Introduction to Basic OS

Concepts
Introduction
 What is an Operating System?
 Mainframe Systems
 Desktop Systems
 Multiprocessor Systems
 Distributed Systems
 Clustered System
 Real -Time Systems
 Handheld Systems
 Computing Environments
 What is an Operating
System?
 A program that acts as an intermediary between a
user of a computer and the computer hardware.
 Operating system goals:
 Execute user programs and make solving user problems
easier.
 Make the computer system convenient to use.
 Use the computer hardware in an efficient manner.
What is OS?
 Computer systems typically
contain:
Hardware and Software
Hardware - electronic, mechanical,
optical devices
Software – programs
 Without support software, the
computer is of little use..
What is OS?
 An interface between Hardware and
User Programs
 An abstraction of the hardware for all
the (user) processes
 Hide the complexity of the underlying
hardware and give the user a better view of
the computer

 => A MUST!
 Computer System
Components
1. Hardware – provides basic computing resources (CPU,
memory, I/O devices).
2. Operating system – controls and coordinates the use
of the hardware among the various application
programs for the various users.
3. Applications programs – define the ways in which the
system resources are used to solve the computing
problems of the users (compilers, database systems,
video games, business programs).
4. Users (people, machines, other computers).
Abstract View of System
Components
 The OS

applications
utilities software
systems
software
Operating system

hardware
device device ... device
components CPU
memory
Operating System
Definitions
 Resource allocator – manages
and allocates resources.
 Control program – controls the
execution of user programs and
operations of I/O devices .
 Kernel – the one program
running at all times (all else
being application programs).
The Goals of an OS
 Let users run programs:
 Correctness
 Memory boundaries, priorities, steady state

 Convenience
 User should not handle the tiny details
(encapsulate/abstract), provide
synchronization primitives, system calls, file
system, tools
The Goals of an OS
 Let users run programs:
 Efficiency
 Resource Utilization, resource Sharing,
Multitasking

 Fairness (in resource allocation)

 Among: users, tasks, resources
 The tradeoff between efficiency and
fairness
 An OS is a Resource
Allocator
“Mama says: It’s good to share!”

 Multiple users (?) get all computing resources

“simultaneously”:
 Cpu time
 Memory (ram, swap, working set, virtual,..)
 File system (storage space)
 I/O devices (display, printers, mouse,..)
 Clock
 The OS should give every user the illusion that she
is getting all resources to herself (not sharing!)
 What an OS does for a
living..

loop forever {
run the process for a while.
stop process and save its state.
load state of another process.
}
 Virtual Continuity

 A process can get “switched in” or

“switched out”.

 OS should give the illusion for the

process as if it exists in the CPU
continuously
=> Context Switching
 Context switching
 When an event occurs, the operating system
saves the state of the active process and restores
the state of the new process.
 This mechanism is called a Context Switch.
 What must get saved? Everything that the next
process could or will damage. For example:
 Program counter (PC)
 Program status word (PSW)
 CPU registers (general purpose, floating-point)
 File access pointer(s)
 Memory (perhaps?)
 Scheduling and Context
switch
 A process can give up the cpu:
 A. by performing I/O (e.g. getchar())
 B. by entering a waiting state (e.g. semaphore)
 C. by entering a suspended state (e.g. sleep())

 Give up the CPU == switch out the current

process
+
switch in another process
 Preemptive Scheduling
 There are OS’s where a process is forced to
give up the cpu (e.g. when stayed for too long).
 Such systems are implementing a “preemptive
scheduling” policy.
 Examples include Windows NT, Unix,
- BUT NOT - Windows prior to Win95 ! or Macintosh!
 Xinu?

Should a real-time system implement preemptive scheduling?

 Using Priorities
 Most OS’s provide the priority mechanism
 Priorities are associated with processes
 Priority are used to help the OS to reach fairness

Can you think of processes (e.g. in Windows) for which you will
give especially high/low priority ??
 Process
 A process is a program in execution.
 The components of a process are:
 the program to be executed,
 the data on which the program will
execute,
 the resources required by the program—
such as memory and file(s)—and
 the status of the execution.
‫‪Process Interleaving‬‬
‫תהליכים עוקבים‬ ‫תהליכים מקבילים‬

‫‪A‬‬ ‫‪C‬‬

‫‪D‬‬

‫‪B‬‬
‫ציר‬
‫הזמן‬
 Mainframe Systems
 Reduce setup time by batching similar jobs
 Automatic job sequencing – automatically transfers
control from one job to another. First rudimentary
operating system.
 Resident monitor
 initial control in monitor
 control transfers to job
 when job completes control transfers pack to monitor
Memory Layout for a Simple
Batch System
 Multiprogrammed Batch
Systems
Several jobs are kept in main memory at the same time, and the
CPU is multiplexed among them.
OS Features Needed for
Multiprogramming

 I/O routine supplied by the system.

 Memory management – the system
must allocate the memory to several
jobs.
 CPU scheduling – the system must
choose among several jobs ready to
run.
 Allocation of devices.
 Time-Sharing Systems–
Interactive Computing
 The CPU is multiplexed among several jobs that are kept in memory
and on disk (the CPU is allocated to a job only if the job is in
memory).
 A job swapped in and out of memory to the disk.
 On-line communication between the user and the system is
provided; when the operating system finishes the execution of one
command, it seeks the next “control statement” from the user’s
keyboard.
 On-line system must be available for users to access data and code.
 Desktop Systems
 Personal computers – computer system dedicated to a
single user.
 I/O devices – keyboards, mice, display screens, small
printers.
 User convenience and responsiveness.
 Can adopt technology developed for larger operating
system’ often individuals have sole use of computer and
do not need advanced CPU utilization of protection
features.
 May run several different types of operating systems
(Windows, MacOS, UNIX, Linux)
 Parallel Systems
 Multiprocessor systems with more than on CPU in close
communication.
 Tightly coupled system – processors share memory and a clock;
communication usually takes place through the shared
memory.
 Advantages of parallel system:
 Increased throughput

 Economical

 Increased reliability

 graceful degradation

 fail-soft systems
 Parallel Systems (Cont.)
 Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP)
 Each processor runs and identical copy of the operating

system.
 Many processes can run at once without performance

deterioration.
 Most modern operating systems support SMP

 Asymmetric multiprocessing
 Each processor is assigned a specific task; master

processor schedules and allocated work to slave

processors.
 More common in extremely large systems
Symmetric Multiprocessing
Architecture
 Distributed Systems
 Distribute the computation among several physical
processors.
 Loosely coupled system – each processor has its own local
memory; processors communicate with one another through
various communications lines, such as high-speed buses or
telephone lines.
 Advantages of distributed systems.
 Resources Sharing

 Computation speed up – load sharing

 Reliability

 Communications
Distributed Systems (cont)
 Requires networking
infrastructure.
 Local area networks (LAN) or
Wide area networks (WAN)
 May be either client-server or
peer-to-peer systems.
General Structure of
Client-Server
Clustered Systems
 Clustering allows two or more
systems to share storage.
 Provides high reliability.
 Asymmetric clustering: one server
runs the application while other
servers standby.
 Symmetric clustering: all N hosts are
running the application.
Real-Time Systems
 Often used as a control device in a
dedicated application such as controlling
scientific experiments, medical imaging
systems, industrial control systems, and
some display systems.
 Well-defined fixed-time constraints.
 Real-Time systems may be either hard or
soft real-time.
Real-Time Systems (Cont.)
 Hard real-time:
 Secondary storage limited or absent, data stored in short

term memory, or read-only memory (ROM)

 Conflicts with time-sharing systems, not supported by

general-purpose operating systems.

 Soft real-time
 Limited utility in industrial control of robotics

 Useful in applications (multimedia, virtual reality)

requiring advanced operating-system features.

Handheld Systems
 Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)
 Cellular telephones
 Issues:
 Limited memory
 Slow processors
 Small display screens.
Migration of Operating-System
Concepts and Features
Computing Environments
 Traditional computing
 Web-Based Computing
 Embedded Computing
The PC-XINU OS

Let’s fillin’ the bits..