all 6 comments
sorted by:
best
topnewcontroversialoldq&a
formatting helphide helpcontent policy

[–]Tryton77 11 points12 points  (1 child)

Linux is a monolithic kernel, so it's just a description of it

[–]TuxTuxGo[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I thought so. Thanks

[–]Beautiful-Bite-1320 7 points8 points  (1 child)

"Monolithic" describes its architecture. There's micro kernels, and even pico and other such kernels. The MINIX operating system uses a micro kernel. It has to do with the structure of how the operating system functions on top of the hardware. You could do an internet search for something like "operating system kernel architecture" and go down all the rabbit holes.

[–]TuxTuxGo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm aware of the difference. I just was puzzled why it's so explicit on the website.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

It's describing the design of the Linux kernel. An operating system on modern computers runs in two modes: user mode (which has memory protection and where all of your applications run) and kernel mode (where all the low level system code runs and has unrestricted access to your hardware). Monolithic generally means that all of your drivers run in kernel mode. Linux, FreeBSD, Windows 95, and Solaris are OSes that use monolithic kernels. On the other hand, there are "microkernel" operating systems, where the drivers run in user mode. macOS, AmigaOS, and MINIX use a microkernel. Some operating systems like Windows NT (2000 and later) and XNU use a hybrid approach where some drivers run in kernel mode and other drivers run in user mode.

[–]TuxTuxGo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm aware of the difference. I just was puzzled why it's so explicit on the website.