SOsim's News

• SOsim was accepted in 10th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal, June 27-29, 2005.

• SOsim was presented in XII WEI/SBC, Brazil, Aug. 2004.

• SOsim is now part of ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) library.

• SOsim was presented in 33rd ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, Boulder, CO, USA, Nov. 2003.

• SOsim was presented in XIV SBIE/SBC, NCE/UFRJ, Brazil, Nov, 2003.

What is SOsim? SOsim is a simulator with visual facilities to serve as an effective support tool for the better teaching and learning of the concepts and techniques in modern operating systems, serving as a way to render the whole process more efficient. Here you can learn about the project, download the software and support material.  It was developed by prof. Luiz Paulo Maia as part of his M.Sc. thesis in Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (NCE/UFRJ), Brazil, in 2001. How SOsim can help you? SOsim´s main goals are to present the concepts and techniques found in modern OS, such as multiprogramming, process, scheduling and memory management. Some implemented algorithms can be seen in commercial OS, such as HP OpenVMS, Microsoft Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

What are SOsim's benefits?

Teachers and students should consider the following benefits: 

• It allows users to visualize complex concepts in a dynamic and animated way; 

• It improves communication between teachers and students, and students themselves, allowing debates and case studies;

• Simulations can be performed not only in ordinary classes. Students can use the software in labs or at home; 

• It is possible to use the simulator as a tool in a distance education course;

• The software is easy to run. Compilers, linkers, interpreters, scripts, libraries, or anything else, are not necessary;

• The software is easy to use. There is no command line interface, only a graphical interface;

• It is totally free of charge.

What are SOsim's main features?

• Process management 

  • Easy process creation;

  • Creates CPU-bound and IO-bound process;

  • Process Control Block (PCB) visualization;

  • Allows to suspend, resume, and delete processes;

  • Allows to follow all process state transitions (Figure 1);

• Internal system structures

  • Process Control Block (PCB);

  • Process Page Table;

  • Page Table Entry;

• Processor management

  • Preemptive scheduling;

  • Round-robin scheduling;

  • Priority scheduling;

  • Static and dynamic priority;

• Virtual memory management

  • Paging;

  • Allows to define how many pages a process can allocate in main memory;

  • Two types of page fetch police: demand or pre-paging; 

  • Static page allocation;

  • Local page replacement using FIFO with two page buffers (FPL e MPL);

  • Swapping.

How can you download SOsim?

Before downloading SOsim, create a directory. Next, download the zip file sosim_v11_en.zip.

How can you run SOsim?

After unzipping the zip file, just run sosim.exe.  It is recommended to setup 1024x768 display, for better visualization. There is not setup program, DLL's or any hidden files. SOsim does not try any network connection. 

Is there any support material?

• Maia, L.P., Machado, F.B., Pacheco, A. A constructivist framework for Operating Systems Education: a pedagogic proposal using the SOsim. 10th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITCSE), Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal, June 27-29, 2005.

• Maia, L.P., Pacheco, A.C. A Simulator Supporting Lectures on Operating Systems. Presented in 33rd ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, November 5-8, 2003, Boulder, CO, USA.

How SOsim was developed?

It was developed in Borland Delphi and can be run only in MS Windows NT, Windows 2000 e Windows XP.

How can you report bugs and errors?

As any software, SOsim has bugs and errors. If you find any problem, please send an email to LPmaia@training.com.br.

How can you get SOsim source files?

By now, only the executable file is available. In the future, I am going to offer the source code and docs to labs implementation.

How can you get additional information?

Just send an email to LPmaia@training.com.br.

How can you know about news and updates?

You can subscribe SOsim user's groups, sending an email to SOsimulador-subscribe@yahoogrupos.com.br or visiting the page http://br.groups.yahoo.com/group/SOsimulador/.

Last update in Feb. 2006.