K42 is an multiprocessor computers.

K42 utilizes a microkernel architecture rather than the traditional monolithic kernel design. K42 consists of a small exception-handling component that serves as the microkernel, a fast IPC mechanism called protected procedure call (PPC), and servers for all other components of the operating system. These servers exist in separate address spaces and rely upon the fast IPC mechanism for communication with the microkernel and other servers.

=History=

The core of K42 is based on the University of Toronto s [http://www.eecg.toronto.edu/~tornado Tornado] Operating System. K42 is the university s third generation of research on scalable operating systems. Tornado OS / [http://www.eecg.toronto.edu/parallel/parallel/NUMA.Welcome.html NUMAchine Multiprocessor] was the second generation and [http://www.eecg.toronto.edu/parallel/hurricane.html Hurricane OS] / [http://www.eecg.toronto.edu/parallel/hector.html Hector Multiprocessor] was the first generation.

=Features=

K42 currently fully supports Linux s Application_programming_interface and Application_binary_interface, so Linux binaries can run on K42 without modification. Furthermore, K42 can use (and does use) Linux devices drivers, file systems and other modules.

Another goal of the K42 design is to achieve a customizable and maintainable system. Being built with an object-oriented design, it allows applications to customize and thus optimize the OS services required, by hot-swapping kernel object implementations, on-the-fly. This is particularly important for applications, such as databases and web servers, where given the ability to control physical resources, they can improve performance.

=External links=