Genode OS Framework release 14.11 Nov 28, 2014With the availability of the Intel wireless stack in version 14.11, we close one of the last functional gaps to use Genode on modern laptops. Further highlights of the new version are the trading of CPU resources between subsystems on top of our custom HW kernel, VirtualBox 4.3.16, a new dynamic linker, and networking on the Raspberry Pi. Early on our long way towards the use of Genode as a general-purpose OS, we identified wireless networking as a crucial functionality. For a long time, however, we feared the topic because WiFi driver stacks are known to be extremely complex. In spring this year, we have finally started to port the Intel wireless stack from Linux to Genode. With the current release, we are proud to present the outcome of this activity as a new component on Genode. As the second major improvement of the new version, we added a new scheduler to our custom HW kernel that allows us to trade CPU resources between Genode subsystems, similarly to how memory is managed on Genode. Furthermore, the new version comes with an upgrade of VirtualBox on NOVA to version 4.3.16 along with profound stability improvements, a new dynamic linker with a complexity of less than 20% of the old one, added networking support for the Raspberry Pi, and new GUI components. The story behind our work on the WiFi stack as well as detailed information about all the other improvements are provided by the release documentation of version 14.11... |
