Phase 10: Kernel Internals
The final phase goes deepest: how the kernel's fundamental mechanisms work. System calls, context switches, interrupt handling, DMA transfers, NUMA memory topology — these are the mechanisms every other Linux concept builds on. Understanding them completes the picture from hardware up to your application.
What You'll Learn
1. System Calls
How user space requests kernel services — the syscall mechanism from user mode to kernel mode.
Advanced2. Context Switching
What happens when Linux switches between processes — registers, stacks, and TLB flushes.
Advanced3. Kernel Modules
Writing, loading, and managing kernel modules — how drivers extend the kernel at runtime.
Advanced4. Interrupt Handling
Hardware interrupts, softirqs, tasklets, and workqueues — deferred interrupt processing.
Advanced5. DMA
Direct Memory Access — how devices transfer data without involving the CPU.
Advanced6. NUMA
Non-Uniform Memory Access — multi-socket topology and how Linux schedules for it.
Advanced7. Real-Time Linux
PREEMPT_RT patch, latency sources, and how to build a deterministic Linux system.
Advanced8. Building the Kernel
How to configure, compile, and install a custom Linux kernel from source.
Advanced