OEM Adaptation Layer

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An OEM adaptation layer (OAL) is a layer of code that logically resides between the Microsoft® Windows® CE .NET kernel and the hardware of your target device. Physically, the OAL is linked with the kernel libraries to create the kernel executable file. The OAL facilitates communication between your operating system (OS) and your target device and includes code to handle interrupts, timers, power management, bus abstraction, generic I/O control codes (IOCTLs), and so on.

Creating the OAL is one of the more complex tasks in the process of getting a Windows CE .NET–based operating system (OS) to run on a new hardware platform. In general, the easiest way to create an OAL is to copy the OAL implementation from a working platform, and then modify it to suit the specific requirements of your platform. If you must create the new OAL from the beginning, the task can be greatly simplified by approaching the development process in stages. Each stage adds a little more functionality than the previous one and provides a convenient separation point where new features can be fixed and validated before proceeding to the next step. For more information on how to develop an OAL, see How to Develop an OEM Adaptation Layer.

See Also

Board Support Packages | Boot Loaders | Kernel | Kernel Image Libraries | Kernel Scheduler | Kernel States | Kernel Independent Transport Layer | Event Tracking Implementation | OAL Reference

Last updated on Wednesday, April 13, 2005

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