Adaptive Domain Environment For Operating Systems - Previous Work

Previous Work

There are two categories of existing solutions that enable multiple operating systems to run on the same system. The first is simulation-based and provides a virtual environment for which to run additional operating systems. The second suggests the usage of a nanokernal layer to enable hardware sharing.

In the simulation category there are tools such as VMware, Plex86, VirtualPC and SimOS. These solutions are used for users who desire to run applications foreign to their base OS, they provide no control whatsoever over the base OS to the user. Simulation was never meant to be used in a production environment. In the nanokernel category there are tools such as SPACE, cache kernel and Exokernel. All of these suggest building miniature hardware management facilities which can thereafter be used to build production operating systems. The problem of this approach is that it does not address the issue of currently existing operating systems and their user base.

Adeos addresses the requirements of both categories of application by providing a simple layer that is inserted under an unmodified running OS and thereafter provides the required primitives and mechanisms to allow multiple OSes to share the same hardware environment. Adoes does not attempt to impose any restrictions on the hardware’s usage, by the different OSes, more than is necessary for Adeos’ own operation. Instead, that actual restriction is to be imposed by the system administrator or the system programmer. This exposes the system to mismanagement, but the idea behind Adeos is to give back control to system administrators and programmers.