MUNHUMUTAPA SCHOOL OF COMMERCE

DEPARTMENT OF ACCOUNTING & INFORMATION SYSTEMS

NAME : EPAPHRAS SIMANGO

REG NUMBER : M101947

PROGRAMME : BCOM HONS INFORMATION SYSTEMS

LEVEL : 1.1 (BLOCK RELEASE)

MODULE TITLE : OPERATING SYSTEMS

MODULE CODE : ISH 115

LECTURER : MRS NYAMAPFENI L

ASSIGNMENT NO. : 01

MARK : ……………………………….

……………………………….….

LECTURERS’ REMARKS:…………………………………………………………………..

………….……………………………………………………………………………………….

…….…………………………………………………………………………………………….
QUESTION 1

What is the relationship between an operating system and computer hardware? [2]

The relationship between operating system and computer hardware is the operating system
acts as an intermediary between programs and the hardware .The operating system handles
hardware functions such as input and output, memory allocation or memory management and
controlling peripheral devices.

QUESTION 2

Compare Network Operating System and Distributed Operating System [3]

Network operating system Distributed Operating system

It provides network related functionalities It connects multiple independent
such as file- sharing ,printer sharing and computers via a network to perform tasks
application sharing similar to a single computer.

Each system or machine can have its own
operating system
Main goal to provide local services to
remote clients
It is responsible for managing and
coordinating network resources such as
servers , printers as well as providing
security and access control to the network
Each machine has a single operating
system as the common operating system
Objective is to provide hardware resource
management
It is a collection of autonomous computers
that are physically separated but
connected by a centralized computer
network
Question 3
What are the advantages of Multiprocessing or parallel system?
(i)Increased throughput and performance – by increasing the number of processors, more
work can be completed in a unit time.
(ii)Cost Saving – parallel system shares the same memory, buses, peripherals etc.
(iii) It also provides increased reliability and availability in the sense that if one processor
fails the work does not stop it might only slow down rather than failing altogether.
(iv) Scaling – vendors can offer a range of products with different price and performance
characteristics based on the number of processors configured in the system

Question 4
Define process scheduler? State the characteristics of a good process
scheduler? [5]
Process scheduling is the process of removing a running task from the processor and
selecting another task for processing and there are two categories of scheduling that are
pre-emptive scheduling and non pre - emptive scheduling .Therefore process scheduler is the
module in OS that selects an available process (possibly from a set of several available
processes) for program execution on the CPU. If the process is in ready, waiting and running
state it schedules it correctly and it is also responsible for the allocation of the CPU processor
to a specific task within a time interval. Also when the task or process is completed it does
not allow the CPU to sit idle. It will allocate the other task depending on its current state. A
Scheduler makes a decision:
∙ when the state of the current process changes from running to waiting due to an I/O request
∙ if the current process terminates .
∙ when the scheduler needs to move a process from running to ready state as it has already run
for its allotted interval of time .
∙ when the requested I/O operation is completed , a process moves from the waiting state to
the ready state . So the scheduler can decide to replace the currently running process with a
newly ready one.
Characteristics of Good Process Scheduler
(i) It increases the utilization of the CPU by keeping it busy at all times
(ii) it has flexibility you can change your schedules easily
(iii) it allows revisiting or reviewing your projects
(iv) the tasks are not isolated , you can clearly see the relation among them or how they are
interconnected to each other .
Question 5
Shown below is a workload for 5 jobs arriving at time 0 in the order given
below:
Job Burst Time
1 10
2 29
3 3
4 7
5 12
Find out which algorithm among FCFS, SJF, and Round Robin with Quantum 10
would give minimum average time [7]

First Come First Served

Gantt Chart
Job 1 Job 2 Job 3 Job 4 Job 5

0 10 39 42 49 61

Job Arrival Burst Time Service Wait time =

Time time service time –
arrival time
1 0 10 0 0

2 0 29 10 10

3 0 3 39 39

4 0 7 42 42

5 0 12 49 49
Average wait time : ( 0+10+39+42+49 ) / 5 = 28

Shortest Job First

Gantt Chart
Job 3 Job 4 Job 1 Job 5 Job 2

0 3 10 20 32 61

Job Arrival Burst Time Service Wait time =

Time time service time –
arrival time
1 0 10 10 10

2 0 29 32 32

3 0 3 0 0

4 0 7 3 3

5 0 12 20 20

Average wait Time : (10+32+0+3+20) / 5 = 13

Round Robin
Gantt Chart
Job 1 Job 2 Job 3 Job 4 Job 5 Job 2 Job 5 Job 2

0 10 20 23 30 40 50 52 61

Job Arrival Burst Time Service Wait time =

 Time time service time –
arrival time
1 0 10 10 0

2 0 29 32 32

3 0 3 0 20

4 0 7 3 23

5 0 12 20 40

Average wait time : (0+32+20+23+40) / 5 = 23 , therefore Shortest Job First give

minimum average time .

Question 6
Explain pseudo parallelism, describe the process model that makes parallelism
easier to deal with [5]
Pseudo Parallelism is also known as quasi-parallelism or simulated parallelism. It is a
technique used in operating systems to give the illusion of parallel processing even though
the tasks are executed sequentially .It is when a single or multicore processor executes
several processes simultaneously making the programs faster . It creates an illusion of
parallelism by rapidly switching the CPU between programs at a very finite interval.
The process model that makes parallelism easier to deal with is called “Threading”.
Threading is process of creating multiple, concurrent execution paths within a single process.
Each thread is an independent execution path, with its own set of instructions, register values
and memory space. This allows multiple threads to execute at the same time on different
cores or processors providing a significant performance boost. Threading is common
technique used in modern operating systems to achieve parallelism.