Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology

Operating Systems

Tutorial 01

1. Name the four basic components of a computer system and briefly explain them
2. What are the three main purposes of an operating system?
3. What are the main differences between operating systems for mainframe computers and
personal Computers?
4. We have stressed the need for an operating system to make efficient use of the computing
hardware. When is it appropriate for the operating system to forsake this principle and to “waste”
resources? Why is such a system not really wasteful?
5. What is the main difficulty that a programmer must overcome in writing an operating system
for a real-time environment?
6. Briefly explain the caching concept and how it works, related to storage management
7. Define what a process is. Briefly explain the task of the program counter.
8. What are the five major activities of an operating system in regard to process management?
9. What are the three major activities of an operating system in regard to memory management?