Genode OS Framework 21.11 released Dec 01, 2021

With Genode 21.11, interactive Genode scenarios come to the PinePhone, hardware-accelerated graphics becomes available on Intel Gen9+ and Vivante GPUs, and we revive the work with Xilinx Zynq devices.

Just yesterday, we proudly published version 21.11 of the Genode OS Framework. This version is packed with device drivers that open up new use cases of the framework. For example, thanks to new drivers for the display and touchscreen of the PinePhone, interactive Genode scenarios become alive on this open mobile platform. On the i.MX8-based MNT Reform laptop, the first version of a Vivante GPU driver enables the use of hardware-accelerated graphics.

Speaking of GPU support, the release also features an updated version of our custom Intel-GPU multiplexer that has become compatible with Gen9 and newer Intel chips.

At the other end of the hardware spectrum, the release features a new take on the use of Genode on Xilinx Zynq, which combines reconfigurable hardware with a 32-bit ARM SoC and thereby provides an attractive experimentation ground for software-hardware co- design work.

Besides the many hardware-related topics outlined above, another highlight is the feature completion of VirtualBox 6. By enabling shared folders, clipboard, audio, and USB pass-through, it has reached feature parity with our time-tested version 5.

These among many other topics of Genode 21.11 are detailed in the official release documentation...

Sculpt OS 21.10 Oct 14, 2021

Sculpt OS 21.10 introduces hardware-accelerated graphics, VirtualBox 6, media playback in the web browser, and USB webcam support.

Sculpt OS is our flagship example of Genode. It is a general-purpose operating system that runs on commodity PC hardware and is used as day-to-day OS by all of us Genode developers. In October, we proudly released the version 21.10, which introduces GPU-accelerated graphics, media playback in our Chromium-based web browser, USB webcam support, an encrypted file store, and VirtualBox 6 in addition to version 5. It goes without saying that the new release is accompanied with an updated manual. A ready-to-use disk image is provided at the Sculpt download page.

Users of the previous version 21.03 will feel just at home with the new version. The main differences lie in the installable packages offered by the various developers. In particular, the new support for hardware-accelerated graphics can be taken for a spin using the instructions given in a dedicated article.

With version 21.10, Sculpt OS breaks ground in another direction: It is the first version that is available for 64-bit ARM in addition to PC platforms, as described in another article.

Genode OS Framework 21.08 released Sep 15, 2021

Genode 21.08 revamps GPU support and features new drivers for the PinePhone and MNT-Reform laptop. Further highlights reach from VirtualBox improvements, over media playback in the native web browser, to LTE connectivity in Sculpt OS.

The most prominent topic of Genode version 21.08 is the use of hardware-accelerated graphics, which is arguably the most complex and - at the same time - least understood corner of operating systems. Even though we experimented with Intel GPUs off-and-on over the years, a clean architectural integration of GPU support into Genode's rigid component architecture seemed out of reach.

This has changed now. Thanks to our intensive work on our custom Intel GPU multiplexer, new versions of the Mesa driver stack, and a novel approach of splitting the GPU driver from the display driver, the use of GPUs has now become a regular feature of Genode.

The second major topic is a re-imagined way of how to port device-driver code from the Linux kernel to Genode components. We condensed more than a decade of experience with porting drivers into new tooling and methodology that cuts the costs of bringing Genode to new hardware by almost an order of magnitude. It plays a key role in our ambition to use Genode on the PinePhone.

The release is accompanied with many further improvements such as the modular integration of LTE connectivity in Sculpt OS, user-space network routing, and media playback on the Chromium-based web browser. Genode 21.08 is described in detail in the accompanied release documentation...

Collaboration with Barkhausen Institut Jul 23, 2021

In the scope of a joint innovation project together with the Barkhausen Institut, we will leverage the combination of Genode's component architecture with hardware-software co-design.

The Barkhausen Institut is an independent institute for systems research in Dresden. It follows the mission to bridge the gap between academic research at TU Dresden and industry.

In July, we kicked off a joint innovation project that combines the institute's expertise in the domain of software-defined radio with Genode's unique operating-system technology. In the scope of the project, we will expand Genode's notion of component- based architectures to software-hardware co-design. We believe that the blurring of the lines between hardware, operating-system software, and applications paves the ground for tailored solutions that are unthinkable today. Our initial focus is the enablement of Genode on widely available Xilinx-based FPGA platforms, specifically SDR devices.

The project is funded by Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

Guidance for porting Genode to a new SoC Jun 01, 2021

Our new "Genode Platforms" documentation complements the existing Genode Foundations book with a wealth of hardware-related topics.

The porting of Genode to a new ARM SoC is a challenging under- taking that comes with a great deal of uncertainties, namely the inner functioning of overly complex hardware, picking appropriate tools and methodologies, taking informed decisions about porting versus developing drivers, and relating all this to Genode.

Combined, these uncertainties pose a huge barrier. At Genode Labs, we have conquered this barrier a few times in the past, like recently for supporting the NXP i.MX8 SoC. However, the porting of Genode to new hardware should not be left as an activity exclusive to Genode Labs. In order to assist developers outside of Genode's inner circle with joining the effort and help the proliferation of Genode across diverse SoCs, we decided to publicly share our know-how.

Over the past six months we have continuously published an article series called "Pine fun" on https://genodians.org that explains the process step by step. We have now curated the content of the accumulated articles into one coherent document called Genode Platforms (PDF).

Similar to the established "Genode Foundations" book that receives annual updates, it will be a living document, to be enhanced according reader feedback and further practical steps. The initial version already covers a wealth of architectural and methodical insights that were not publicly available before, ranging from bare-bone hardware enablement, over low-level debugging, kernel-code organization and porting, user-level device drivers, cascaded access control to device resources, up to custom assistive tooling.

Genode OS Framework 21.05 released May 31, 2021

Genode 21.05 introduces Webcam support and file encryption for Sculpt OS, switches the tool chain to GCC 10, and extends the arsenal of device drivers for i.MX8, Pine64, USB, and RISC-V.

End of May, we released the version 21.05 of the Genode OS Framework. This version puts the support for Webcams and file encryption into the spotlight. Both features benefit greatly from the framework's component architecture that fosters a precise separation of concerns, thereby bringing ease of use, high flexibility, and resilience under one hood.

Besides these prominent features, the release puts emphasis on device drivers and platform support. The topics are ranging from USB, over I2C on i.MX8, over GPIO on Pine-A64, to networking on RISC-V. Furthermore, the framework has become ready to use on top of 64-bit ARM Linux.

The new version is complemented by an updated tool chain based on GCC 10 and Binutils 2.36, profound performance optimizations, framework refinements, and new tooling for porting Linux drivers.

All the topics outlined above are covered in great detail by the official release documentation....

New Sculpt OS version 21.03 Mar 30, 2021

Sculpt OS 21.03 becomes resilient against classes of device-driver failures, introduces configurable real-time priorities, and adds interfaces for CPU-load balancing and screen capturing.

With our biannual releases of Sculpt OS, we make the most recent advances of Genode publicly available in the form of a general- purpose operating system that can be used on regular PC hardware. Just last week, we published Sculpt OS version 21.03.

This version allows for the interactive assignment of real-time priorities to components, it comes with numerous performance and usability improvements, and bears the first fruits of our new architecture for pluggable device drivers. Thanks to the latter, the system becomes tolerant against classes of driver-related failures. For example, Sculpt OS can now even gracefully recover from a crashing graphics driver.

An overview of these and further changes since the previous version is given in a dedicated article...

Genode OS Framework 21.02 release Mar 20, 2021

The user-visible features of Genode 21.02 that we released at the end of February are the addition of VirtualBox 6, mobile-data connectivity via LTE, pluggable network drivers, and initial support for the Pine-A64-LTS board.

Some of these topics have been in the works since a long time. For example, VirtualBox 6 is not merely an update of our existing port of VirtualBox 5 but a fresh re-take condensing years of experience.

The LTE and Pine-A64 topics are primarily motivated by our goal to use Genode on the PinePhone by the end of the year, thereby attaining a device that is usable, affordable, and trustworthy.

Other notable improvements range from added VirtIO-block device support for virtual machines on ARM, our revived developments for RISC-V, to VFS support for named pipes. You can find all the details presented in our comprehensive release documentation.

FOSDEM recordings of our pluggable-device-drivers talk Mar 10, 2021

Among the variety of topics presented at this year's microkernel developer room at FOSDEM, we presented our recent work on pluggable device drivers.

In the meantime, the recordings of the presentation have become available following link:

https://fosdem.org/2021/schedule/event/microkernel_pluggable_device_drivers_for_genode/

As explained and demonstrated during the talk, this architectural change paves the ground for a variety of desirable features such as resilience against flaky device drivers, self-healing systems, and rigid power management.

Thanks to the organizers of FOSDEM for pulling off the online version of our beloved gathering, and in particular to Martin Decky for organizing the virtual microkernel developer room along with the panel session that nicely wrapped up the event!

Road map for 2021 Jan 29, 2021

Our plan for 2021 is focused on development workflows, envisions Genode on the PinePhone, and addresses GPU support.

In mid of December, we kicked off our annual brainstorming about Genode's road map on our public mailing list. The response was delightful. The topics revolved around new platforms like Rockchip SoCs and the PinePhone, system tracing, DDE Linux, self-healing, Sculpt OS, RISC-V, seL4, Go language, i.MX8, GPUs, Qt5/QML, Goa, multi-monitor support, build systems, Ada/SPARK, MNT Reform, and many more areas of interest. Of course, we cannot thoroughly pursue all of these directions. During the discussion, however, a clear picture emerged.

Official road map: https://genode.org/about/road-map

First and most inspiring for many Genode developers, we envision the use of the PinePhone as a Genode-based feature phone by the end of the year. Since this will involve substantial device-driver-related developments, the team will take this line of work as an opportunity to advance the tooling and workflows for carrying out such tasks. This, in turn, will hopefully ease the on-boarding of new driver developers in the future.

Closely related to the PinePhone scenario, the project will make optimizations a top priority this year. The opportunities are plenty, ranging from micro-optimizations, over API refinements, to architectural changes if needed.

Another recurring topic is the request for GPU support, which is required by many modern workloads such as video conferencing or streaming on mobile device. Therefore, we will revamp our past developments of GPU multiplexing on Intel hardware while also starting the investigation of GPUs on ARM-based devices.

It is safe to say that an exciting year 2021 is ahead of us.