This is the first part of a series of articles regarding Linux Kernel Modules. In this series we will see some examples of module programming and some techniques and general rules that we must keep in mind when we work in kernel mode. This is not an in-depth series of articles, but and introduction for those people who want to know more about kernel internals. A background in C programming will be helpful.

OS basics

The kernel is the core of an operating system. It is the component that actually does the real work in a computer. Because of this, it is important to design the kernel to be efficient, robust and if it is possible, portable. The rest of the operating system strongly depends on the kernel capabilities.

There are several kernel architectures, but the two most important are:

*Monolithic
*Micro-kernel
*(Yes, I explicitly forget exokernels)

Let's take a look to these ones.

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