Kernel Architecture (EKA2)

EKA2 is the principal Hardware and Kernel Services module. It manages the CPU and memory resources of a phone, and provides an architecture for device drivers to manage other hardware resources.

The Kernel has a layered architecture so that it can be ported to different hardware. All base ports must implement a layer called the ASSP/Variant that provides essential hardware-specific services for the Kernel.

The Kernel also allows additional layers called personality layers to be created that provide emulations of traditional real time operating systems. This allows applications that were written for those operating systems to be run on Symbian platform.

The device driver architecture and the services that the Kernel provides to device drivers are described in the Device Driver Guide.

• Concepts
  Describes the architecture and technology features of the Kernel that are important for a base port.
• DMA Framework
  The DMA Framework is a kernel extension that manages DMA (Direct Memory Access) hardware.
• Digitizer Driver
  The Digitizer Driver is a kernel extension that manages digitizers (touch screens).
• Flexible Memory Model Tutorial
  Describes how to enable Flexible Memory Model in the baseport.
• Keyboard Driver
  A Keyboard Driver is a kernel extension that gets input from keyboard hardware, and makes these events available to other parts of the operating system and applications. This section describes how to implement a driver for your phone hardware.
• LCD Extension
  
• Migration Tutorials
  
• ASSP/Variant Tutorials
  Describes how to implement the ASSP/Variant layers for a port.
• Level 2 Cache Tutorial
  This topic describes how to configure the base port to use the ARM L210 cache or L220 cache controllers in ARM processors.
• Power Management Tutorials
  This topic describes how to implement a power controller in a base port.
• RAM Zone Tutorial
  This topic describes how to design the use of RAM zones on a phone, and how to specify the RAM zones in the set up functions in the ASSP/Variant.
• Vector Floating Point Implementation Tutorial
  This topic describes how to configure a base port to use the floating point coprocessor.
• Reference
  A summary of related documentation for the Kernel Architecture 2 component.