What is philix?

philix is a Linux command-line tool for booting third-party operating systems on the Intel Xeon Phi accelerator. It includes a basic virtual console and very minimal driver code for the Xeon Phi that you can quickly integrate into your own kernel to get started with a Xeon Phi prototype.

Why Do I Want It?

While you can certainly boot your OS on the Xeon Phi using Intel's MPSS software stack (and sysfs), you're not going to get any useful output unless you're willing to implement Intel's SCIF protocol in your kernel. This is a non-trivial task that is not worth the development effort if you're just trying to get some quick output from your kernel.

Take a look at some of the features in philix here.

How Do I Use It?

Try the FAQ or the documentation. If you're having issues, feel free to contact me.

philix was made possible by support from the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) via grant CNS-0709168, the Department of Energy (DOE) via grant DE-SC0005343, and Sandia National Laboratories through the Hobbes Project, which is funded by the 2013 Exascale Operating and Runtime Systems Program under the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research in the DOE Office of Science. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.