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GOAT Computer Awareness PDF - Operating System

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GOAT Computer Awareness PDF - Operating System

OPERATING SYSTEM

An Operating System is software that works as an interface between a user and the computer hardware.
It performs the basic tasks such as receiving input from the keyboard, processing instructions and
sending output to the screen.

A block diagram depicting the interaction between the different parts

Functions of Operating System

 Process Management: - The mechanism by which an operating system can control the planning,
monitoring and performance of a CPU. A process is the basic unit of execution in the operating

system.
 Memory Management It is a process of controlling and coordinating computer memory. It ensures
that all processes are able to access their memory or not.

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GOAT Computer Awareness PDF - Operating System

 File Management It is the main function of operating system. It manages all data files in a

computer system.
 Device Management It is a process of managing the operation and maintenance of input/output
devices. It also facilitates the interface between all the connected devices.

 Resource allocation and management: - In case of multi-user or multi-tasking environment,

resources such as main memory, CPU cycles and files storage are to be allocated to each user
or job.

 Error handling: - The OS constantly checks for possible errors and takes an appropriate action to
ensure correct and consistent computing.

TYPES OF OPERATING SYSTEM

1. Batch operating system: - In this type of OS, the users of a batch operating system do not interact
with the computer directly. This operating system is a responsible for scheduling the jobs

according to priority and the resource required.

2. Time Sharing Operating System/MULTITASKING: - This operating system allows multiple

programs to simultaneously share the computer resources. The OS handles multitasking in the
way that it can handle multiple operations/executes multiple programs at a time.

3. Real Time Operating System: - These operating systems are designed to respond to an event

within a predetermined time. These are used in military applications, automatically driven cars,
flight reservation system, etc.
4. Multiprogramming OS: - In this the operating system picks and begins to execute one of the jobs

from memory. Once this job needs an I/O operation operating system switches to another job. In
Non-multiprogrammed system, there are moments when CPU sits idle and does not do any work
and in ideal situation, CPU must never be idle.

5. Distributed Operating System: - In this kind of OS, multiple systems are involved, and user at one
site can utilize the resources of systems at other sites for resource-intensive tasks.

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WHAT IS SPOOLING?

Spooling is an acronym for simultaneous peripheral operations on line. Spooling refers to putting data of
various I/O jobs in a buffer. In OS, the term buffer refers to an area in memory or hard disk, where the
jobs are ready in queues.

PROCESS MANAGEMENT

A program is a set of rules, and a process is a program under execution. It is executed sequentially,

one instruction at a time. It is the basic unit of work to be implemented in the system.
PROCESS STATE

 New: Process being created.

 Running: Instructions being executed.
 Waiting: Process waiting for an event to occur.
 Ready: Process waiting for CPU.
 Terminated: Process has finished execution.

PROCESS CONTROL BLOCK

There is a Process Control Block for each process. It is a data structure that contains the following;

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GOAT Computer Awareness PDF - Operating System

 Process State: It can be running, waiting etc.

 Process ID and the parent process ID.

 CPU registers and Program Counter. Program Counter holds the address of the next instruction
to be executed for that process.

 CPU Scheduling information: Such as priority information and pointers to scheduling queues.
 Memory Management information: For example, page tables or segment tables.
 Accounting information: The User and kernel CPU time consumed, account numbers, limits, etc.

 I/O Status information: Devices allocated, open file tables, etc.

SOME TERMINOLOGIES

1. Kernel is the core of the operating system that supports the process by providing a path to the
peripheral devices.

2. Shell is the program which interprets commands given by the user.

3. Thread is a task that runs with other tasks concurrently within the same process. It is also called

as lightweight process.

SCHEDULERS

Schedulers are special system software which handles process scheduling in various ways. Schedulers
are of three types;

 Long-Term Scheduler: - It is also called a job scheduler. A long-term scheduler determines which
programs are admitted to the system for processing. It selects processes from the queue and

loads them into memory for execution.

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GOAT Computer Awareness PDF - Operating System

 Short-Term Scheduler: - It is also called as CPU scheduler. CPU scheduler selects a process

among the processes that are ready to execute and allocates CPU to one of them.
 Medium-Term Scheduler: - This scheduler removes the processes from memory thus reducing
the degree of multiprogramming.

Scheduling Criteria

CPU utilization: - The CPU must be kept busy all the time. CPU utilization can range from 0 to 100
percent.
Throughput: - It is the measure of work or number of processes that are completed per time unit.

Turnaround time: - Turnaround time is the sum of the time period spent while waiting to get into memory,
then waiting in the ready queue, and after that executing on the CPU, and doing input and output
operation.

Waiting time: - It is the sum of the time periods spent while waiting in the ready queue, and amount of

time a process has been waiting in the ready queue to get control of the CPU.

Response Time: - In short, the difference between the arrival time and the time at which the process first
gets the CPU is called Response Time.
Arrival Time: - The time at which the process enters into the ready queue is called the arrival time

SCHEDULING ALGORITHS

The purpose of a scheduling algorithm is to provide:

 Maximum CPU utilization.

 Minimum turnaround time.

 Fair allocation of CPU.
 Maximum throughput.

 Minimum waiting time.

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GOAT Computer Awareness PDF - Operating System

 Minimum response time.

The Scheduling algorithms are: -

First Come First Serve (FCFS) Scheduling: - First come first serve (FCFS) scheduling algorithm simply
schedules the jobs according to their arrival time. The job which comes first in the ready queue will get

the CPU first. The lesser the arrival time of the job, the sooner will the job get the CPU
Shortest Job First (SJF) Scheduling: - It is an algorithm in which the process having the smallest
execution time is chosen for the next execution. It is the best approach to minimize waiting time.

Shortest Remaining Time First (SRTF) Scheduling: - In this scheduling algorithm, the process with the
smallest amount of time remaining until completion is selected to execute. It is the pre-emptive version
of SJF scheduling. Pre-emption in computing refers to the mechanism of temporarily halting a process

only to resume it at a later point of time.

Round Robin Scheduling Algorithm: - Round Robin scheduling algorithm is one of the most popular
scheduling algorithms which focus on Time Sharing. Every process in the RR scheduling algorithm gets

executed in a cyclic way.

THE CONCEPT OF DEADLOCK

As we have seen the operating system facilitates resource allocation and sharing. Now, there may come

a time where, one resource is being assigned to more than one process. Such a situation gives rise to
deadlock. A Deadlock is a situation where each of the computer process waits for a resource which is
being assigned to some another process. In this situation, none of the process gets executed since the

resource it needs, is held by some other process which is also waiting for some other resource to be
released.

A pictorial depiction of the above condition.

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MEMORY MANAGEMENT
Memory management is the functionality of an operating system which handles or manages primary

memory and moves processes back and forth between main memory and disk during execution.

Memory management Techniques

Contiguous
1. Fixed partition: - The earliest and one of the simplest technique which can be used to load more

than one processes into the main memory is Fixed partitioning or Contiguous memory allocation.

2. Variable partition: - In this technique, the partition size is not declared initially. It is declared at the
time of process loading. The first partition is reserved for the operating system. The remaining

space is divided into parts. The size of each partition will be equal to the size of the process.
Non Contiguous
1. Paging: - In Operating Systems, Paging is a storage mechanism used to retrieve processes from

the secondary storage into the main memory in the form of pages. The main idea behind the

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GOAT Computer Awareness PDF - Operating System

paging is to divide each process in the form of pages. The main memory will also be divided in

the form of frames.

2. Multi-level paging: - It is a paging scheme that consists of two or more levels of page tables in a
hierarchical manner. It is also known as hierarchical paging.

3. Inverted paging: - It is a memory management technique that uses a secondary memory as a

backing store for primary virtual memory. It provides a way to manage virtual memory in a system
where the physical address of the virtual memory can’t be directly mapped to a storage device.

4. Segmentation: - It is a memory management technique in which the memory is divided into the
variable size parts. Each part is called segment.
5. Segmented paging: - In Segmented paging the main memory is divided into variable size

segments which are further divided into fixed size pages.

Booting: - It is the process of starting up a computer by a button. It can be initiated by hardware such as

a Start button. There are two types of booting.

 Cold Booting: - when a computer is turned ON after it has been completely shut down.

 Warm Booting: - when a computer is restarted by pressing the combination of Ctrl + Alt + Del
keys or by restart button.

FILE SYSTEM

Computers store information on several different storage media, such as magnetic disks, magnetic
tapes, and optical disks, flash drives and other memory devices. But, data cannot be written to
secondary storage unless they are within a file. The way the files are stored and the techniques involved

in it constitutes the File System. It facilitates on-line storage of and access to both data and programs of
the operating system and all the users of the computer system. The file system consists of two distinct

parts: a collection of files, each storing related data, and a directory structure, which organizes and

provides information about all the files in the system.

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Attributes of a file are: -

1. Name
2. Identifier
3. Location

4. Size
5. Protection

Operations performed on a file are: -

 Create
 Write

 Read
 Delete
There are different types of files that we use in our daily lives. Some of them are given as follows.

 Executable files: - Most commonly are .EXE, .BAT, .COM, .CMD files.

 Text files: - .txt, .docx etc.

 Audio files: - .mp3, .wav etc.

 Multimedia files: - .mpeg, .mov, .rm, .mp4 etc.

DIRECTORY STRUCTURES

The most common directory structure used by multiuser systems is:

 Single level directory: - In a single level directory system, all the files are placed in one directory.
It has significant limitations when the number of files or when there is more than one user.

 Two level directory: - In the two level directory system, the system maintains a master block that
has one entry for each user. This master block contains the address of directories of the users.

 Tree structure directories: - In this structure, the directory are files. This lead to the possibility of

having sub-directories that can contain files and sub-subdirectories.

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USER INTERFACE

The user interface is one of the most important parts of any operating system when it comes to the user
interacting with it. It allows users to easily access and communicate with the applications and the
hardware. The user can interact with the computer by using mainly two kinds of interfaces;

1. Graphical User Interface (GUI): - The Graphical interface is a program that gives the user the
ability to interact with the computer by using visuals, pointing devices and other symbols. This
interface was designed by the Xerox Palo Research Centre in 1970s.

2. Character User Interface (CUI): - The CUI or as it is commonly referred to as, the Command Line

Interface, is the exact opposite of the GUI. This mechanism gives the user the ability to interact

with the computer system by typing in the commands to make the system perform specific tasks.

Example, MS-DOS

MS-DOS (Microsoft-Disk Operating System)

Now that we know that MS-DOS uses CLI OS, let’s dive in to look at some of the impressive features
that it boasts.

The DOS OS was developed by Microsoft in 1980 for microcomputers. MS-DOS was the first operating
system that runs on PC developed by IBM Corporation in 1981. DOS is a single user operating system.
It is the only operating system which can be loaded in the main memory of the computer using a single

disk.

STRUCTURE OF THE DISK OPERATING SYSTEM

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1. The Boot Record: - It includes loading the operating system into main memory. It is the main

program of MS-DOS.
2. The Basic Input/output System (BIOS. sys): - It provides an interface between the hardware and
programs.

3. The MSDOS. sys Program: - It is a collection of program routines and data tables that provides
high level programs such as application programs.
4. The Command.com Program: - It provides a standard set of commands that gives users access

to file management, configuration and miscellaneous functions.

Configuration of DOS

Config. sys, Autoexec.bat and files provide the environment to computer to set commands.

 Config. sys It adjusts the system according to commands. It looks after the hardware

configuration of the machine. Some standard commands include, Break, Buffers, DOS, FILES,

INSTALL, etc.

 Autoexec.bat When the system is powered on, this file executes in automatically command line.
Some commands in the Autoexec.bat are PROMPT, MODE, PATH etc.

EXTENSIONS MEANING

.sys System files

.prg Program files

.bat Batch files

.txt Text files

.doc Document files

.exe Executable files

INTRODUCTION TO UNIX AND LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM

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UNIX is an operating system which was first developed in the 1960s by Dennis Ritchie and Ken
Thompson, and has been under constant development ever since. It is a stable, multi-user, multi-tasking
system for servers, desktops and laptops.

NOTE: - DENNIS RITCHIE ALSO INVENTED THE C-LANGUAGE

UNIX, runs on the GUI interface and hence gives a user friendly experience.

Types of UNIX
The most popular varieties of UNIX are Sun Solaris, GNU/Linux, and MacOS X.

Some of the important UNIX commands

LINUX
Just like Windows, iOS, and Mac OS, Linux is an operating system. The first Linux Kernel was released

in September, 1991 by Linus Torvalds, who has been the principal author of the Linux kernel. It is an
UNIX-like open source operating system, mainly developed by the community of OS developers.

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Android, one of the most commonly used platforms on this planet is powered by Linux. Linux can be

optimized for different purposes such as:

 networking performance;
 computation performance;

 deployment on specific hardware platforms; and

 deployment on systems with limited memory, storage or computing resources.

Tux the penguin, the mascot of Linux

Some Linux commands

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MOBILE OPERATING SYSTEM

The Mobile OS most famously operates on Smartphones, Tablets and Digital Mobile devices. It controls
mobile devices and its design supports wireless communication and different types of mobile

applications. It has built-in support for mobile multimedia formats.

Some popular mobile operating systems are: -

1. Android: - It is a mobile OS developed by Google, and powered by Linux (Main part of operating
system). It is basically designed for touch screen mobile devices like Tablets, Smartphones etc.
The latest Android version, version 13 (Tiramisu) was released in August 15, 2022. The next

version on the brink of its release is the Android 14 (Upside Down cake).
2. iOS: - The iPhone Operating System is the popular mobile operating system developed by Apple
Incorporation. This operating system is commonly used in Apple iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad etc.

The latest version of iOS is iOS 16 which was released on 12th September, 2022.

3. Symbian: - It is the OS developed and sold by Symbian Ltd. It is an open source mobile OS

designed for Smartphones. The latest version of Symbian is Nokia Belle (Symbian OS 10.1)
which was released in October 2012.

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