Linux Administration Handbook, Second Edition

28. Drivers and the Kernel

The kernel is responsible for hiding the system’s hardware underneath an abstract, high-level programming interface. It provides many of the facilities that users and user-level programs take for granted. For example, the kernel creates all the following concepts from lower-level hardware features:

• Processes (time sharing, protected address spaces)

• Signals and semaphores

• Virtual memory (swapping, paging, mapping)

• The filesystem (files, directories, namespace)

• General input/output (specialty hardware, keyboard, mouse)

• Interprocess communication (pipes and network connections)

The kernel contains device ...