Engistan.

com

Operating System
Concepts
Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Types of OS
3. OS Properties
4. Intro. to Processes
5. CPU Scheduling
6. Scheduling Algorithms
7. Multithreading
8. Memory Management
9. Spooling
10. Virtual Memory
11. I/O Hardware
12. I/O Software

Engistan.com || Engineers Community

Engistan.com

[Operating System Concepts]

Operating System
An operating system is a program that manages the computer hardware. It also provides a basis for
application programs and acts as an intermediary between the computer user and the computer
hardware.
Hence, an Operating System can be defined as a program that acts as an interface between the user
and the computer hardware and controls the execution of all kinds of programs.

Roles of an Operating System:

Following are some of important functions of an operating System.

Memory Management
Processor Management
Device Management
Storage Management
Application Interface
User Interface
Security

Types of Operating System:

The various types of operating system which are most commonly used are:
Batch operating system
Batch operating system is the operating system which analyzes your input and groups them into
batches .That is data in each batch is of similar characteristics. And then it performs operation on
each individual batch.

The main function of a batch processing system is to automatically keep executing the jobs
in a batch.

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

Engistan.com

[Operating System Concepts]

Time-sharing operating systems

A time sharing system allows many users to share the computer resources simultaneously. In other
words, time sharing refers to the allocation of computer resources in time slots to several programs
simultaneously.
Distributed operating System
In Distributed operating System, distributed applications are running on multiple computers linked
by communications. This system looks to its users like an ordinary centralized operating system but
runs on multiple, independent central processing units (CPUs).
Network operating System
An operating system that provides the connectivity among a number of autonomous computers is
called a network operating system. A typical configuration for a network operating system is a
collection of personal computers along with a common printer, server and file server for archival
storage, all tied together by a local network.

It includes special functions for connecting computers and devices into a local-area network
(LAN) or Inter-network.

Real Time operating System

Real Time operating systems are used in an environment where a large number of events (generally
external) must be accepted and processed in a short time. Real time Operating Systems are very fast
and quick respondent systems.

In real time operating system there is a little swapping of programs between primary and
secondary memory.

OPERATING SYSTEM - PROPERTIES

Some important tasks that Operating System handles are:
I.

Batch processing: Batch processing is a technique in which Operating System collects one
programs and data together in a batch before processing starts. Operating system does the
following activities related to batch processing.

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

Engistan.com

[Operating System Concepts]

II.

Multitasking: Multitasking refers to term where multiple jobs are executed by the CPU
simultaneously by switching between them. Switches occur so frequently that the users may
interact with each program while it is running.

III.

Multiprogramming: When two or more programs are residing in memory at the same time,
then sharing the processor is referred to the multiprogramming. Multiprogramming assumes
a single shared processor. Multiprogramming increases CPU utilization by organizing jobs so
that the CPU always has one to execute.

IV.

Interactivity: Interactivity refers that a User is capable to interact with computer system.
Operating system does the following activities related to interactivity.
OS provides user an interface to interact with system.
OS managers input devices to take inputs from the user. For example, keyboard.
OS manages output devices to show outputs to the user. For example, Monitor.
OS Response time needs to be short since the user submits and waits for the result.

Introduction to PROCESSES:
Process: A process is a program in execution. The execution of a process must progress in a
sequential fashion. Definition of process is following.

A process is defined as an entity which represents the basic unit of work to be implemented
in the system.

Components of process are:

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

Engistan.com

[Operating System Concepts]

S.N. Component & Description

1

Object Program: Code to be executed.

Data: Data to be used for executing the program.

Resources: While executing the program, it may require some resources.

Status: Verifies the status of the process execution. A process can run to completion
only when all requested resources have been allocated to the process. Two or more
processes could be executing the same program, each using their own data and
resources.

Program: A program by itself is not a process. It is a static entity made up of program statement
while process is a dynamic entity. Program contains the instructions to be executed by processor.

A program takes a space at single place in main memory and continues to stay there. A
program does not perform any action by itself.

Process States: As a process executes, it changes state. The state of a process is defined as the
current activity of the process.
Process can have one of the following five states at a time.
S.N. State & Description
1

New: The process is being created.

Ready: The process is waiting to be assigned to a processor. Ready processes are

waiting to have the processor allocated to them by the operating system so that they
can run.

Running: Process instructions are being executed (i.e. The process that is currently
being executed).

Waiting: The process is waiting for some event to occur (such as the completion of
an I/O operation).

Terminated: The process has finished execution.

4

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

Engistan.com

[Operating System Concepts]

Process Scheduling: The process scheduling is the activity of the process manager that handles the
removal of the running process from the CPU and the selection of another process on the basis of a
particular strategy.
Process scheduling is an essential part of a Multiprogramming operating system. Such operating
systems allow more than one process to be loaded into the executable memory at a time and loaded
process shares the CPU using time multiplexing.
Scheduling Queues: Scheduling queues refers to queues of processes or devices. When the
process enters into the system, then this process is put into a job queue. This queue consists
of all processes in the system. The operating system also maintains other queues such as
device queue. Device queue is a queue for which multiple processes are waiting for a
particular I/O device. Each device has its own device queue.
This figure shows the queuing diagram of process scheduling.

Queue is represented by rectangular box.

The circles represent the resources that serve the queues.

The arrows indicate the process flow in the system.

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

Engistan.com

[Operating System Concepts]

CPU Scheduling:
CPU Scheduling is the process by which an Operating System decides which programs get to use the
CPU. CPU scheduling is the basis of MULTIPROGRAMMED operating systems. By switching the CPU
among processes, the operating system can make the computer more productive.
CPU Schedulers: Schedulers are special system softwares which handles process scheduling in
various ways. Their main task is to select the jobs to be submitted into the system and to decide
which process to run.

CPU Scheduling algorithms

Major Scheduling Algorithms are:

1. First Come First Serve (FCFS)

Jobs are executed on first come, first serve basis.
Easy to understand and implement.
Poor in performance as average wait time is high.

Wait time of each process is following

Process Wait Time : Service Time - Arrival Time
P0

0-0=0

P1

5-1=4

P2

8-2=6

P3

16 - 3 = 13

Average Wait Time: (0+4+6+13) / 4 = 5.55

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

Engistan.com

[Operating System Concepts]

2. Shortest Job First (SJF)

Best approach to minimize waiting time.
Impossible to implement
Processer should know in advance how much time process will take.

Wait time of each process is following

Process Wait Time : Service Time - Arrival Time
P0

3-0=3

P1

0-0=0

P2

16 - 2 = 14

P3

8-3=5

Average Wait Time: (3+0+14+5) / 4 = 5.50

3. Priority Based Scheduling

Each process is assigned a priority. Process with highest priority is to be executed
first and so on.
Processes with same priority are executed on first come first serve basis.
Priority can be decided based on memory requirements, time requirements or any
other resource requirement.

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

Engistan.com

[Operating System Concepts]

Wait time of each process is following

Process Wait Time : Service Time - Arrival Time
P0

0-0=0

P1

3-1=2

P2

8-2=6

P3

16 - 3 = 13

Average Wait Time: (0+2+6+13) / 4 = 5.25

4. Round Robin Scheduling

Each process is provided a fix time to execute called quantum.
Once a process is executed for given time period. Process is preempted and other
process executes for given time period.
Context switching is used to save states of preempted processes.

Wait time of each process is following

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

Engistan.com

[Operating System Concepts]

Process Wait Time : Service Time - Arrival Time

P0

(0-0) + (12-3) = 9

P1

(3-1) = 2

P2

6-2) + (15-9) = 10

P3

(9-3) + (18-12) = 12

Average Wait Time: (9+2+10+12) / 4 = 8.25

5. Multi Queue Scheduling

Multiple queues are maintained for processes.
Each queue can have its own scheduling algorithms.
Priorities are assigned to each queue.

Multi-Threading
Thread: A thread is a flow of execution through the process code, with its own program counter,
system registers and stack. A thread is also called a light weight process. Threads provide a way to
improve application performance through parallelism. Threads represent a software approach to
improving performance of operating system by reducing the overhead thread is equivalent to a
classical process.
Each thread belongs to exactly one process and no thread can exist outside a process. Each thread
represents a separate flow of control. Threads have been successfully used in implementing network
servers and web server. They also provide a suitable foundation for parallel execution of applications
on shared memory multiprocessors. Following figure shows the working of the single and
multithreaded processes.

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

Engistan.com

[Operating System Concepts]

Difference between Process and Thread

S.N.

Process

Thread

1.

Process is heavy weight or resource

intensive.

Thread is light weight taking lesser

resources than a process.

2.

Process switching needs interaction

with operating system.

Thread switching does not need to

interact with operating system.

3.

In multiple processing
environments each process
executes the same code but has its
own memory and file resources.

All threads can share same set of open

files, child processes.

4.

If one process is blocked then no

While one thread is blocked and waiting,
other process can execute until the
second thread in the same task can run.
first process is unblocked.

5.

Multiple processes without using

threads use more resources.

Multiple threaded processes use fewer

resources.

6.

In multiple processes each process

operates independently of the
others.

One thread can read, write or change

another thread's data.

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

10

Engistan.com

[Operating System Concepts]

Advantages of Thread

Thread minimizes context switching time.

Use of threads provides concurrency within a process.

Efficient communication.

Economy- It is more economical to create and context switch threads.

Utilization of multiprocessor architectures to a greater scale and efficiency.

Types of Thread
Threads are implemented in following two ways

User Level Threads: User managed threads

Kernel Level Threads: Operating System managed threads acting on kernel, an

operating system core.

Memory Management:
Memory management is the functionality of an operating system which handles or manages
primary memory. Memory management keeps track of each and every memory location either it is
allocated to some process or it is free. It checks how much memory is to be allocated to processes.
It decides which process will get memory at what time. It tracks whenever some memory gets freed
or unallocated and correspondingly it updates the status.
Memory management provides protection by using two registers, a base register and a limit
register. The base register holds the smallest legal physical memory address and the limit register
specifies the size of the range. For example, if the base register holds 300000 and the limit register
is 1209000, then the program can legally access all addresses from 300000 through 411999.

11

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

Engistan.com

[Operating System Concepts]

Instructions and data to memory addresses can be done in following ways

Compile time: When it is known at compile time where the process will reside, compile
time binding is used to generate the absolute code.
Load time: When it is not known at compile time where the process will reside in memory,
then the compiler generates re-locatable code.
Execution time: If the process can be moved during its execution from one memory
segment to another, then binding must be delayed to be done at run time

Dynamic Loading
In dynamic loading, a routine of a program is not loaded until it is called by the program. All routines
are kept on disk in a re-locatable load format. The main program is loaded into memory and is
executed. Other routines methods or modules are loaded on request. Dynamic loading makes
better memory space utilization and unused routines are never loaded.
Dynamic Linking
Linking is the process of collecting and combining various modules of code and data into a
executable file that can be loaded into memory and executed. Operating system can link system
level libraries to a program. When it combines the libraries at load time, the linking is called static
linking and when this linking is done at the time of execution, it is called as dynamic linking.
In static linking, libraries linked at compile time, so program code size becomes bigger whereas in
dynamic linking libraries linked at execution time so program code size remains smaller.

Logical versus Physical Address Space

An address generated by the CPU is a logical address whereas address actually available on
memory unit is a physical address. Logical address is also known a Virtual address.
Virtual and physical addresses are the same in compile-time and load-time address-binding
schemes. Virtual and physical addresses differ in execution-time address-binding scheme.
The set of all logical addresses generated by a program is referred to as a logical address space. The
set of all physical addresses corresponding to these logical addresses is referred to as a physical
address space.

Swapping
Swapping is a mechanism in which a process can be swapped temporarily out of main memory to a
backing store, and then brought back into memory for continued execution.
Backing store is a usually a hard disk drive or any other secondary storage which fast in access and
large enough to accommodate copies of all memory images for all users. It must be capable of
providing direct access to these memory images.

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

12

Engistan.com

[Operating System Concepts]

Memory Allocation
Main memory usually has two partitions

Low Memory -- Operating system resides in this memory.

High Memory -- User processes then held in high memory.

Operating system uses the following memory allocation mechanism.

S.N. Memory Allocation

Description
In this type of allocation, relocation-register scheme is
used to protect user processes from each other, and
from changing operating-system code and data.
Relocation register contains value of smallest physical
address whereas limit register contains range of logical
addresses. Each logical address must be less than the
limit register.

Single-partition allocation

In this type of allocation, main memory is divided into a

number of fixed-sized partitions where each partition
should contain only one process. When a partition is
Multiple-partition allocation free, a process is selected from the input queue and is
loaded into the free partition. When the process
terminates, the partition becomes available for another
process.

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

13

Engistan.com

[Operating System Concepts]

Fragmentation
As processes are loaded and removed from memory, the free memory space is broken into little
pieces. It happens after sometimes that processes cannot be allocated to memory blocks considering
their small size and memory blocks remains unused. This problem is known as Fragmentation.
Fragmentation is of two types
S.N. Fragmentation

Description

Total memory space is enough to satisfy a request or to

External fragmentation reside a process in it, but it is not contiguous so it cannot be
used.

Memory block assigned to process is bigger. Some portion of

Internal fragmentation memory is left unused as it cannot be used by another
process.

External fragmentation can be reduced by compaction or shuffle memory contents to place all free
memory together in one large block. To make compaction feasible, relocation should be dynamic.

Paging
External fragmentation is avoided by using paging technique. Paging is a technique in which physical
memory is broken into blocks of the same size called pages (size is power of 2, between 512 bytes
and 8192 bytes). When a process is to be executed, it's corresponding pages are loaded into any
available memory frames.
Logical address space of a process can be non-contiguous and a process is allocated physical memory
whenever the free memory frame is available. Operating system keeps track of all free frames.
Operating system needs n free frames to run a program of size n pages.
Address generated by CPU is divided into

Page number (p) -- page number is used as an index into a page table which contains base
address of each page in physical memory.

Page offset (d) -- page offset is combined with base address to define the physical memory
address.

14

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

Engistan.com

[Operating System Concepts]

Following figure show the paging table architecture.

Segmentation
Segmentation is a technique to break memory into logical pieces where each piece represents a
group of related information. For example ,data segments or code segment for each process, data
segment for operating system and so on. Segmentation can be implemented using or without using
paging.
Unlike paging, segment are having varying sizes and thus eliminates internal fragmentation.
External fragmentation still exists but to lesser extent.

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

15

Engistan.com

[Operating System Concepts]

Address generated by CPU is divided into

Segment number (s) -- segment number is used as an index into a segment table which
contains base address of each segment in physical memory and a limit of segment.

Segment offset (o) -- segment offset is first checked against limit and then is combined with
base address to define the physical memory address.

Spooling: Spooling is an acronym for simultaneous peripheral operations on line. Spooling refers
to putting data of various I/O jobs in a buffer. This buffer is a special area in memory or hard disk
which is accessible to I/O devices. Operating system does the following activities related to
distributed environment.

OS handles I/O device data spooling as devices have different data access rates.

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

16

Engistan.com

[Operating System Concepts]

OS maintains the spooling buffer which provides a waiting station where data can rest while
the slower device catches up.

OS maintains parallel computation because of spooling process as a computer can perform

I/O in parallel fashion. It becomes possible to have the computer read data from a tape,
write data to disk and to write out to a tape printer while it is doing its computing task.

Virtual Memory
Virtual memory is a technique that allows the execution of processes which are not completely
available in memory. The main visible advantage of this scheme is that programs can be larger than
physical memory. Virtual memory is the separation of user logical memory from physical memory.
This separation allows an extremely large virtual memory to be provided for programmers when
only a smaller physical memory is available. Following are the situations, when entire program is not
required to be loaded fully in main memory.

Virtual memory is commonly implemented by demand paging. It can also be implemented in a

segmentation system. Demand segmentation can also be used to provide virtual memory.
17

I/O Hardware
Computers operate on many kinds of devices. General types include storage devices (disks,
tapes),transmission devices (network cards, modems), and human-interface devices (screen,

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

Engistan.com

[Operating System Concepts]

keyboard, mouse). Other devices are more specialized. A device communicates with a computer
system by sending signals over a cable or even through the air.
The device communicates with the machine via a connection point termed a port (for example, a
serial port). If one or more devices use a common set of wires, the connection is called a bus.In other
terms, a bus is a set of wires and a rigidly defined protocol that specifies a set of messages that can
be sent on the wires.
Daisy chain
When device A has a cable that plugs into device B, and device B has a cable that plugs into device C,
and device C plugs into a port on the computer, this arrangement is called a daisy chain. It usually
operates as a bus.
Controller
A controller is a collection of electronics that can operate a port, a bus, or a device. A serial-port
controller is an example of a simple device controller. This is a single chip in the computer that
controls the signals on the wires of a serial port.
The SCSI bus controller is often implemented as a separate circuit board (a host adapter) that plugs
into the computer. It contains a processor, microcode, and some private memory to enable it to
process the SCSI protocol messages. Some devices have their own built-in controllers.

I/O port
An I/O port typically consists of four registers, called the status , control, data-in, and data-out
registers.
S.N. Register & Description

Status Register
The status register contains bits that can be read by the host. These bits indicate
states such as whether the current command has completed, whether a byte is
available to be read from the data-in register, and whether there has been a device
error.

Control register
The control register can be written by the host to start a command or to change the
mode of a device. For instance, a certain bit in the control register of a serial port
chooses between full-duplex and half-duplex communication, another enables parity
checking, a third bit sets the word length to 7 or 8 bits, and other bits select one of the
speeds supported by the serial port.
18

Data-in register
The data-in register is read by the host to get input.

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

Engistan.com
4

[Operating System Concepts]

Data-out register
The data out register is written by the host to send output.

Polling
Polling is a process by which a host waits for controller response. It is a looping process, reading the
status register over and over until the busy bit of status register becomes clear. The controller
uses/sets the busy bit when it is busy working on a command, and clears the busy bit when it is
ready to accept the next command. The host signals its wish via the command-ready bit in the
command register. The host sets the command-ready bit when a command is available for the
controller to execute.

I/O devices
I/O Devices can be categorized into following category.
S.N. Category & Description

Human readable
Human Readable devices are suitable for communicating with the computer user.
Examples are printers, video display terminals, keyboard etc.

Machine readable
Machine Readable devices are suitable for communicating with electronic equipment.
Examples are disk and tape drives, sensors, controllers and actuators.

Communication
Communication devices are suitable for communicating with remote devices.
Examples are digital line drivers and modems.

Direct Memory Access (DMA)

Many computers avoid burdening the main CPU with programmed I/O by offloading some of this
work to a special purpose processor. This type of processor is called, a Direct Memory Access (DMA)
controller. A special control unit is used to transfer block of data directly between an external device
and the main memory, without intervention by the processor. This approach is called Direct Memory
Access (DMA).
Handshaking is a process between the DMA controller and the device controller. It is performed via
wires using terms DMA request and DMA acknowledge.

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

19

Engistan.com

[Operating System Concepts]

Device Controllers
A computer system contains a many types of I/O devices and their respective controllers

network card
graphics adapter
disk controller
DVD-ROM controller
serial port
USB
sound card

Operating System - I/O Softwares

Interrupts
The CPU hardware uses an interrupt request line wire which helps CPU to sense after executing
every instruction. When the CPU checks that a controller has put a signal on the interrupt request
line, the CPU saves a state, such as the current value of the instruction pointer, and jumps to the
interrupt handler routine at a fixed address. The interrupt handler part determines the cause of the
interrupt, performs the necessary processing and executes a interrupt instruction to return the CPU
to its execution state.
The basic mechanism of interrurpt enables the CPU to respond to an asynchronous event, such as
when a device controller become ready for service. Most CPUs have two interrupt request lines.

Engistan.com | Engineers Community

20

Engistan.com

[Operating System Concepts]

Non-maskable interrupt - Such kind of interrupts are reserved for events like unrecoverable
memory errors.

Maskable interrupt - Such interrupts can be switched off by the CPU before the execution of
critical instructions that must not be interrupted.

Application I/O Interface

Application I/O Interface represents the structuring techniques and interfaces for the operating
system to enable I/O devices to be treated in a standard, uniform way. The actual differences lies
kernel level modules called device drivers which are custom tailored to corresponding devices but
show one of the standard interfaces to applications. The purpose of the device-driver layer is to hide
the differences among device controllers from the I/O subsystem of the kernel, such as the I/O
system calls.
Clocks
Clocks are also called timers. The clock software takes the form of a device driver though a clock is
neither a blocking device nor a character based device. The clock software is the clock driver.
Device driver
Device driver is a program or routine developed for an I/O device. A device driver implements I/O
operations or behaviours on a specific class of devices. For example a system supports one or a
number of multiple brands of terminals, all slightly different terminals may have a single terminal
driver.

21

Engistan.com | Engineers Community