Phantom OS
Encyclopedia
Phantom OS is an operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

 mostly made by Russian programmers.
Phantom OS is based on a concept of persistent virtual memory, and is managed-code oriented. Phantom OS is one of a few OSes that are not based on classical concepts of UNIX-like systems. Its primary goal is to achieve simplicity and effectiveness in both the operating system and applications at the same time.

Phantom lays on a principle "Anything is an object", differently from the Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...

-like approach "Anything is a file".

Basics

Managed code: Memory protection on object level, rather than on process level; absence of pointer arithmetic in managed code avoids many problems that are present in unmanaged code.

Global address space: Very effective and inexpensive IPC.
Single (flat) address space allows transfer of objects from one process (application) to another been done by transferring links to that object. Security is achieved through the absence of pointer arithmetic and the inability of an application to get linked to an object other than by calling a public method.

Persistence: Application code does not see OS restarts and could live forever—this makes the concept of a file obsolete and any variable or data structure could be stored forever and at the same time be available directly through a pointer. Differently from hibernation that is done in other OSs, persistence lies in the very core principles of the Phantom OS core. It is done transparently for applications; in most cases it does not require re-programming of an application. Persistence stays even if the computer crashes.

Compatibility

Two ways of code migration are offered.
  • Converter from JVM bytecode — will supposedly allow importation from Java
    Java (programming language)
    Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...

     bytecode and other programming languages working on a Java virtual machine.
  • Posix
    POSIX
    POSIX , an acronym for "Portable Operating System Interface", is a family of standards specified by the IEEE for maintaining compatibility between operating systems...

    -subsystem allows transfer of application code from Unix/Linux — although important features of Phantom OS will not be available.

Status

Currently the system exists in alpha version for ia32 processors. Transfer to ARM
ARM
An arm is an upper limb of the body.Arm may also refer to:-Geography:* Arm , a narrow stretch of a larger body of water** Canal arm, a subsidiary branch of a canal or inland waterway** Distributary or arm, a subsidiary branch of a river...

 architecture is in the works works (currently being tested, transfer is not yet done) and transfer to mips
MIPS
MIPS may refer to:* Maharana Institute of Professional Studies, an institution in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India* Mansehra International Public School and College, in Mansehra, Pakistan* Material input per unit of service, an economic efficiency indicator...

 and amd64
X86-64
x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...

 has been started. Kernel operations have been demonstrated at the biggest Russian IT-conferences RIT 2011, ADD 2010, CC 2010, and 2009.

Project is open for contributors to join.

See also

  • EROS
  • JNode
    JNode
    JNode is a free software project to create a Java platform operating system. The project has taken the unique direction of creating all the software in Java itself, with the exception of some assembly language to boot and load the system...

  • Singularity
    Singularity (operating system)
    Singularity is an experimental operating system being built by Microsoft Research since 2003. It is intended as a highly-dependable OS in which the kernel, device drivers, and applications are all written in managed code.- Workings :...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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