4 ms·

Perhaps I should've said more. I do often end up googling basic OS stuff, especially related to memory (software interrupts still confuse me though, I understan

Perhaps I should've said more. I do often end up googling basic OS stuff, especially related to memory (software interrupts still confuse me though, I understand the concepts, but never the implementation), but even more so have been my ignorance of hardware level concepts. For example trying to patch the code for a network card the other week, I learned what watchdog timer is, I've never heard of that prior.

geofft 7y ago
Working through an academic OS class where you implement interrupt handling is super helpful for that - hardware interrupts and software interrupts are similar but not quite the same and actually writing the interrupt handlers makes some things clear. I can endorse MIT's 6.828 (I've taken it and taught a version if it), which (at least before this semester, they seem to be redoing things) has a lab about setting up interrupt handling: https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.828/2018/labs/lab3/ https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.828/2018/labs/lab3/ It's entirely possible to complete the labs on your own, and doing labs 1-3 is worthwhile, but it's also a significant time commitment. Watchdog timers fall in the category of "there is so much" - they're not crucial to how network drivers work, but drivers in a production OS have to care about every feature that might interact with them. :(