Hardware Podcasts

Helios

Oxide and Friends · 1 Feb 2024 · 1h 47m · Episode 4

What this episode covers

Josh Clulow, a software engineer at Oxide Computer Company, explains the architecture and release of Helios, an illumos-based operating system designed for Oxide's rack-scale computers. He details the decision to bypass traditional UEFI firmware in favor of a custom Rust bootloader and kernel initialization to ensure deterministic, single-pass hardware bring-up. The team also discusses the challenges of integrating Rust Tier 2 support, managing the IPS packaging system, and maintaining a close relationship with upstream illumos to avoid the 'quality death spiral' associated with downstream forks.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Products
Helios, OmniOS, OpenIndiana, Cockroach, ClickHouse
Also
illumos, OpenSolaris, Solaris, Rust, ZFS, UEFI, IPS, NOR Flash, NVMe

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