Genode Clarification Please

[Norman Feske]

Hello Lonnie,

> On the NOVA side, I have been trying to determine the best
> combination:
> 
> NOVA + NRE or NOVA + NUL

alternatively, you can use Genode directly on NOVA without the need for
NRE or NUL. It is also possible to run virtual machines on top of NOVA +
Genode. All three variants (NUL, NRE, and Genode) use the same
user-level virtual machine monitor (VMM) called Seoul (formerly called
Vancouver).

For Genode, you can find the Seoul VMM at 'ports/src/vancouver/'. The
actual Seoul 3rd-party code can be downloaded by issuing the following
command from within Genode's 'ports/' repository:

  make prepare PKG=seoul

You will also need to download the C runtime as needed by Seoul and the
x86emu needed by the VESA graphics driver. This can be done by changing
to the 'libports/' repository and issuing the following command:

  make prepare PKG="x86emu libc"

You can try out Linux running on NOVA + Genode using the ready-to-use
run scripts at 'ports/run/seoul-*'. For example, to see a graphical
Linux desktop on top of NOVA + Genode, execute the following command
from within your build directory. Please make sure to have the
'libports' and 'ports' repositories enabled in the 'etc/build.conf' file
of your build directory.

  make run/seoul-fancy

By default, the build system will try to run the resulting boot image in
Qemu, which is extremely slow (Qemu executes NOVA, which executes
Genode, which executes Seoul, which executes Linux). But you can write
the corresponding ISO image to a USB stick and boot it on a real
machine. The machine must have VT enabled in the BIOS.

  dd if=var/run/seoul-fancy.iso of=/dev/your_usb_stick_device bs=1M

The scenario will show Genode's launchpad, where you can start a virtual
machine by clicking on the blue text labeled "init". A new window will
appear with Tinycore Linux booting. Given that your machine is connected
to the internet (and a DHCP server is running on your network), you can
even browse the net using Firefox.

You can start a second Linux instance by clicking on the "init" button
again.

In this scenario, each virtual machine is just a regular node of
Genode's process tree, subjected to the same rigid security regime as in
effect for all processes of the Genode system.

I wish you a lot of fun with exploring the possibilities. All the best
and happy New Year!

Norman

-- 
Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske
Genode Labs

http://www.genode-labs.com · http://genode.org

Genode Labs GmbH · Amtsgericht Dresden · HRB 28424 · Sitz Dresden
Geschäftsführer: Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske, Christian Helmuth