This is a sample exam to show the general style of questions you might expect to see. I said style, not content

Note that the subject matter is different - this sample exam comes from past years where Minix was taught instead of Linux. Don't panic if you can't do the questions!

Also note the structure of our exam will be different, there are no optional questions this year.

All in all, this sample exam is pretty useless but some people asked for it, so here it is.

COMP3301-VM.zip (link only accessible from the ITEE Student Labs network), or

Download via SCP (works from any Internet-connected computer)

Ubuntu Server 10.04 pre-installed VM image (for VMWare player).

This will be the platform for all of your prac and assignment work in COMP3301/7308 this semester.

Please install it onto your own laptop, USB HDD or USB flash disk (least preferred, performance may be poor). DO NOT copy this VM image onto your student network account - you will get a nastygram from the helpdesk and they may delete it without notice. You have been warned!

Ubuntu VM Login: username: comp3301, password: comp3301

Network problems: If you have problems getting the network working from within VMware player, see this link and follow step 2 (ignore steps 1 and 3).

Use this to boot and run the VMware image above. You will need to register and click through VMware's site to get the download.

Note that all ITEE lab machines have this pre-installed.

pth-2.0.7-preempt-p1.tar.gz
(updated 4 Sept 2011; patch available)

Optional: build-pth.sh (version 1.5)

This library will be the basis of assignment 1 and its associated pracs. The manual page for Pth can be found online here.

The build script is optional. It can be used to automate the preparation and building of the Pth library source.

Do not download this from any other source, as it will not include the preemption patch that is required for this course.

666 KB to download (compressed). Extracts to about 3.6 MB and grows to about 23 MB when built.

An argument against threads as a concurrent programming model

An excellent guide to Linux Device Drivers which will be useful for A2.

• Ch 3: Character Drivers (intro, registering, primitives)
• Ch 6: Advanced operations (ioctl)

LXR (Linux Cross-Reference) for 2.6.32.16 kernel (very close to the one in the Ubuntu VMware image).

• Linux Kernel Linked List Explained
• Kernel Newbies - Linked Lists
• include/linux/list.h (LXR)

Useful references on how to use the kernel's doubly linked list data structure.

Perl script to check Linux source code for coding style violations; mirrored from kernel.org. This is the version used in assignment marking.