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A hardware abstraction layer (HAL) is an abstraction layer, implemented in software, between the physical hardware of a computer and the software that runs on that computer. . Its function is to hide differences in hardware from most of the operating system kernel, so that most of the kernel-mode code does not need to be changed to run on systems with different hardwa
A hardware architecture, then, is an abstract representation of an electronic or an electromechanical device capable of running a fixed or changeable program. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] A hardware architecture generally includes some form of analog, digital, or hybrid electronic computer , along with electronic and mechanical sensors and actuators.
Abstract machines are typically categorized into two types based on the quantity of operations they can execute simultaneously at any given moment: deterministic abstract machines and non-deterministic abstract machines. [2] A deterministic abstract machine is a system in which a particular beginning state or condition always yields the same ...
An instruction set architecture (ISA) is an abstract model of a computer, also referred to as computer architecture.A realization of an ISA is called an implementation.An ISA permits multiple implementations that may vary in performance, physical size, and monetary cost (among other things); because the ISA serves as the interface between software and hardware.
With this, depending on the complexity of the device, some devices can get surprisingly complex to program, and use several different controllers. Because of this, providing a more abstract interface to manage the device is important. This interface is normally done by a device driver or hardware abstraction layer. Frequently, applications will ...
An operating system abstraction layer (OSAL) provides an application programming interface (API) to an abstract operating system making it easier and quicker to develop code for multiple software or hardware platforms. It can make an application less dependent on any one specific operating system.
Hardware virtualization is the virtualization of computers as complete hardware platforms, certain logical abstractions of their componentry, or only the functionality required to run various operating systems. Virtualization emulates the hardware environment of its host architecture, allowing multiple OSes to run unmodified and in isolation.
HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer or rather Hardware Annotation Library) is a software subsystem for UNIX-like operating systems providing hardware abstraction. HAL is now deprecated on most Linux distributions and on FreeBSD. Functionality is being merged into udev on Linux as of 2008–2010 and devd on FreeBSD.