Glossary
Short definitions of the words used in these docs.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Kernel | The innermost part of an operating system. It has full control of the hardware. |
| Microkernel | A kernel that keeps only the essentials. Drivers and services run outside it. |
| Ring 0 / Ring 3 | The CPU's two privilege levels used here: full power (0) and limited (3). |
| Task | A running program with its own memory and capability table. |
| Capability | An unforgeable token that grants specific rights over one object. |
| Supervisor | A program that watches other programs and decides what to do if they crash. |
| Endpoint | A place messages are sent to. |
| Ring (SQ/CQ) | A pair of shared queues: requests in, results out. |
| Driver | A program that controls one piece of hardware. |
| SMP | Symmetric multiprocessing: using several CPU cores. |
| ISO | A disk image file you can boot from. |
| QEMU | A free virtual machine program used to run the ISO. |
| Zero-copy | Moving data without duplicating it in memory. |
| Real-time | Work with hard deadlines that must be met every time. |