CSE101-Lecture-5

Operating Systems
System software enables application software to interact with the computer and helps the
computer manage its internal and external resources. There are three main types or categories of
system software: operating system software, device drivers and utility software.

Operating system:
The operating system (OS), also called the software platform, consists of the master system of
programs that manages the basic operations of the computer by controlling the application
software and managing how the hardware devices work together. It acts as an interface between a
user of a computer and the computer hardware.

We must have an idea of what operating systems do. we will consider the following functions
performed by different OS:
 Booting
 User interface
 CPU and memory management
 File management
 Task management
 Formatting
 Security management
Booting
Booting is the process of loading an Operating System into the computer's main memory. When
the computer is turned on, programs called diagnostic routines test the main memory, central
Processing Unit and other parts of the system to make sure they are running properly. Next BIOS
(for basic input/output system) programs are copied to main memory and help the computer
interpret keyboard characters or transmit characters to the display screen. Then the boot program
obtains the operating system, usually from the hard disk, and loads it into the main memory
where it remains until the computer is turned off.

User Interface
After the computer finishes booting the first thing that is seen is the user interface, which is the
user-controllable display screen that allows a user to communicate or interact with the computer.

A command line interface or CLI is a tool for interacting with computers, often using a text
terminal. Commands are entered as lines of text from a keyboard, and output is also received as
text. Today the most popular user interface is the GUI ( graphical user interface). The GUI
allows to use a mouse or keystrokes to select icons (small pictorial figures) and commands from
menus (list of activities).

CPU and memory management

At the core of a computer's operating system there is a program called kernel which has
complete control over everything in the system. Like a police officer directing traffic, the kernel
manages the CPU. It remains in main memory while the computer is running and directs other
“nonresident” programs (programs that are not in main memory) to perform tasks that support
application programs.

The operating system also manages memory. It keeps track of the locations within main memory
where the programs and data are stored. It can swap portions of data and programs between main
memory and secondary storage, such as your computer's hard disk, as so called virtual memory.
This capability allows a computer to hold only the most immediately needed data and programs
within main memory.
 GETTING IN LINE: QUEUES, BUFFERS, &. SPOOLING
Programs and data that are to be executed or processed wait on disk in queues. A queue is
a first-in, first-out sequence of data and/or programs that "wait in line" in a temporary
holding place to be processed. The disk area where the programs or documents wait is
called a buffer.
Print jobs are usually spooled - that is, placed-into a buffer, where they wait in a queue to
be printed. This happens because the computer can send print jobs to the printer faster
than the printer can print them, so the jobs must be stored and then passed to the printer at
a rate it can handle. Once the CPU has passed a print job to the buffer, it can take on the
next processing task.

File Management
A file is (1) a named collection of data (data file) or (2) a program that exists in a computer's
secondary storage (program file), such as hard disk, or CD/DVD. Examples of data files are a
word processing document, a spreadsheet, images, songs, and the like. Examples of program
files are a word processing program or spreadsheet program.

The operating system's file system arranges files in a hierarchical manner, first into directories
(also called folders) and then into subdirectories. The topmost directory is called the root
directory; a directory below another directory is called a subdirectory; any directory above a
subdirectory is called its parent directory.
Task Management:
A computer is required to perform many different tasks at once. In word processing, for example,
it accepts input data, stores the data on a disk, and prints out a document-seemingly
simultaneously. Modern computers' operating systems can also handle more than one program at
the same time – word processing, spreadsheet, database searcher. Each program is displayed in a
separate window on the screen. Other operating systems can accommodate the needs of several
different users at the same time. All these examples illustrate task management. A task is an
operation such as storing, printing, or calculating.

Among the ways operating systems manage tasks in order to run more efficiently are
multitasking, multiprogramming, time sharing and multiprocessing.

Multitasking is the execution of two or more programs by one user almost at the same time on
the same computer with one central processor. The operating system directs the processor to
spend a predetermined amount of time executing the instructions for each program, one at a time.
Thus, a small part of the first program is processed, and then the processor moves to the
remaining programs, one at a time, processing small parts of each. The cycle is repeated until
processing is complete. Because the processor is usually very fast, it may appear that all the
programs are being executed at the same time. However, the processor is still executing only one
instruction at a time.

Multiprogramming is the execution of two or more programs concurrently on a multi user

operating system. In a multiprogramming operating system a number of programs belonging to
different users are kept simultaneously in distinct areas in the main memory. Each program is
said to occupy a partition in the memory. As with multitasking, the processor spends a certain
amount of time executing each user's program. Once again, because the processor works so
quickly, it seems as though all the programs are being run at the same time.

In time-sharing, a single computer process the task of several users at different station in round-
robin fashion. Multitasking and time-sharing differ slightly. With multitasking, the processor
directs the programs to take turns accomplishing small tasks or events, such as making a
calculation, searching for a record, or printing out part of a document. Each event may take a
different amount of time to complete. With time-sharing, the computer spends a fixed amount of
time with each program before going on to the next one.

Multiprocessing is done by two or more computers or processors linked together to perform

work simultaneously - that is at precisely the same time.

Parallel processing is an approach to multiprocessing in which several full-fledged processors

work together on the same tasks, sharing memory. Parallel processing is often used in large
computer systems designed to keep running if one of the CPUs fail. These are called fault
tolerant systems.

Comparison of Task Management

Definition: processing of two Number Number of Order of

or more programs... of users processors processing

By one user concurrently on

Multitasking One One Concurrently
one processor

Multiprogramming By multiple users

concurrently on one Multiple One Concurrently
processor

By multiple users in round-

Time Sharing Multiple One Round robin
robin fashion

By one or more users

One or Two or
Multiprocessing simultaneously on two or Simultaneously
more more
more processor

Formatting
Formatting or initialising a disk is the process of preparing that disk so that it can store data or
programs.

Device drivers
Device drivers are specialized software programs that allow input and output devices to
communicate with the rest of the computer system. Each device's brand and model are supported
by a different driver that works with only one operating system. Many basic device drivers come
with system software when we buy a computer, and the system software will guide us through
choosing and installing the necessary drivers. If, however, we buy a new peripheral device, such
as a mouse, a scanner, or a printer, the package will include a device driver for the device.

Utility programs
Utility programs, also known as service programs, perform tasks related to the control and
allocation of computer resources. They enhance existing functions or provide services not
supplied by other system software programs.

Among the tasks performed by utilities are following:

Backup: backup utility is used to make a backup, or duplicate copy, of the information on the
hard disk.

Data-recovery: A data-recovery utility is used to restore data that has been physically damaged
or corrupted. Data can be damaged by viruses (see following), bad software, hardware failure,
and power fluctuations that occur while data is being written/recorded.

Anti-virus: Anti-virus software is a utility program that scans all disks and memory to detect
viruses. Some utilities destroy the virus on the spot. Others notify us of possible viral behavior.

Data compression: Data compression utilities remove redundant elements, gaps, and
unnecessary data from a computer's storage space so that less space (fewer bits) is required to
store or transmit data. With a data compression utility, files can be made more compact for
storage on your hard-disk drive.

Defragmentation: Over time, as we delete old files from our hard disk and add new ones,
something happens: The files become fragmented. Fragmentation is the scattering of portions of
files about the disk in nonadjacent areas, thus greatly slowing access to the files. A defragmenter
utility program, commonly called a "defragger," will find all the scattered files on your hard disk
and reorganize them as contiguous files. Defragmenting the files will speed up the drive's
operation.

These utilities detect and correct certain types of common problems on hard disks, and CDs and
search for and remove unnecessary files, such as temporary files, or ''temp files.

Common Operating Systems

The three most common operating systems for personal computers are Microsoft Windows,
macOS, and Linux. But first we would start our discussion with DOS.

DOS:

Even though it has been around for decades, DOS (which stands for Disk Operating System) is
still in use today for a variety of reasons. DOS originally came into widespread use in the 1980s,
with the appearance of the IBM PC, which was the first personal computer to catch on with
consumers and businesses.

Two versions of DOS reigned as the desktop operating system of choice throughout the 1980s.
The first was PC DOS, which IBM released with its computers. The other was Microsoft's
version of DOS, known as MS-DOS (Microsoft DOS), which was used on millions of “IBM-
compatible” PCs or “clones” (These terms describe any PC that is based on the same architecture
used by IBM's personal computers (to know more about IBM PC read the following link:
https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/personalcomputer/))
Despite its dominance in the PC market for more than a decade, DOS suffered some weaknesses.
For example, it supported only one user at a time, and could run only one program at a time. It
had no built-in support for networking, and users had to manually install drivers any time they
added a new hardware component to their PC. DOS was also limited in the amount of RAM and
storage space it could support. Finally, even today, DOS supports only 16-bit programs, so it
does not take full advantage of the power of modern 32-bit (and 64-bit) processors. Finally, DOS
used a command-line interface that forced users to remember cryptic command names.

Modern operating systems use a graphical user interface, or GUI (pronounced gooey). A GUI lets
you use your mouse to click icons, buttons, and menus, and everything is clearly displayed on
the screen using a combination of graphics and text.

Microsoft Windows:

Windows OS, computer operating system (OS) developed by Microsoft Corporation to run
personal computers (PCs). Featuring the first graphical user interface (GUI) for IBM-compatible
PCs, the Windows OS soon dominated the PC market. Approximately 90 percent of PCs run
some version of Windows.

The first version of Windows, released in 1985, was simply a GUI offered as an extension of
Microsoft’s existing disk operating system, or MS-DOS. Based in part on licensed concepts that
Apple Inc. had used for its Macintosh System Software, Windows for the first time allowed DOS
users to visually navigate a virtual desktop, opening graphical “windows” displaying the contents
of electronic folders and files with the click of a mouse button, rather than typing commands and
directory paths at a text prompt.

Subsequent versions introduced greater functionality, including native Windows File Manager,
Program Manager, and Print Manager programs, and a more dynamic interface. Microsoft also
developed specialized Windows packages, including the networkable Windows for Workgroups
and the high-powered Windows NT, aimed at businesses. The 1995 consumer release Windows
95 fully integrated Windows and DOS and offered built-in Internet support, including the World
Wide Web browser Internet Explorer.

With the 2001 release of Windows XP, Microsoft united its various Windows packages under a
single banner, offering multiple editions for consumers, businesses, multimedia developers, and
others. Windows XP abandoned the long-used Windows 95 kernel (core software code) for a
more powerful code base and offered a more practical interface and improved application and
memory management. The highly successful XP standard was succeeded in late 2006 by
Windows Vista, which experienced a troubled rollout and met with considerable marketplace
resistance, quickly acquiring a reputation for being a large, slow, and resource-consuming
system. Responding to Vista’s disappointing adoption rate, Microsoft in 2009 released Windows
7, an OS whose interface was similar to that of Vista but was met with enthusiasm for its
noticeable speed improvement and its modest system requirements.

Windows 8 in 2012 offered a start screen with applications appearing as tiles on a grid and the
ability to synchronize settings so users could log on to another Windows 8 machine and use their
preferred settings. In 2015 Microsoft released Windows 10, which came with Cortana, a digital
personal assistant like Apple’s Siri, and the Web browser Microsoft Edge, which replaced
Internet Explorer. Microsoft also announced that Windows 10 would be the last version of
Windows, meaning that users would receive regular updates to the OS but that no more large-
scale revisions would be done.
MAC OS:

macOS (previously called OS X) is a line of operating systems created by Apple. It comes

preloaded on all Macintosh computers, or Macs. Some of the specific versions include Mojave
(released in 2018), High Sierra (2017), and Sierra (2016).

According to StatCounter Global Stats, macOS users account for less than 10% of global
operating systems—much lower than the percentage of Windows users (more than 80%). One
reason for this is that Apple computers tend to be more expensive. However, many people do
prefer the look and feel of macOS over Windows.

Mac OS, operating system (OS) developed by the American computer company Apple Inc. The
OS was introduced in 1984 to run the company’s Macintosh line of personal computers (PCs).
The Macintosh heralded the era of graphical user interface (GUI) systems, and it inspired
Microsoft Corporation to develop its own GUI, the Windows OS.

Apple’s marketing for the introduction of the Macintosh focused heavily on its operating
system’s intuitive ease of use. Unlike virtually all other contemporary PCs, the Mac OS (initially
designated simply System Software, with a version number appended) was graphically based.
Rather than typing commands and directory paths at text prompts, users moved a mouse pointer
to visually navigate the Finder—a series of virtual folders and files, represented by icons. Most
computer operating systems eventually adopted the GUI model. In the 1980s Apple made an
agreement allowing Microsoft to use certain aspects of the Mac interface in early versions of
Windows. However, except for a brief period in the 1990s, Mac OS has never been licensed for
use with computers made by manufacturers other than Apple.

Later Mac OS releases introduced features such as Internet file sharing, network browsing, and
multiple user accounts. In 1996 Apple acquired rival NeXT Computers, which was founded by
Steven Jobs after his departure from Apple, and in 2001 the company rolled out Mac OS X, a
major redesign based on both the NextStep system and Apple’s most recent OS release. OS X ran
on a UNIX kernel (core software code) and offered technical advances such as memory
protection and preemptive multitasking, along with a more versatile Finder, an elegant-looking
interface called Aqua, and a convenient graphical “Dock” bar for launching frequently used
applications. Updates to OS X added features such as automated backups and a “Dashboard”
manager for small, handy applications called widgets.
From 2007 Apple unveiled a number of mobile devices that could access the Internet, including
the iPhone smartphone and the iPad tablet computer. Apple soon emphasized the ability of OS X
to connect with these devices. In 2011 Apple introduced iCloud, a cloud computing service that
allowed users to share data among all of their Apple devices, for both OS X and the mobile
operating system iOS. Apple added more features allowing connectivity between devices to
successive updates of OS X, iOS, and later watchOS (the operating system for the Apple Watch
smartwatch). These features included the ability to receive phone calls (made to the iPhone) and
the means of quickly sharing data (such as photos and text) among devices.

Linux

Linux (pronounced LINN-ux) is a family of open-source operating systems, which means they
can be modified and distributed by anyone around the world. This is different from proprietary
software like Windows, which can only be modified by the company that owns it. The
advantages of Linux are that it is free, and there are many different distributions—or versions—
you can choose from.

According to StatCounter Global Stats, Linux users account for less than 2% of global operating
systems. However, most servers run Linux because it's relatively easy to customize. Linux,
computer operating system created in the early 1990s by Finnish software engineer Linus
Torvalds and the Free Software Foundation (FSF).

While still a student at the University of Helsinki, Torvalds started developing Linux to create a
system similar to MINIX, a UNIX operating system. In 1991 he released version 0.02; Version
1.0 of the Linux kernel, the core of the operating system, was released in 1994. About the same
time, American software developer Richard Stallman and the FSF made efforts to create an open-
source UNIX-like operating system called GNU. In contrast to Torvalds, Stallman and the FSF
started by creating utilities for the operating system first. These utilities were then added to the
Linux kernel to create a complete system called GNU/Linux, or, less precisely, just Linux.

Linux grew throughout the 1990s because of the efforts of hobbyist developers. Although Linux
is not as user-friendly as the popular Microsoft Windows and Mac OS operating systems, it is an
efficient and reliable system that rarely crashes. Combined with Apache, an open-source Web
server, Linux accounts for more than a third of all servers used on the Internet. Because it is open
source, and thus modifiable for different uses, Linux is popular for systems as diverse as cellular
telephones and supercomputers. The addition of user-friendly desktop environments, office
suites, Web browsers, and even games helped to increase Linux’s popularity and make it more
suitable for home and office desktops. New distributions (packages of Linux software) were
created throughout the 1990s. Some of the more well-known distributions include Red Hat,
Debian, and Slackware.

Operating systems for mobile devices:

The operating systems we've been talking about so far were designed to run on desktop and
laptop computers. Mobile devices such as phones, tablet computers, and MP3 players are
different from desktop and laptop computers, so they run operating systems that are designed
specifically for mobile devices. Examples of mobile operating systems include Apple iOS and
Google Android. In the screenshot below, you can see iOS running on an iPad.

Android, operating system for cellular telephones. Android, which is based on Linux, an open
source operating system for personal computers, was first developed by the American search
engine company Google Inc. The first cellular telephone to feature the new operating system was
the T-Mobile G1, released on Oct. 22, 2008.

On Nov. 5, 2007, Google announced the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of
dozens of technology and mobile telephone companies, including Intel Corporation, Motorola,
Inc., NVIDIA Corporation, Texas Instruments Incorporated, LG Electronics, Inc., Samsung
Electronics, Sprint Nextel Corporation, and T-Mobile (Deutsche Telekom). The consortium was
created in order to develop and promote Android as a free open source operating system with
support for third-party applications. Android-based phones require the latest third-generation
(3G) wireless networks in order to take full advantage of all of the system’s “smartphone”
features, such as one-touch Google searches, Google Docs (e.g., word editors, spreadsheets),
Google Earth (satellite mapping software), and Google Street Views (a local mapping service).