This week covers I/O devices, interrupts, DMA, device drivers, disk structure, disk scheduling, SSD basics, and storage performance.
Week 10 connects operating systems to real hardware devices. Students study how the OS communicates with devices and how storage performance affects system behavior.
| Time | Activity | What Students Do | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before Lecture | Preparation Reading | Read OSTEP Chapters 36–38 and prepare one question about disks or device drivers. | Book → |
| Lecture 1 | I/O Device Basics | Device controllers, polling, interrupts, DMA, drivers, buffering, and kernel I/O path. | Slides → |
| Lecture 2 | Storage Devices | Hard disks, SSDs, latency, throughput, disk scheduling, caching, and performance tradeoffs. | Slides → |
| Lab Session | I/O Measurement Lab | Use Linux tools to measure file I/O throughput and compare sequential and random access. | Lab → |
| After Lecture | Assignment 10 | Run I/O experiments and write a short report explaining observed performance differences. | Assignment → |
| End of Week | Quiz 10 | Complete short quiz on interrupts, DMA, drivers, disk scheduling, SSDs, latency, and throughput. | Quiz → |
Explain I/O mechanisms, describe the role of device drivers, compare storage devices, and measure basic I/O performance.
Slides for i/o systems and storage. Replace this placeholder with your final PDF or Google Slides link.
Instructor notes and class summary for review after lecture and before assessment.
Placeholder for lecture recording or external video link. Replace this href with YouTube, Blackboard, or local recording URL.
Starter files, examples, and templates for the Week 10 lab and assignment.
Complete the assigned reading before lecture. Focus on definitions, mechanisms, tradeoffs, and examples that connect to the lab.
Use this reference to look up commands, system calls, library calls, and Linux behavior related to this week.
Use Linux tools to measure file I/O throughput and compare sequential and random access.
Run I/O experiments and write a short report explaining observed performance differences. Submit source code, screenshots, and a short explanation.
Short quiz covering interrupts, DMA, drivers, disk scheduling, SSDs, latency, and throughput.
Central download area for slides, notes, lab, assignment, starter code, and reference files. Replace placeholder paths after uploading final files.
Week 11 focuses on virtualization and containers. Students move from device-level OS support to system-level isolation.