1997-03-17
1998-10-20
Kriess, Kevin A.
395652, G06F 906
Patent
active
058260900
ABSTRACT:
An improved operating system for a computer provides support for specific hardware components. The operating system is loaded by first loading a base portion which initializes the operating system and determines the particular type of hardware components present. Then, appropriate software components are loaded that are specifically associated with the hardware components. The hardware components can be detected by leaving a trace in the memory device that is associated with the software component and later retrieving the trace, or by testing the computer for the hardware component. The hardware component may be a bus architecture selected from a group of bus architectures, and bus-independent interfaces are defined which are mapped to addresses in the kernel. Alternatively, the software component can include a PAL which contains specific instructions for communicating with the hardware component. The PAL is constructed from a plurality of files each associated with the hardware component.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5355489 (1994-10-01), Bealkowski et al.
patent: 5386561 (1995-01-01), Huynh et al.
patent: 5394547 (1995-02-01), Correnti et al.
patent: 5586324 (1996-12-01), Sato et al.
patent: 5586327 (1996-12-01), Bealkowski et al.
Mealey Bruce Gerard
Swanberg Randal Craig
Williams Michael Stephen
Dillon Andrew J.
Henkler Richard A.
International Business Machines - Corporation
Kriess Kevin A.
Musgrove Jack V.
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