Calendar

The course calendar summarizes the important dates for the term, including assignment due dates. It starts out as a plan, and is updated to fit reality during the term.

The reading topics for class meetings and reading assignments shown below are a compromise between the desire to cover all the topics in the text and need to get started on the main project within three weeks. To do the project one needs at least a little bit from several chapters scattered througout the book, but one does not need to understand every detail. The book tries to cover all kinds of devices and the entire device driver programming interface, but we will just be using a subset of that. On the other hand, it is easier to read the book in order, without skipping. Added to this dilemma, we have other material, not in the book, that we need to read, including the following:

• The laboratory assignment instructions.
• The code of specific Linux device drivers.
• Documentation on the specific device for which you will develop a driver as the final project.
• Non-device portions of the Linux kernel, including the scheduler (optional).

These needed to be interleaved with the textbook readings, but do not appear explicitly in the calendar, except in the last few weeks.

The intent of the reading assignment schedule is to read (rush) through the entire book quickly enough that we have the knowledge we need to tackle a serious project not later than the end of the third week. There will be unannounced short quizzes, usually 15 minutes long, from time to time to spot-check that we are keeping up with the readings. As the term progresses, when it appears the assignments were getting difficult enough to take time away from reading, and we need extra time time to discuss the specifics of the assignments, we will back off on the pace of the readings and in-class coverage of the textbook topics, and use the class time to walk through some full Linux device drivers, while the students work on their own projects.

See Notes and Assignment pages for links to class notes and assignment descriptions.