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The Interactive Linux Kernel Map

Posted by timothy on from the visualization-to-the-nth-degree dept.

Constantine writes "The Linux kernel is one of most complex open source projects. Even though there are a lot of books on the Linux kernel, it is still a difficult subject to comprehend. The interactive Linux kernel map gives you a top-down view of the kernel. You can see the most important layers, functionalities, modules, functions, and calls. Each function on the map is a link to its source code. The map is interactive. You can zoom in and drag around to see details."

6 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. because I want pain by v1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Someone has to ask it, and I have to admit I'm more curious about it than this. I want to see something similar to this for Windows or OS X, to compare with. Not down to the code level. (I did go trolling around in the code reading some comments, interesting stuff) but at least to see the difference in how things are laid out by comparison.

    Surely there are a few that have poked around in those two systems enough to give us a rough fleshing out of the internal structure?

    --
    I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
  2. Linux vs. BSDs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Now I would like to compare that with one of the BSDs. The BSD folks should create a similar map so we all could be amazed.

  3. how is this generated? by belmolis · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I assume that this isn't manually built. How is it generated? Is the software available for use with other programs?

  4. Wow. by smittyoneeach · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Couple of points:
    • It would be cool to see an animation of the kernel boot, starting from GRUB lifting the image into ram, all the way to run time.
    • It would be cool to see an animation of a key press push an ASCII character code all the way through to user space, and then
    • the saving of a file out to a hard disk
    • A network packet going through would also be instructive.

    May fortune shine on these efforts to flatten out the learning curve.

    --
    Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
  5. Re:While the kernel is rock solid by caffeinemessiah · · Score: 2, Interesting

    And Linux still does a lot better than Windows in terms of hardware compatibility.

    While on your side in your flame, I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one. Ignoring Vista for one minute with its compulsory driver signing, etc., XP has a remarkably good support for hardware because...all mass-market vendors will necessarily write drivers for Windows, but not for Linux. I've been using Linux for 10+ years, since the days when Slackware was the most "user-friendly", and until Ubuntu 8.04, I was still wrapping Windows wireless drivers in ndiswrapper, my laptop sound refused to work in spite of all the forum workarounds and my cheap Chinese-made webcam was flat out not recognized. And this was on a stock $500 Toshiba laptop. Most of those are now solved, but it was never an issue with XP.

    Of course, this says nothing about XP being "superior" to Linux from a technology point of view -- just that hardware vendors are going to release win drivers and might release linux drivers.

    --
    An old-timer with old-timey ideas.
  6. Re:Useful by conan.sh · · Score: 2, Interesting

    not yet