Editor's Note: Linux remains an attractive option for embedded systems developers. In fact, industry surveys such as the Embedded Market Study by UBM (EDN's parent company) consistently show interest ...

I did something recently I haven’t done in a long time: I recompiled the Linux kernel. There was a time when this was a common occurrence. You might want a feature that the default kernel didn’t ...

An operating system's kernel manages resources, handles system calls, governs hardware access, and controls processes. The Linux kernel was started as a way to overcome the licensing limitations of ...

The Linux kernel is the beating heart of the system, but what is it? The kernel is the software interface to the computer's hardware. It communicates with the CPU, memory and other devices on behalf ...

Kernel modules are chunks of code that are loaded and unloaded into the kernel as needed, thus extending the functionality of the kernel without requiring a reboot. In fact, unless users inquire about ...

Many useful computer security tool ideas have a common genesis: the cracker world. Tools, like port scanners and password crackers, originally designed to aid black-hats in their attempts to ...

When you write programs in user space, the worst thing that can happen to your program is a core dump. Your program did something very wrong, so the operating system decided to give you all of its ...

Blacklisting modules prevents them from being loaded and used, and it is sometimes an important step in keeping a system running properly. The Linux kernel is modular — composed of modules that work ...