OPERATING SYSTEMS OVERVIEW

Designed for 4th Semester Students of GTU (Gujarat

Technical University)
WHAT IS AN OPERATING SYSTEM
 An operating system (OS) is an interface between
hardware and user which is responsible for the
management and coordination of activities and the
sharing of the resources of the computer that acts
as a host for computing applications run on the
machine.
 Software that controls the allocation and usage of
hardware resources such as memory, CPU time,
disk space, and input and output devices.
 The foundation software of a machine; that which
schedules tasks, allocates storage, and presents a
default interface to the user between applications.
OPERATING SYSTEM OVERVIEW

User

Application

Operating System

Hardware
OPERATING SYSTEM FUNCTIONS
 It manages the hardware and software resources of
the system. In a desktop computer, these resources
include the processor, memory, disk space and
many more (On a cell phone, they include the
keypad, the screen, the address book,etc).
 It provides a stable, consistent way for applications
to deal with the hardware without having to know all
the details of the hardware.
TYPES OF OPERATING SYSTEMS
Type Definition Example of Use
Batch Processing System Data or programs are collected grouped Payroll, stock control and billing systems.
and processed at a later date.
Real-time Systems Inputs immediately affect the outputs. e.g. control of nuclear power plants, oil
Timing is critical refining, etc.
Real-time transaction Inputs immediately affect the outputs but Holiday and airline booking system.
timing is not critical.
Online processing Processing performed under the direct
control of the CPU
Offline processing Processing which is done away from e.g. batching together of lock cards, filling
CPU. in OMR forms.
Multi-access on-line Any users linked by workstations to a Holiday or airline booking system. One
central computer such as in a person must be locked out when another
Network. is updating the file.
Interactive processing The user has to be present and program Select from a menu at
cannot proceed until there is some input ATM.
from the user
Distributed system Processing is carried out independently Databases e.g. libraries.
in more than one location, but with
shared and
controlled access to some common
facilities.
Multiprogramming: Ability to run many programs apparently Mainframe systems.
at the same time.
Multi tasking The ability to hold several programs in Usually uses GUI’s. Facilitates import and
RAM at one time but the user switches export of data.
between them.
EXAMPLES OF OPERATING SYSTEMS
 Microsoft Windows
 Mac OS X

 Unix and Unix-like operating systems

 BSD and its descendants

 Plan 9

 Linux and GNU

 Google Chrome OS
CONCEPTS/MODELS OF OPERATING SYSTEM
 Monolithic Systems
 Layered Systems

 Virtual Machines

 Client Server System

MONOLITHIC OPERATING SYSTEMS
 The components of monolithic operating system are organized randomly and
any module can call any other module without any reservation. Similar to the
other operating systems, applications in monolithic OS are separated from the
operating system itself.
LAYERED OPERATING SYSTEM
 The components of layered operating system are organized into modules and
layers them one on top of the other. Each module provide a set of functions
that other module can call. Interface functions at any particular level can
invoke services provided by lower layers but not the other way around.
VIRTUAL MACHINES
 Virtual machines are separated into two major
categories, based on their use and degree of
correspondence to any real machine.
 A system virtual machine provides a complete system
platform which supports the execution of a complete
operating system.
 In contrast, a process virtual machine is designed to run
a single program, which means that it supports a single
process.
 An essential characteristic of a virtual machine is that
the software running inside is limited to the resources
and abstractions provided by the virtual machine—it
cannot break out of its virtual world.
CLIENT-SERVER SYSTEM
 Client–server model of computing is a distributed
application structure that partitions tasks or workloads
between service providers, called servers, and service
requesters, called clients.
 Often clients and servers communicate over a computer
network on separate hardware, but both client and
server may reside in the same system.
 A server machine is a host that is running one or more
server programs which share its resources with clients.
A client does not share any of its resources, but
requests a server's content or service function. Clients
therefore initiate communication sessions with servers
which await (listen to) incoming requests.
COMPONENTS OF OPERATING SYSTEMS
 The user interface
 The kernel
 Program execution
 Interrupts
 Protected mode, supervisor mode, and virtual modes
 Memory management
 Virtual memory
 Multitasking
 Disk access and file systems
 Device drivers
 Networking
 Security

We will read details about these components in the next

chapters.
OPERATING SYSTEM TASKS
 The operating system's tasks, in the most general
sense, fall into six categories:
 Processor management
 Memory management
 Device management
 Storage management
 Application interface
 User interface
We will read the details about these in the next
chapters.
Read it again and head for the next chapter