[计算机英语每日翻译] The Linux Kernel (LInux内核原理解析)1

第一章
硬件基础
一个操作系统需要和作为其前提的硬件系统紧密合作。操作系统需要一些只能由硬件系统提供的特定服务。为了完全理解Linux操作系统，你需要了解底层硬件的基础知识。这一章给出了这个硬件--现代操作系统的简单介绍。


当1975年一月的“Popular Electronics”杂志在其封面印刷上Altair(牵牛星) 8080的插画时，一场革命开场了。当时的家庭电子爱好者可以以仅仅397美元的价格组装Altair 8080(以星际迷航的终点命名)，Altair拥有英特尔8080处理器和256字节的内存，但是没有屏幕和键盘。和现在的标准比起来，这台电脑太过微不足道了。Alair的发明者Ed Roberts, 创造出了“个人电脑”这一名词来称呼这个新发明，但是现在PC这个词被用来指代几乎所有能在不需要帮助的情况下使用的计算机。按这样的定义，即使是非常强大的Alpha AXP系统也是个人电脑。


狂热的黑客看到了Altair的潜力并开始为其编写软件和构建硬件。对于这些开创者而言，Altair是自由的象征。这种来自于大型批处理主机系统的自由运行着并得了到来自精英priesthodd的保障。你可以在家中的厨房桌上摆上一台计算机，多么酷炫！大学辍学者们被深深吸引，并用此赚足了钱。硬件井喷式地出现，这些硬件彼此在一定程度上不太一样。黑客们也非常乐意为这些新出现的硬件编写软件。IBM在1981年推出了IBM PC，牢牢地奠定了现代PC的模型，并于1982年早期发售。配备有英特尔8080处理器，64k的内存(可扩展到256k)，两块软盘和一个80字符，25线的彩色图形适配器(CGA),虽然以现在的标准看非常逊色，但是销量确非常好。紧接着，1983年，拥有10M硬盘驱动高配置的IBM PC-XT出现。不久，IBM PC由大量厂商生产(包括Compaq)，并且其架构成为了PC的事实标准。这个事实标准是的大量的硬件厂商在一个快速成长的市场中相互竞争，为消费者提供了大量便宜的PC。很多这些早期PC的架构特点被应用到了现代PC上，例如：即使是基于最强大的英特尔奔腾Pro的系统也是基于英特尔 8086寻址方式的。当Linus Torvalds 开始编写Linux时，他挑选了数量最多，价格合理的硬件--英特尔80386 PC。

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Chapter 1 
Hardware Basics

An operating system has to work closely with the hardware system that acts as its foundations. The operating system needs certain services that can only be provided by the hardware. In order to fully understand the Linux operating system, you need to understand the basics of the underlying hardware. This chapter gives a brief introduction to that hardware: the modern PC.

When the ``Popular Electronics'' magazine for January 1975 was printed with an illustration of the Altair 8080 on its front cover, a revolution started. The Altair 8080, named after the destination of an early Star Trek episode, could be assembled by home electronics enthusiasts for a mere $397. With its Intel 8080 processor and 256 bytes of memory but no screen or keyboard it was puny by today's standards. Its inventor, Ed Roberts, coined the term ``personal computer'' to describe his new invention, but the term PC is now used to refer to almost any computer that you can pick up without needing help. By this definition, even some of the very powerful Alpha AXP systems are PCs.

Enthusiastic hackers saw the Altair's potential and started to write software and build hardware for it. To these early pioneers it represented freedom; the freedom from huge batch processing mainframe systems run and guarded by an elite priesthood. Overnight fortunes were made by college dropouts fascinated by this new phenomenon, a computer that you could have at home on your kitchen table. A lot of hardware appeared, all different to some degree and software hackers were happy to write software for these new machines. Paradoxically it was IBM who firmly cast the mould of the modern PC by announcing the IBM PC in 1981 and shipping it to customers early in 1982. With its Intel 8088 processor, 64K of memory (expandable to 256K), two floppy disks and an 80 character by 25 lines Colour Graphics Adapter (CGA) it was not very powerful by today's standards but it sold well. It was followed, in 1983, by the IBM PC-XT which had the luxury of a 10Mbyte hard drive. It was not long before IBM PC clones were being produced by a host of companies such as Compaq and the architecture of the PC became a de-facto standard. This de-facto standard helped a multitude of hardware companies to compete together in a growing market which, happily for consumers, kept prices low. Many of the system architectural features of these early PCs have carried over into the modern PC. For example, even the most powerful Intel Pentium Pro based system starts running in the Intel 8086's addressing mode. When Linus Torvalds started writing what was to become Linux, he picked the most plentiful and reasonably priced hardware, an Intel 80386 PC.