Document Type

Article

Language

eng

Publication Date

2017

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

Source Publication

CSERC ’17, November 14, 2017, Helsinki, Finland

Source ISSN

9781450363389

Abstract

As computer platforms become more advanced, the need to teach advanced computing concepts grows accordingly. This paper addresses one such need by presenting XinuPi3, a port of the lightweight instructional operating system Embedded Xinu to the Raspberry Pi 3. The Raspberry Pi 3 improves upon previous generations of inexpensive, credit card-sized computers by including a quad-core, ARM-based processor, opening the door for educators to demonstrate essential aspects of modern computing like inter-core communication and genuine concurrency.

Embedded Xinu has proven to be an effective teaching tool for demonstrating low-level concepts on single-core platforms, and it is currently used to teach a range of systems courses at multiple universities. As of this writing, no other bare metal educational operating system supports multicore computing. XinuPi3 provides a suitable learning environment for beginners on genuinely concurrent hardware. This paper provides an overview of the key features of the XinuPi3 system, as well as the novel embedded system education experiences it makes possible.

Comments

Accepted version. Proceedings of The 6th Computer Science Education Research Conference, Helsinki, Finland, November 14, 2017 (CSERC ’17): 20-25. DOI. © 2017 Association for Computing Machinery. Used with permission.

Download
brylow_12353acc.pdf (588 kB)
ADA accessible version

Share

COinS