Few works are as timely and critical to the advancement of high performance computing than is this new up-to-date treatise on leading-edge directions of operating systems. It is a first-hand product of many of the leaders in this rapidly evolving field and possibly the most comprehensive. This new and important book masterfully presents the major alternative concepts driving the future of operating system design for high performance computing. In particular, it describes the major advances of monolithic operating systems such as Linux and Unix that dominate the TOP500 list. It also presents the state of the art in lightweight kernels that exhibit high efficiency and scalability at the loss of generality. Finally, this work looks forward to possibly the most promising strategy of a hybrid structure combining full service functionality with lightweight kernel operation. With this, it is likely that this new work will find its way on the shelves of almost everyone who is in any way engaged in the multi-discipline of high performance computing. (From the foreword by Thomas Sterling)

A scientist’s and engineer’s guide to Workstations and Supercomputers Crack the Unix code and put its power to work for you. If you’re seeking such clear-cut guidance, your search will end with the first Unix survival manual designed specifically for practicing scientists and engineers like you. Avoiding the narrower concerns and complicated jargon of computer science, this guide shows you how to master the complexities of accomplishing computer projects—from start to finish—predominantly under a Unix operating system. With the help of clarifying examples and tutorials, you’ll learn how to write and organize files and programs as well as run, debug, and visualize the results of scientific programs on workstations and supercomputers. At the same time, you’ll discover how to complete these projects while working on other systems and on other versions of Unix. This user-friendly guide offers you the basics on Unix commands and on setting up and using workstations, and goes on to simplify the once-daunting tasks of transferring files between workstations and adjusting X Windows. You’ll also gain a solid grasp of more advanced Unix tools, such as its sophisticated editing, filing, and debugging capabilities, and of programming computers with differing architectures. Complete with accompanying computer disk packed with practice programs and data files, this book will increase your creativity, productivity, and effectiveness on the job by demonstrating how you can quickly learn to wield one of your most formidable tools—the Unix system. Covers all major versions of Unix and systems from major hardware vendors, including: System V, BSD, IBM’s AIX, SUNOS, HP-UX, Unicos.

A growing concern of mine has been the unrealistic expectations for new computer-related technologies introduced into all kinds of organizations. Unrealistic expectations lead to disappointment, and a schizophrenic approach to the introduction of new technologies. The UNIX and real-time UNIX operating system technologies are major examples of emerging technologies with great potential benefits but unrealistic expectations. Users want to use UNIX as a common operating system throughout large segments of their organizations. A common operating system would decrease software costs by helping to provide portability and interoperability between computer systems in today's multivendor environments. Users would be able to more easily purchase new equipment and technologies and cost-effectively reuse their applications. And they could more easily connect heterogeneous equipment in different departments without having to constantly write and rewrite interfaces. On the other hand, many users in various organizations do not understand the ramifications of general-purpose versus real-time UNIX. Users tend to think of "real-time" as a way to handle exotic heart-monitoring or robotics systems. Then these users use UNIX for transaction processing and office applications and complain about its performance, robustness, and reliability. Unfortunately, the users don't realize that real-time capabilities added to UNIX can provide better performance, robustness and reliability for these non-real-time applications. Many other vendors and users do realize this, however. There are indications even now that general-purpose UNIX will go away as a separate entity. It will be replaced by a real-time UNIX. General-purpose UNIX will exist only as a subset of real-time UNIX.

A handy book for someone just starting with Unix or Linux, and an ideal primer for Mac and PC users of the Internet who need to know a little about Unix on the systems they visit. The most effective introduction to Unix in print, covering Internet usage for email, file transfers, web browsing, and many major and minor updates to help the reader navigate the ever-expanding capabilities of the operating system.