Since the introduction of Linix version 1.2 in March 1995, a worldwide community has evolved from programmers who were attracted by the reliability and flexibility of this completely free operating system. Now at version 2.0, Linux is no longer simply the operating system of choice for hackers, but is being successfully employed in commercial software development, by Internet providers and in research and teaching.

This book is written for anybody who wants to learn more about Linux. It explains the inner mechanisms of Linux from process scheduling to memory management and file systems, and will tell you all you need to know about the structure of the kernel, the heart of the Linux operating system.

• has been thoroughly updated throughout to cover Linux 2.0
• shows you how the Linux operating system actually works so that you can start to program the Linux kernel for yourself
• introduces the kernel sources and describes basic algorithms and data structures, such as scheduling and task structure
• helps you to understand file systems, networking, and how systems boot

The accompanying CD-ROM contains Slackware distribution 3.1 together with its complete source code, the Linux kernel sources up to version 2.0.27, the PC speaker driver, and a wealth of documentation.

Michael Beck is the director of software development for the DResearch Digital Media Systems GmbH.  Harold Boehme teaches computer science at Humboldt University.  Ulrich Kunitz is a software project manager for Internet Banking Solutions.  Claus Schroeter works in the Chemie.De information service.