A Tutorial for Adopting the µMPS3/Pandos Project in the Operating Systems Course

An operating system is a software artifact. Like all software artifact-based courses (e.g. compilers, neural networks), the gold standard accompanying lab exercise is to build an instance of the artifact. µMPS3/Pandos is a new semester-long project, independent of text choice, for use in an operating systems course. The project guides students in writing, from scratch, a complete, though simple, operating system in C to run on an emulated MIPS-based system. This workshop will introduce participants to, µMPS3, the system emulator, the Pandos project --a detailed set of specifications/assignments that result in a completed operating system capable of concurrently executing up to eight student written C programs, and the wealth of supporting educational materials designed to aid both the instructor and their students. Though a Linux laptop (virtualization is fine) will allow for a hands-on experience with µMPS3/Pandos; one is not required for the workshop. Participants will learn how to use µMPS3, and will walk through each of the three core assignments and sample solutions. The workshop will culminate with the execution of participant written C program(s) running under a completed instance of Pandos. This workshop is designed to empower anyone who teaches an operating systems course to be successful in deploying µMPS3/Pandos in their operating system course.