ls --- Laboratorio de Sistemas [ubicuos] del GSyC
We (also) make systems that work
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The aim of the GSyC systems lab is
to build systems that work for the computing environment that will be common
the next decade. For example, our Who and Where
pages give
some information about part of our physical environment, which can be programmed through
our operating system.
Our systems are built following these assumptions:
- For each resource you want, you can choose it out of many ones that
are available in the network.
- This set of resources is highly dynamic and heterogeneous.
- You want your system to make life easier for you and your applications.
We are trying to build a computing environment along these guidelines.
Currently we are working on the
nix operating system. NIX leverages
Plan 9, and what we and others
learned during the past few years to provide a computing environment suitable for
exploiting machines with multiple cores.
Before working in Nix, we built the
Octopus. The Octopus is being used as
the development environment for building Nix. It is a distributed system built by centralizing all
the services, using all the Plan B technology in a new way.
Plan B is
a computing environment that we
built to provide a convenient computing environment made out of resources
in the network.
Finnancial support, in part, by Spanish MCYT TIN2010-17344 and
Madrid CAM S-2009/TIC-1692.
Our main past projects before Plan B and the Octopus
were Off and Off++, two microkernels built to let the application use the
set of hardware facilities available through the network. We gained experience
by building them. They are no longer supported since we are applying what
we learned in the construction of Plan B and the Octopus.
There is also a page with student projects related
to the projects mentioned above.
Most of the development is done using Octopus. Our main file server
is a Plan 9 machine. Our local Plan 9 page contains some pointers to
get started.
- Nix is a new kernel for Plan 9 computing
environments, now hosted and distributed at lsub.
- The octopus (2nd edition) is a new system being built to provide Plan B
services without having to carry hardware around.
- The first edition of the octopus is now deprecated and no longer distributed.
- Plan B 4th edition
is in production. Tar archives to be extracted on a Plan 9 installation are available, including source.
- Plan B 3rd edition is available under demand (iso image of a full native system), but we are no longer using it.
- Plan B 1st edition, including manual and
software. This edition is now deprecated.
- Off++, a distributed
adaptable microkernel.
- Additional software may be available in the student
projects page.
- Not related to our research area, but to a programming lecture we teach: the
picky programming language compiler and
abstract machine.
Most papers are in the papers and documentation page.
Regarding the Octopus, Building Distributed Systems by Centralizing Everything gives
a rough idea of the project and the system. The manual for our development version
may also give more details about the system.
Regarding Plan B, the most
important one to understand what is going on in Plan B is
Plan B: An Operating System for Ubiquitous Programming Environments. The
Plan B: boxes for network resources paper
provides an overview of the ideas behind the system (It corresponds to the first edition).
The Plan B 3rd edition User's Manual documents the system.
The 1st edition user's manual may be also illustrative.
System demonstrations and screenshots for both the Octopus and Plan B
can be found in the demos page.
Including an introductory demonstration of the environment and videos for different
system features. If you experience problems downloading, please let
us know by email to ls at mailhost lsub.org.
See our Who page for more information. The following list includes only active members.
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