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  1. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
  2. <chapter id="intro">
  3.   <?dbhtml filename="intro.html" ?>
  4.  
  5.   <title>Introduction</title>
  6.  
  7.   <para>HelenOS is a portable operating system with support for a variety of
  8.   modern processor architectures<footnote>
  9.       <para>amd64, arm32, ia32, ia64, mips32, ppc32 and sparc64. ia32xen and
  10.       ppc64 are currently broken.</para>
  11.     </footnote>.</para>
  12.  
  13.   <para>This book describes the design and principles of the HelenOS operating
  14.   system from the perspective of its microkernel as well as from the
  15.   perspective of its userspace drivers and server tasks. Its primary goal is
  16.   to present ideas behind each subsystem and highlight things that are
  17.   specific to HelenOS. Although this text contains references to source code
  18.   (e.g. function names), these are provided only to improve reader's
  19.  orientation when reading the code. This book does not attempt to be a
  20.  substitute for a reference manual and the reader is strongly encouraged to
  21.  look for interface details there.</para>
  22.  
  23.  <section>
  24.    <title>How to Read This Book</title>
  25.  
  26.    <para><xref linkend="architecture" /> contains overview of the overall
  27.    HelenOS architecture.</para>
  28.  
  29.    <para><xref linkend="ds" /> describes essential data structures used both
  30.    in the kernel and in the userspace.</para>
  31.  
  32.    <para><xref linkend="time" /> focuses on time management in the kernel and
  33.    scheds some light on the userspace source of time.</para>
  34.  
  35.    <para><xref linkend="scheduling" /> is dedicated to threads and the
  36.    scheduling subsystem.</para>
  37.  
  38.    <para><xref linkend="mm" /> describes memory management of physical and
  39.    virtual memory.</para>
  40.  
  41.    <para><xref linkend="ipc" /> deals with the IPC subsystem.</para>
  42.  
  43.    <para><xref linkend="hardware" /> describes facilities that a userspace
  44.    task can use in order to become a device driver.</para>
  45.  
  46.    <para><xref linkend="archspecs" /> presents some architecture specific
  47.    issues.</para>
  48.  </section>
  49. </chapter>