This assignment has two objectives:
- To ensure that you are prepared to work with your own copy of Linux.
- To help you tune your mental model of the hardware/software interface in a computer.
Assignment 1
Due Friday, September 19.
Following the lead of the first class lecture, you are to begin work on the "mental model" of hardware/software interaction in a computer. You are to use a software package to diagram the various components we discuss. These diagrams will change as we progress, so you are to use a software package to ensure that they are easy to modify.
- Diagram a high level view of the registers of a typical computer, with the registers named, and an accompanying text discussion of the purpose of each register (this text discussion does not need to appear directly in the diagram).
- Diagram the instruction fetch and execute (IFE) cycle of a computer in the presence of hardware interrupts. Be sure to discuss what the IFE circuit must minimally do when it detects a hardware interrupt.
- Discuss what happens (in general terms) with respect to the IFE cycle when a computer is first turned on and instructions begin executing up to the point that the OS is loaded and is running.
Remember that we are not talking about a specific computer, but rather a general abstract model that helps us understand the various hardware/software interconnection issues.