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what is a kernal


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This is a definition from the book "Mandrake 9.2 - The Definitive Guide"

 

"kernel

- the guts of the operating system. The kernel is responsible for allocating resources and separating processes from each other. It handles all of the low-level operations which allow programs to talk directly to the hardware on your computer, manages buffer cache and so on"

 

This definition is from the book " Install, Configure and Customize Slackware Linux" by Joe "Zonker" Brockmeier.

 

"What is the Kernel?

Technically the name Linux refers only to the kernel. Everything else is your system is a utility, library, or application that has been written or ported to the Linux kernel. The kernel is the heart of the system, providing the tasking mechanisms and determining which process is to run next. It also maintains the network connections between other computers. It is the entity that manages the hardware and interfaces to the applications. The kernel manages memory gets data to and from the hard drive and controls your sound card. It knows how to do this via special pieces of software called device drivers."

 

My definition-

 

The kernel is the core of the operating system on which programs and applications access system resources. Essentially it acts a system controller and a "go between" for the hardware and applications. Example functions of the kernel are memory management, allocating memory for system functions, programs and apps, other functions of the kernel include hardware access. Another example function of the kernel is the swap, the kernel determines (by usage) what data to retain in memory and which data to send to or retrieve from the swap partition.

 

A real life example of a kernel function is right now I'm listening to mp3's on XMMS from a cdrom. XMMS is the program that I use to access the mp3's. I choose which mp3's I want through XMMS and XMMS in turn accesses the cdrom drive through the kernel which in turn loads them into memory. The output of the mp3's from XMMS (which decodes the mp3's) is sent to the kernel which in turn passes it through the sound card (which converts the signal from digital to analog) on through to my stereo which I love to crank :cheesy: into my kickin studio headphones.

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