail.gmail.com> <Pine.LNX.4.64.0905190944510.1090@localhost> <d763ac660905190631p2ff604b0gaa12ee3026b91ebc@mail.gmail.com> <Pine.LNX.4.64.0905192149580.6589@localhost> <d763ac660905191730n2d6313edhac6c866de20f137d@mail.gmail.com> <20090521215221.GA98253@server.vk2pj.dyndns.org>

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Peter Jeremy <peterjeremy@optushome.com.au> writes:

> On 2009-May-20 08:30:09 +0800, Adrian Chadd <adrian@freebsd.org> wrote:
>>Xen also lets you write "other" OSes without needing to care about the
>>hardware. One of my friends bootstrapped a toy OS of his inside Xen.
>>He can then run it on any and all Xen boxes, unmodified, regardless of
>>the underlying hardware. That really hasn't been exploited to its full
>>potential though.
>
> This isn't a particularly new idea: The 'CMS' part of IBM VM/CMS was a
> hypervisor-aware OS that couldn't run on bare metal.
>
> Relying on the hypervisor for some "traditional" OS services offers
> plenty of scope for interesting developments.  One area would be in
> University Operating Systems courses - it would again be possible to
> offer practical coursework on operating systems that are comprehendable
> in their entirety (ala V6 and Minix).

You can use microkernels[1] for almost the same thing. It's what we do
at Technische Universität Dresden.

Regards,
-- 
Julian Stecklina

The day Microsoft makes something that doesn't suck is probably the day
they start making vacuum cleaners - Ernst Jan Plugge

Footnotes: 
[1]  There is a sexy new microhypervisor to be released Real Soon
     Now(tm) too:
     http://eurosys09dw.systems.ethz.ch/steinberg.pdf




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