Functional divisions in the Piglet multiprocessor operating system

Abstract

Abst rac t As multiprocessor computer systems become more commonplace, and peripherals are built with on-board CPUs, we believe that new operating system models are required to make the most efficient use of such systems. At the same time, the role of computers is changing from a computational device to a communications tool, thus emphasising the ability to efficiently support multimedia communication rather than computation alone. These changes prompted the development of Piglet, an asymmetric multiprocessor operating system. Piglet partitions processors into flmctional groups in order to better utilise multiple processors. We describe the implementation of Piglet and show how it can provide efficient multiplexing of shared resources.