KERNEL TRICKS

Most Linux users know they can rely on the kernel without ever giving it much thought. But if you do look a little deeper, you’ll find some evolving technologies that extend the kernel in interesting ways. This month we cover some innovations at the edges of the Linux kernel.

Our first article describes the new userspace driver model in upcoming kernel versions. In our second story, Klaus Knopper looks at block device compression with the Cloop module, which lets Live CD developers put up to 2GBs on a 700MB CD. We’ll also examine kernelbased virtualization with KVM, and we’ll end with a look at the Flash Translation Layer and the LogFS flash filesystem.