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 Genode Labs Newsletter - October / November 2014
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 Content

 1. Genode OS Framework 14.11 released
 2. Exploration of the seL4 microkernel
 3. Meet us at FOSDEM 2015


 1. Genode OS Framework 14.11 released
 -------------------------------------

 We are happy to announce the release of Genode 14.11 that comes with
 a much anticipated feature: wireless networking on modern laptops.
 With more than 215,000 lines of code, the Intel wireless stack of
 Linux kernel represents the most sophisticated driver subsystem ever
 ported to Genode. When integrated within a Genode system, however,
 this complexity to contained in a single and easy-to-use component.

 As the second major improvement, the new version introduces a
 concept of trading CPU resources between components running on our
 custom base-hw kernel. Thereby, we apply our time-tested memory-
 management approach to the management of CPU time throughout the
 system.

 Functionality-wise, Genode 14.11 comes with VirtualBox 4.3.16 that
 runs directly on the NOVA microhypervisor. This upgrade comes with
 the ability to use regular vbox configurations on Genode and thereby
 provide good interoperability between the traditional host platforms
 of VirtualBox and Genode.

 Further improvements are a completely new dynamic linker with a code
 complexity of less than 20% of the old one, new GUI components, and
 improved device-driver support for the Raspberry Pi. These and many
 more topics are covered in the detailed release documentation:

   http://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/14.11


 2. Exploration of the seL4 microkernel
 --------------------------------------

 The seL4 kernel is widely regarded as a break-through in operating
 systems. It is the first OS kernel that is formally proven to be free
 of bugs. At the same time, it is powerful enough to enable dynamic
 general-purpose workloads on top. After many years being developed
 as proprietary technology by NICTA, seL4 was finally published under
 an open-source license last summer.

 The liberation of seL4 prompted us to investigate this kernel as a
 potential base platform for Genode. In addition to the confidence in
 the maturity of the kernel stemming from its formal verification,
 its feature set looks like a perfect fit for Genode. It supports
 both IA32 and ARM, is based on a capability-based security model,
 and has a reportedly good performance. In November, we started to
 have a closer look and summarized our experience in the following
 article:

   http://genode.org/documentation/articles/sel4_part_1

 For those among you who are interested in tracking the progress of
 this line of work, the following topic branch documents our steps:

   https://github.com/nfeske/genode/commits/sel4


 3. Meet us at FOSDEM 2015
 -------------------------

 The date for next year's FOSDEM is set and we are happy that the
 microkernel developer room will be part of it again. FOSDEM is the
 world's largest event of the Free-Software and Open-Source
 community. It hosts literally hundreds of lectures and talks,
 covering all facets of the open-source universe:

   FOSDEM 2015 in Brussels
   January 31 and February 1
   https://fosdem.org/2015

 It goes without saying that Genode Labs will be present and actively
 participate. Whether you are generally interested in Open-Source and
 Free-Software projects, like to catch up with us Genode developers,
 or meet like-minded people, we warmly recommend you to join FOSDEM!


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 --------------------

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 Best regards

 -- 
 Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske
 Genode Labs

 http://www.genode-labs.com · http://genode.org

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 Geschäftsführer: Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske, Christian Helmuth

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