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Basics of Operating Systems (IT2019-2) : Assignment IV
Basics of Operating Systems (IT2019-2) : Assignment IV
GIANG LE e1800927
Assignment IV:
1. What are MAR, MBR, I/OAR and I/OBR?
MAR: stand for memory address register, which specifies the address in memory for
the next read or write.
MBR: stand for memory buffer register: which contains the data to be written into
memory, or which receives the data read from memory.
I/OAR: I/O address register specifies a particular I/O device.
I/OBR: I/O buffer register (I/OBR) is used for the exchange of data between an I/O
module and the processor.
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5. Word: A word is a unit of data of a defined bit length. Usually, the defined bit length of
a word is equivalent to the width of the computer's data bus so that a word can be
moved in a single operation from storage to a processor register.
6. full-word: length of 32 bits. 1 word = 4 bytes = 32 bits
7. half-word: length of 16 bits. 1 halfword = 2 bytes = 16 bits
1 byte = 8 bits
1 double word = 2 words = 8 bytes = 64 bits
12. How does the length of word affect the processor efficiency?
The longer the architected word length, the more the computer processor can do in a
single operation.
13. What does a word can contain?
A word can contain a computer instruction, a storage address, or application data that is to
be manipulated (for example, added to the data in another word space).
15. How do device driver and device controller work together to execute an operation?
To start an I/O operation, the device driver loads the appropriate registers within the
device controller.
The device controller, in turn, examines the contents of these registers to determine what
action to take (such as “read a character from the keyboard”).
The controller starts the transfer of data from the device to its local buffer.
Once the transfer of data is complete, the device controller informs the device driver via an
interrupt that it has finished its operation.
The device driver then returns control to the operating system, possibly returning the data
or a pointer to the data if the operation was a read.