Chapter 1: Introduction

Operating System Concepts – 10h Edition Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
 Chapter 1: Introduction

▪ What Operating Systems Do

▪ Computer-System Organization
▪ Computer-System Architecture
▪ Operating-System Operations
▪ Resource Management
▪ Security and Protection
▪ Virtualization
▪ Distributed Systems
▪ Kernel Data Structures
▪ Computing Environments
▪ Free/Libre and Open-Source Operating Systems

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 Objectives

▪ Describe the general organization of a computer system and the role of

interrupts
▪ Describe the components in a modern, multiprocessor computer system
▪ Illustrate the transition from user mode to kernel mode
▪ Discuss how operating systems are used in various computing environments
▪ Provide examples of free and open-source operating systems

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 What Does the Term Operating System Mean?

▪ An operating system is “fill in the blanks”

▪ What about:
• Car
• Airplane
• Printer
• Washing Machine
• Toaster
• Compiler
• Etc.

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 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

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 Computer System Structure

▪ Computer system can be divided into four components:

• Hardware – provides basic computing resources
4 CPU, memory, I/O devices
• Operating system
4 Controls and coordinates use of hardware among various applications
and users
• Application programs – define the ways in which the system resources are
used to solve the computing problems of the users
4 Word processors, compilers, web browsers, database systems, video
games
• Users
4 People, machines, other computers

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 Abstract View of Components of Computer

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 What Operating Systems Do
▪ Depends on the point of view
▪ Users want convenience, ease of use and good performance
• Don’t care about resource utilization
▪ But shared computer such as mainframe or minicomputer must keep all
users happy
• Operating system is a resource allocator and control program making
efficient use of HW and managing execution of user programs
▪ Users of dedicate systems such as workstations have dedicated resources but
frequently use shared resources from servers
▪ Mobile devices like smartphones and tables are resource poor, optimized for
usability and battery life
• Mobile user interfaces such as touch screens, voice recognition
▪ Some computers have little or no user interface, such as embedded computers in
devices and automobiles
• Run primarily without user intervention

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 Operating System Definition

▪ No universally accepted definition

▪ “Everything a vendor ships when you order an operating system” is a good
approximation
• But varies wildly
▪ “The one program running at all times on the computer” is the kernel, part of
the operating system
▪ Everything else is either
• A system program (ships with the operating system, but not part of the
kernel) , or
• An application program, all programs not associated with the operating
system
▪ Today’s OSes for general purpose and mobile computing also include
middleware – a set of software frameworks that provide additional services to
application developers such as databases, multimedia, graphics

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 Overview of Computer System Structure

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 Computer System Organization

▪ Computer-system operation
• One or more CPUs, device controllers connect through common bus
providing access to shared memory
• Concurrent execution of CPUs and devices competing for memory
cycles

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 Computer-System Operation

▪ I/O devices and the CPU can execute concurrently

▪ Each device controller is in charge of a particular device type
▪ Each device controller has a local buffer
▪ Each device controller type has an operating system device driver to
manage it
▪ CPU moves data from/to main memory to/from local buffers
▪ I/O is from the device to local buffer of controller
▪ Device controller informs CPU that it has finished its operation by causing
an interrupt

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 Common Functions of Interrupts

▪ Interrupt transfers control to the interrupt service routine generally,

through the interrupt vector, which contains the addresses of all the
service routines
▪ Interrupt architecture must save the address of the interrupted
instruction
▪ A trap or exception is a software-generated interrupt caused either
by an error or a user request
▪ An operating system is interrupt driven

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 Interrupt Handling

▪ The operating system preserves the state of the CPU by storing

the registers and the program counter
▪ Determines which type of interrupt has occurred:
▪ Separate segments of code determine what action should be taken
for each type of interrupt

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 Interrupt-drive I/O Cycle

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 Operating-System Operations
▪ Bootstrap program – simple code to initialize the system, load the kernel
▪ Kernel loads
▪ Starts system daemons (services provided outside of the kernel)
▪ Kernel interrupt driven (hardware and software)
• Hardware interrupt by one of the devices
• Software interrupt (exception or trap):
4 Software error (e.g., division by zero)
4 Request for operating system service – system call
4 Other process problems include infinite loop, processes modifying
each other or the operating system

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 Multiprogramming (Batch system)
▪ Single user cannot always keep CPU and I/O devices busy
▪ Multiprogramming organizes jobs (code and data) so CPU always has
one to execute
▪ A subset of total jobs in system is kept in memory
▪ One job selected and run via job scheduling
▪ When job has to wait (for I/O for example), OS switches to another job

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 Multitasking (Timesharing)

▪ A logical extension of Batch systems– the CPU switches jobs so

frequently that users can interact with each job while it is running,
creating interactive computing
• Response time should be < 1 second
• Each user has at least one program executing in memory
process
• If several jobs ready to run at the same time CPU
scheduling
• If processes don’t fit in memory, swapping moves them in
and out to run
• Virtual memory allows execution of processes not
completely in memory

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 Memory Layout for Multiprogrammed System

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 Dual-mode Operation

▪ Dual-mode operation allows OS to protect itself and other system

components
• User mode and kernel mode
▪ Mode bit provided by hardware
• Provides ability to distinguish when system is running user code
or kernel code.
• When a user is running mode bit is “user”
• When kernel code is executing mode bit is “kernel”
▪ How do we guarantee that user does not explicitly set the mode bit to
“kernel”?
• System call changes mode to kernel, return from call resets it to
user
▪ Some instructions designated as privileged, only executable in kernel
mode

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 Transition from User to Kernel Mode

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 Timer
▪ Timer to prevent infinite loop (or process hogging resources)
• Timer is set to interrupt the computer after some time period
• Keep a counter that is decremented by the physical clock
• Operating system set the counter (privileged instruction)
• When counter zero generate an interrupt
• Set up before scheduling process to regain control or terminate program
that exceeds allotted time

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 Process Management
▪ A process is a program in execution. It is a unit of work within the system.
Program is a passive entity; process is an active entity.
▪ Process needs resources to accomplish its task
• CPU, memory, I/O, files
• Initialization data
▪ Process termination requires reclaim of any reusable resources
▪ Single-threaded process has one program counter specifying location of
next instruction to execute
• Process executes instructions sequentially, one at a time, until completion
▪ Multi-threaded process has one program counter per thread
▪ Typically system has many processes, some user, some operating system
running concurrently on one or more CPUs
• Concurrency by multiplexing the CPUs among the processes / threads

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 Process Management Activities

The operating system is responsible for the following activities in connection

with process management:
▪ Creating and deleting both user and system processes
▪ Suspending and resuming processes
▪ Providing mechanisms for process synchronization
▪ Providing mechanisms for process communication
▪ Providing mechanisms for deadlock handling

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 Memory Management

▪ To execute a program all (or part) of the instructions must be in memory

▪ All (or part) of the data that is needed by the program must be in memory
▪ Memory management determines what is in memory and when
• Optimizing CPU utilization and computer response to users
▪ Memory management activities
• Keeping track of which parts of memory are currently being used and by
whom
• Deciding which processes (or parts thereof) and data to move into and out
of memory
• Allocating and deallocating memory space as needed

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 File-system Management
▪ OS provides uniform, logical view of information storage
• Abstracts physical properties to logical storage unit - file
• Each medium is controlled by device (i.e., disk drive, tape drive)
4 Varying properties include access speed, capacity, data-transfer rate,
access method (sequential or random)

▪ File-System management
• Files usually organized into directories
• Access control on most systems to determine who can access what
• OS activities include
4 Creating and deleting files and directories
4 Primitives to manipulate files and directories
4 Mapping files onto secondary storage
4 Backup files onto stable (non-volatile) storage media

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 Mass-Storage Management
▪ Usually disks used to store data that does not fit in main memory or
data that must be kept for a “long” period of time
▪ Proper management is of central importance
▪ Entire speed of computer operation hinges on disk subsystem and its
algorithms
▪ OS activities
• Mounting and unmounting
• Free-space management
• Storage allocation
• Disk scheduling
• Partitioning
• Protection

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 Caching

▪ Important principle, performed at many levels in a computer (in

hardware, operating system, software)
▪ Information in use copied from slower to faster storage temporarily
▪ Faster storage (cache) checked first to determine if information is
there
• If it is, information used directly from the cache (fast)
• If not, data copied to cache and used there
▪ Cache smaller than storage being cached
• Cache management important design problem
• Cache size and replacement policy

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 Characteristics of Various Types of Storage

Movement between levels of storage hierarchy can be explicit or implicit

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 Migration of data “A” from Disk to Register

▪ Multitasking environments must be careful to use most recent value, no

matter where it is stored in the storage hierarchy

▪ Multiprocessor environment must provide cache coherency in hardware

such that all CPUs have the most recent value in their cache
▪ Distributed environment situation even more complex
• Several copies of a datum can exist
• Various solutions covered in Chapter 19

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 I/O Subsystem
▪ One purpose of OS is to hide peculiarities of hardware devices from the user
▪ I/O subsystem responsible for
• Memory management of I/O including buffering (storing data
temporarily while it is being transferred), caching (storing parts of data in
faster storage for performance), spooling (the overlapping of output of
one job with input of other jobs)
• General device-driver interface
• Drivers for specific hardware devices

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 Protection and Security

▪ Protection – any mechanism for controlling access of processes or users to

resources defined by the OS
▪ Security – defense of the system against internal and external attacks
• Huge range, including denial-of-service, worms, viruses, identity theft,
theft of service
▪ Systems generally first distinguish among users, to determine who can do
what
• User identities (user IDs, security IDs) include name and associated
number, one per user
• User ID then associated with all files, processes of that user to determine
access control
• Group identifier (group ID) allows set of users to be defined and
controls managed, then also associated with each process, file
• Privilege escalation allows user to change to effective ID with more
rights

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 Virtualization

▪ Allows operating systems to run applications within other OSes

• Vast and growing industry
▪ Emulation used when source CPU type different from target type (i.e.
PowerPC to Intel x86)
• Generally slowest method
• When computer language not compiled to native code – Interpretation
▪ Virtualization – OS natively compiled for CPU, running guest OSes also
natively compiled
• Consider VMware running WinXP guests, each running applications, all
on native WinXP host OS
• VMM (virtual machine Manager) provides virtualization services

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 Virtualization (cont.)

▪ Use cases involve laptops and desktops running multiple OSes for exploration
or compatibility
• Apple laptop running Mac OS X host, Windows as a guest
• Developing apps for multiple OSes without having multiple systems
• Quality assurance testing applications without having multiple systems
• Executing and managing compute environments within data centers
▪ VMM can run natively, in which case they are also the host
• There is no general-purpose host then (VMware ESX and Citrix
XenServer)

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 Computing Environments - Virtualization

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 Operating System Structure
▪ General-purpose OS is very large program
▪ Various ways to structure ones
• Simple structure – MS-DOS
• More complex -- UNIX
• Layered – an abstrcation
• Microkernel -Mach

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 Simple Structure -- MS-DOS

▪ MS-DOS – written to provide the

most functionality in the least space
• Not divided into modules
• Although MS-DOS has some
structure, its interfaces and
levels of functionality are not
well separated

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 Non Simple Structure -- UNIX

UNIX – limited by hardware functionality, the original UNIX

operating system had limited structuring. The UNIX OS consists of
two separable parts
• Systems programs
• The kernel
4 Consists of everything below the system-call interface and
above the physical hardware
4 Provides the file system, CPU scheduling, memory
management, and other operating-system functions; a large
number of functions for one level

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 Traditional UNIX System Structure
Beyond simple but not fully layered

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 Layered Approach

▪ The operating system is divided

into a number of layers (levels),
each built on top of lower layers.
The bottom layer (layer 0), is the
hardware; the highest (layer N) is
the user interface.
▪ With modularity, layers are
selected such that each uses
functions (operations) and services
of only lower-level layers

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 Microkernel System Structure
▪ Moves as much from the kernel into user space
▪ Mach example of microkernel
• Mac OS X kernel (Darwin) partly based on Mach
▪ Communication takes place between user modules using message
passing
▪ Benefits:
• Easier to extend a microkernel
• Easier to port the operating system to new architectures
• More reliable (less code is running in kernel mode)
• More secure
▪ Detriments:
• Performance overhead of user space to kernel space
communication

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 Microkernel System Structure

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 Modules
▪ Many modern operating systems implement loadable kernel modules
• Uses object-oriented approach
• Each core component is separate
• Each talks to the others over known interfaces
• Each is loadable as needed within the kernel
▪ Overall, similar to layers but with more flexible
• Linux, Solaris, etc

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 Solaris Modular Approach

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 Computer System Environments

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 Computing Environments

▪ Traditional
▪ Mobile
▪ Client Server
▪ Peer-to-Peer
▪ Cloud computing
▪ Real-time Embedded

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 Traditional

▪ Stand-alone general-purpose machines

▪ But blurred as most systems interconnect with others (i.e., the
Internet)
▪ Portals provide web access to internal systems
▪ Network computers (thin clients) are like Web terminals
▪ Mobile computers interconnect via wireless networks
▪ Networking becoming ubiquitous – even home systems use
firewalls to protect home computers from Internet attacks

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 Mobile

▪ Handheld smartphones, tablets, etc.

▪ What is the functional difference between them and a “traditional”
laptop?
▪ Extra feature – more OS features (GPS, gyroscope)
▪ Allows new types of apps like augmented reality
▪ Use IEEE 802.11 wireless, or cellular data networks for connectivity
▪ Leaders are Apple iOS and Google Android

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 Client Server

▪ Client-Server Computing
• Dumb terminals supplanted by smart PCs
• Many systems now servers, responding to requests generated by
clients
4 Compute-server system provides an interface to client to request
services (i.e., database)
4 File-server system provides interface for clients to store and
retrieve files

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 Peer-to-Peer

▪ Another model of distributed system

▪ P2P does not distinguish clients and servers
• Instead all nodes are considered peers
• May each act as client, server or both
• Node must join P2P network
4 Registers its service with central lookup
service on network, or
4 Broadcast request for service and
respond to requests for service via
discovery protocol
• Examples include Napster and Gnutella,
Voice over IP (VoIP) such as Skype

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 Distributed Systems
▪ Collection of separate, possibly heterogeneous, systems networked together
• Network is a communications path, TCP/IP most common
4 Local Area Network (LAN)
4 Wide Area Network (WAN)
4 Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
4 Personal Area Network (PAN)
▪ Network Operating System provides features between systems across
network
• Communication scheme allows systems to exchange messages
• Illusion of a single system

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 Cloud Computing
▪ Delivers computing, storage, even apps as a service across a
network
▪ Logical extension of virtualization because it uses
virtualization as the base for it functionality.
• Amazon EC2 has thousands of servers, millions of virtual
machines, petabytes of storage available across the
Internet, pay based on usage

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 Cloud Computing (Cont.)
▪ Many types
• Public cloud – available via Internet to anyone willing to pay
• Private cloud – run by a company for the company’s own use
• Hybrid cloud – includes both public and private cloud components
• Software as a Service (SaaS) – one or more applications available via the
Internet (i.e., word processor)
• Platform as a Service (PaaS) – software stack ready for application use
via the Internet (i.e., a database server)
• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) – servers or storage available over
Internet (i.e., storage available for backup use)

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 Cloud Computing (cont.)
▪ Cloud computing environments composed of traditional OSes, plus VMMs,
plus cloud management tools
• Internet connectivity requires security like firewalls
• Load balancers spread traffic across multiple applications

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 Real-Time Embedded Systems

▪ Real-time embedded systems most prevalent form of computers

• Vary considerable, special purpose, limited purpose OS, real-time OS
• Use expanding
▪ Many other special computing environments as well
• Some have OSes, some perform tasks without an OS
▪ Real-time OS has well-defined fixed time constraints
• Processing must be done within constraint
• Correct operation only if constraints met

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 Free and Open-Source Operating Systems
▪ Operating systems made available in source-code format rather than just
binary closed-source and proprietary
▪ Counter to the copy protection and Digital Rights Management
(DRM) movement
▪ Started by Free Software Foundation (FSF), which has “copyleft” GNU
Public License (GPL)
• Free software and open-source software are two different ideas championed by
different groups of people
4 https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.en.html
▪ Examples include GNU/Linux and BSD UNIX (including core of Mac OS
X), and many more
▪ Can use VMM like VMware Player (Free on Windows), Virtualbox (open
source and free on many platforms - http://www.virtualbox.com)
• Use to run guest operating systems for exploration

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 Operating System Services
▪ Operating systems provide an environment for execution of programs and
services to programs and users
▪ One set of operating-system services provides functions that are helpful to the
user:
• User interface - Almost all operating systems have a user interface (UI).
4 Varies between Command-Line (CLI), Graphics User Interface
(GUI), Batch
• Program execution - The system must be able to load a program into
memory and to run that program, end execution, either normally or
abnormally (indicating error)
• I/O operations - A running program may require I/O, which may
involve a file or an I/O device

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 Operating System Services (Cont.)

▪ One set of operating-system services provides functions that are helpful to the user
(Cont.):
• File-system manipulation - The file system is of particular interest. Programs
need to read and write files and directories, create and delete them, search them,
list file Information, permission management.
• Communications – Processes may exchange information, on the same computer
or between computers over a network
4 Communications may be via shared memory or through message passing
(packets moved by the OS)
• Error detection – OS needs to be constantly aware of possible errors
4 May occur in the CPU and memory hardware, in I/O devices, in user
program
4 For each type of error, OS should take the appropriate action to ensure
correct and consistent computing
4 Debugging facilities can greatly enhance the user’s and programmer’s
abilities to efficiently use the system

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 Operating System Services (Cont.)
▪ Another set of OS functions exists for ensuring the efficient operation of the system
itself via resource sharing
• Resource allocation - When multiple users or multiple jobs running
concurrently, resources must be allocated to each of them
4 Many types of resources - CPU cycles, main memory, file storage, I/O
devices.
• Accounting - To keep track of which users use how much and what kinds of
computer resources
• Protection and security - The owners of information stored in a multiuser or
networked computer system may want to control use of that information,
concurrent processes should not interfere with each other
4 Protection involves ensuring that all access to system resources is
controlled
4 Security of the system from outsiders requires user authentication, extends
to defending external I/O devices from invalid access attempts

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 A View of Operating System Services

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 User Operating System Interface - CLI

CLI or command interpreter allows direct command entry

• Sometimes implemented in kernel, sometimes by systems program
• Sometimes multiple flavors implemented – shells
• Primarily fetches a command from user and executes it
• Sometimes commands built-in, sometimes just names of programs
4 If the latter, adding new features doesn’t require shell
modification

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 Bourne Shell Command Interpreter

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 User Operating System Interface - GUI

▪ User-friendly desktop metaphor interface

• Usually mouse, keyboard, and monitor
• Icons represent files, programs, actions, etc
• Various mouse buttons over objects in the interface cause various
actions (provide information, options, execute function, open
directory (known as a folder)
• Invented at Xerox PARC
▪ Many systems now include both CLI and GUI interfaces
• Microsoft Windows is GUI with CLI “command” shell
• Apple Mac OS X is “Aqua” GUI interface with UNIX kernel
underneath and shells available
• Unix and Linux have CLI with optional GUI interfaces (CDE, KDE,
GNOME)

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 Touchscreen Interfaces

● Touchscreen devices require new

interfaces
● Mouse not possible or not desired
● Actions and selection based on
gestures
● Virtual keyboard for text entry
● Voice commands.

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 The Mac OS X GUI

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 System Calls
▪ Programming interface to the services provided by the OS
▪ Typically written in a high-level language (C or C++)
▪ Mostly accessed by programs via a high-level Application
Programming Interface (API) rather than direct system call
use
▪ Three most common APIs are Win32 API for Windows, POSIX
API for POSIX-based systems (including virtually all versions
of UNIX, Linux, and Mac OS X), and Java API for the Java
virtual machine (JVM)
Note that the system-call names used throughout this
text are generic

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 Example of System Calls

▪ System call sequence to copy the contents of one file to another file

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 Example of Standard API

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 System Call Implementation

▪ Typically, a number associated with each system call

• System-call interface maintains a table indexed according to these
numbers
▪ The system call interface invokes the intended system call in OS kernel
and returns status of the system call and any return values
▪ The caller need know nothing about how the system call is implemented
• Just needs to obey API and understand what OS will do as a result
call
• Most details of OS interface hidden from programmer by API
4 Managed by run-time support library (set of functions built into
libraries included with compiler)

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 API – System Call – OS Relationship

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 System Call Parameter Passing

▪ Often, more information is required than simply identity of desired

system call
• Exact type and amount of information vary according to OS and call
▪ Three general methods used to pass parameters to the OS
• Simplest: pass the parameters in registers
4 In some cases, may be more parameters than registers
• Parameters stored in a block, or table, in memory, and address of
block passed as a parameter in a register
4 This approach taken by Linux and Solaris

• Parameters placed, or pushed, onto the stack by the program and

popped off the stack by the operating system
• Block and stack methods do not limit the number or length of
parameters being passed

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 Parameter Passing via Table

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 Types of System Calls
▪ Process control
• create process, terminate process
• end, abort
• load, execute
• get process attributes, set process attributes
• wait for time
• wait event, signal event
• allocate and free memory
• Dump memory if error
• Debugger for determining bugs, single step execution
• Locks for managing access to shared data between processes

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 Types of System Calls

▪ File management
• create file, delete file
• open, close file
• read, write, reposition
• get and set file attributes
▪ Device management
• request device, release device
• read, write, reposition
• get device attributes, set device attributes
• logically attach or detach devices

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 Types of System Calls (Cont.)

▪ Information maintenance
• get time or date, set time or date
• get system data, set system data
• get and set process, file, or device attributes
▪ Communications
• create, delete communication connection
• send, receive messages if message passing model to host name or
process name
4 From client to server
• Shared-memory model create and gain access to memory regions
• transfer status information
• attach and detach remote devices

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 Types of System Calls (Cont.)

▪ Protection
• Control access to resources
• Get and set permissions
• Allow and deny user access

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 Examples of Windows and Unix System Calls

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 Standard C Library Example

▪ C program invoking printf() library call, which calls write() system call

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 Computer System Architecture

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 Computer-System Architecture

▪ Most systems use a single general-purpose processor

• Most systems have special-purpose processors as well
▪ Multiprocessors systems growing in use and importance
• Also known as parallel systems, tightly-coupled systems
• Advantages include:
1. Increased throughput
2. Economy of scale
3. Increased reliability – graceful degradation or fault tolerance
• Two types:
1. Asymmetric Multiprocessing – each processor is assigned a
specie task.
2. Symmetric Multiprocessing – each processor performs all tasks

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 Symmetric Multiprocessing Architecture

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 Dual-Core Design
▪ Multi-chip and multicore
▪ Systems containing all chips
• Chassis containing multiple separate systems

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 Non-Uniform Memory Access System

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 Clustered Systems

▪ Like multiprocessor systems, but multiple systems working together

• Usually sharing storage via a storage-area network (SAN)
• Provides a high-availability service which survives failures
4 Asymmetric clustering has one machine in hot-standby mode
4 Symmetric clustering has multiple nodes running applications,
monitoring each other
• Some clusters are for high-performance computing (HPC)
4 Applications must be written to use parallelization
• Some have distributed lock manager (DLM) to avoid conflicting
operations

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 Clustered Systems

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