UNIX for Nomads: Making Unix Support Mobile Computing
Micheal Bender, Alexander Davidson, Clark Dong, Steven Drach,
Anthony Glenning, Karl Jacob, Jack Jia, James Kempf, Nachiappan
Periakaruppan, Gale Snow, Becky Wong
Nomadic Systems Group
Sun Microsystems Computer Corp.
Mountain View, California
Abstract
Traditionally, the Unix operating system has been associated with
deskbound machines tethered to the wall by a power cord and an
Ethernet cable. Making Unix support a more nomadic model of computing
requires changes in the entire system, from the kernel level through
the user command set of applications. In this paper, we present the
results of an experimental prototype development effort targeted at
supporting a nomadic computing model in Sun's Solaris 2 SVR4-based
platform. The development involved enhancements in four primary areas:
kernel changes to support power management and checkpointing of system
state, drivers and other kernel support for the new PCMCIA bus
standard, support for serial line networking, and a new electronic
mail application designed specifically for accessing mail over slow
serial connections. The paper discusses enhancements and
modifications to the design of standard Solaris system components in
each of these areas.
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