The operating system mode. Processors operate either in kernel mode or "user mode." Also called "supervisor mode," the kernel mode enables the OS (kernel) to execute "privileged instructions," which ...

Microsoft's Dave Probert sees the OS kernel of the future acting more like a hypervisor in order to better harness the power of multicore processors With chip makers continuing to increase the number ...

Linux processes are made up of text, data, and BSS static segments; in addition, each process has its own stack (which is created with the fork system call). Heap space for Linux tasks are allocated ...

With chip makers continuing to increase the number of cores they include on each new generation of their processors, perhaps it's time to rethink the basic architecture of today's operating systems, ...