ELinOS on PikeOS

ELinOS can run as guest operating system in a partition on top of PikeOS. A partition is a separated environment in which different application programming interfaces (API), runtime environments or guest OSs can reside. Partitions (and software within the partitions) are strictly separated per default. Since guest OSs are executed inside partitions, it is possible to run uncertified (unsecure) guest OSs in parallel with certified (critical) applications in other partitions.

An application suite provides the tools and materials needed to develop software using the respective API, runtime environment or guest operating system within a PikeOS partition. The resulting ELinOS partition image can be integrated into PikeOS and executed, analyzed and debugged.

The comparatively short setup time reduces the time-to-market and makes this interesting for systems that need hard real-time, mixed criticality and the extensive extension possibilities of a mighty yet lightweight Linux system.

PikeOS allows the execution of guest operating systems in two modes:

1. Para-Virtualization

2. Hardware Virtualization

While the first mode runs on each supported PikeOS architecture without requiring hardware virtualization support, it requires the guest operating system to be modified. The changes are mostly related to memory management at architecture level. The second mode does not require modification of the guest operating system, but the configuration can be a bit more tricky. Due to the hardware virtualization the performance is better compared to the para virtualization when it comes to system call, exception and interrupt handling.

In terms of Linux, the kernel needs to be patched for para virtualization. In case of the hardware virtualization, usually the device tree provided to the boot loader needs to be tweaked a bit. Apart from that, any Linux distribution can be run on top of PikeOS. The only pre-condition is that the distribution supports the target architecture.