Operating Systems (Fall 2026) | SNU Systems Software & Architecture Laboratory

News

   Please note the following information on the midterm exam:
   • Time: 11:00 - 12:15, October 15.
   • Location: #301-203
   • Scope: Textbook Chap. 2, 4-8, 13-16, 18-22, xv6 book Chap. 1-6, Materials covered by lecture slides and project assignments (PA1, PA2, and PA3)
   • Closed-book exam
   • Bring your student ID

(Posted Oct 6, 2026)

   The second project assignment has been posted here. The due date is 11:59 PM, September 27.

(Posted Sep 15, 2026)

   The first project assignment has been posted here. The due date is 11:59 PM, September 15.

(Posted Sep 7, 2026)

Schedule

The following schedule is tentative and subject to change without notice.

Day Topic Reading
9/1 Course overview
9/3 Introduction to operating systems 2
9/8 Architectural support for OS 6
9/10
9/15 Processes 4, 5
9/17 CPU scheduling 7, 8
Lab Session 1
9/22
9/24 National Holiday
Virtual memory (No Class, Video lecture available in eTL) 13, 14, 15, 16
9/29 Paging 18
10/1 Page tables 20
Lab Session 2
10/6 TLB 19
10/8 Swapping 21, 22
10/13 Memory Mapping (No Class, Video lecture available in eTL)
10/15 Midterm Exam
10/20 Virtual Memory Implementations 23
10/22
10/27 Threads 26, 27
10/29 Locks 28
11/3
11/5 Semaphores 31, 32
11/10 Monitors
11/12 Condition variables 30
11/17 I/O (No Class, Video lecture available in eTL)
11/19 Hard disk drives (HDDs) (No Class, Video lecture available in eTL) 36, 37
11/24 File systems 39
11/26 File system implementation 40
12/1 Fast file system 41
12/3 File system consistency 42
12/6 Final project due
12/8 Solid state drives (SSDs) 44
12/10 Final Exam

Credit: Most of slides for this lecture are based on materials provided by the authors of the textbook and references.

Projects

For project submission and automatic grading, we are running a dedicated server at https://sys.snu.ac.kr. If you want to access the sys server outside of the SNU campus, please send a request via a Google Form whose URL is posted in the eTL.

Project #3: The EDF (Earliest Deadline First) Scheduler

Currently, the CPU scheduler of xv6 uses a simple round-robin policy. This project aims to understand the scheduling subsystem of `xv6 by implementing the EDF (Earliest Deadline First) scheduler used in real-time systems.

  • Project specification available here
  • Due date: 11:59 PM, October 18 (Sunday).

Project #2: System Calls

System calls are interfaces that allow user applications to request various services from the operating system kernel. This project aims to explore and understand how system calls are implemented in the xv6 operating system.

  • Project specification available here
  • Due date: 11:59 PM, September 27 (Sunday).

Project #1: Hello world, xv6

xv6 is an instructional operating system developed by MIT based on Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie’s Unix version 6 (v6). In this course, we will use xv6-riscv, a version recently ported to a multi-core RISC-V machine. The goal of this project is to set up your development environment on Linux or macOS and familiarize yourself with our project submission server.

  • Project specification available here
  • Due date: 11:59 PM, March 15 (Tuesday).

xv6 Resources

Course Information

When 11:00 - 12:15 (Tuesday / Thursday)
Where Lecture room #301-203, Engineering Building I
Instructor Jin-Soo Kim
Professor, Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering, SNU
Language Korean
Course Description This course covers fundamental operating system concepts, such as process management, memory management, I/O systems, and file systems, with an in-depth study of the latest Linux operating system. In addition, students will engage in several hands-on projects using the xv6 instructional OS.
Textbook Remzi H. Arpaci-Dusseau and Andrea C. Arpaci-Dusseau, Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces, Arpaci-Dusseau Books, November 2023 (Version 1.10)
References Thomas Anderson and Michael Dahlin, Operating Systems: Principles and Practice, 2nd Edition, Recursive Books, August 2014.
Andrew S. Tanenbaum and Herbert Bos, Modern Operating Systems, 5th Edition, Pearson, March 2022.
Prerequisites M1522.000800 System Programming
4190.308 Computer Architecture
Grading Exams: 90% (Midterm 25+15%, Final 30+20%)
Projects: 10%
* Grading policy is subject to change
Teaching Assistants Injae Kang, Jiho Jeon, and Sangwoo Lee (snucsl.ta AT gmail.com)