A Reimplementation of NetBSD Using a Microkernel

Abstract for talk:

This talk covers some of the history of Minix 3, what it is and why Andrew started the project, and how after years of fighting it why he realized that Minix 3 should be more like BSD than being its own thing.

He also talks a bit about some of the advantages Minix has by using a Microkernel design rather than the more traditional monolithic kernel, such as its self healing features (fault tolerance), which allows the system to detect and recover from things like driver crashes automatically, as well as its capability to be fully upgraded in place with no need to reboot the entire system.

Lastly he goes into how at the userland Minix 3.3 is basically NetBSD, minus a few of the more obscure system calls, why they chose NetBSD, and where they currently stand on the project.

About the Speaker: Andrew Tanenbaum

Andrew Stuart "Andy" Tanenbaum is an American computer scientist and professor emeritus of computer science at the Vrje Universiteit, Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He is best known as the author of Minix a free Unix-like OS, that runs off of a Mircokernel and has self healing (high fault tolerance).