FreeBSD Kernel Internals On-site Courses

The ``FreeBSD Kernel Internals: Data Structures and Algorithms'' course can be taught at your site at a time that is convenient for you. The class can be taught in a three, four, or five day format. The class is taught by Marshall Kirk McKusick; the syllabus for the five day on-site course is given here. The syllabus for the three and four day classes is a subset of the five day syllabus and is tailored to the needs of your organization.

The on-site classes have two rate structures. For an internal company type class, the charge is a flat $4500.00 per day fee inclusive of travel expenses. Thus, the 5-day class costs $22,500.00. If you want to run a general admission type class as Berkeley Extension does, my fee is 33% of gross (with $4500.00 per day minimum). These rates include all of my travel expenses (airfare, car rental, lodging, and meals); there is a surcharge for international destinations.

This cost includes a copy of the CD-ROM that has a PDF of all the overhead slides used in the course. This PDF can be printed and handed out to the students or simply provided to them so that they can follow along on their laptops. The CD-ROM also contains a set of papers that provide supplemental reading to the text book, an extensive set of written notes about each lecture, and a set of weekly readings and exercises along with answers to the exercises.

In addition to the lecture notes, the course also references the textbook by Marshall Kirk McKusick, George V. Neville-Neil, and Robert N.M. Watson: The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System, Second Edition, published by the Addison-Wesley subsidiary of Pearson Education. It is recommended that the textbook be provided to each student; copies of the textbook can be supplied at a cost of $65.00 per book. You are responsible for providing a classroom with LCD projector. Finally, you may want to provide a copy of the FreeBSD source code CD-ROM which is available from The FreeBSD Mall for about $40.00. Some sites arrange to have lunch brought in; for a small class, this works well as it gives people a chance to ask questions informally. However, it is certainly not necessary if you are trying to keep down costs or have a large class.

There are no limits on class size, however, I do provide the following guidelines. Generally a class of under 25 students provides time for a lot of individual participation. Classes of up to 45 students allow for some interactive participation, but in order to be able to cover all the material, requires some limits on asking questions. Over 45 students becomes a lecture style class with little time for questions off the material being presented. I recommend that you base your class size on your student's expectations for interaction with the instructor.

I like to have at least a month of notice to schedule a class. You can contact me by email at mckusick@mckusick.com or interactively over the phone with date book in hand. Marshall Kirk McKusick can be reached at +1-510-843-9542 (calling between 10-11AM US Pacific time has the best success rate).