Scribd
Upload
20 views

Chapter 1 Study Guide

Uploaded by

Alex Menassa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
20 views

Chapter 1 Study Guide

Uploaded by

Alex Menassa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

Study Guide to Accompany Operating Systems Concepts 10th Ed by Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne

By Andrew DeNicola, BU ECE Class of 2012


Figures Copyright © John Wiley & Sons 2012

Ch.1 - Introduction
• An OS is a program that acts as an intermediary between a user of a computer and the computer hardware
• Goals: Execute user programs, make the comp. system easy to use, utilize hardware efficiently
• Computer system: Hardware ↔ OS ↔ Applications ↔ Users (↔ = 'uses')
• OS is:
◦ Resource allocator: decides between conflicting requests for efficient and fair resource use
◦ Control program: controls execution of programs to prevent errors and improper use of computer
• Kernel: the one program running at all times on the computer
• Bootstrap program: loaded at power-up or reboot
◦ Stored in ROM or EPROM (known as firmware), Initializes all aspects of system, loads OS kernel and starts
execution
• I/O and CPU can execute concurrently
• Device controllers inform CPU that it is finished w/ operation by causing an interrupt
◦ Interrupt transfers control to the interrupt service routine generally, through the interrupt vector, which
contains the addresses of all the service routines
◦ Incoming interrupts are disabled while another interrupt is being processed
◦ Trap is a software generated interrupt caused by error or user request
◦ OS determines which type of interrupt has occurred by polling or the vectored interrupt system
• System call: request to the operating system to allow user to wait for I/O completion
• Device-status table: contains entry for each I/O device indicating its type, address, and state
◦ OS indexes into the I/O device table to determine device status and to modify the table entry to include
interrupt
• Storage structure:
◦ Main memory – random access, volatile
◦ Secondary storage – extension of main memory That provides large non-volatile storage
◦ Disk – divided into tracks which are subdivided into sectors. Disk controller determines logical interaction
between the device and the computer.
• Caching – copying information into faster storage system
• Multiprocessor Systems: Increased throughput, economy of
scale, increased reliability
◦ Can be asymmetric or symmetric
◦ Clustered systems – Linked multiprocessor systems
• Multiprogramming – Provides efficiency via job scheduling
◦ When OS has to wait (ex: for I/O), switches to another job
• Timesharing – CPU switches jobs so frequently that each user
can interact with each job while it is running (interactive computing)
• Dual-mode operation allows OS to protect itself and other system components – User mode and kernel mode
◦ Some instructions are only executable in kernel mode, these are privileged
• Single-threaded processes have one program counter, multi-threaded processes have one PC per thread
• Protection – mechanism for controlling access of processes or users to resources defined by the OS
• Security – defense of a system against attacks
• User IDs (UID), one per user, and Group IDs, determine which users and groups of users have which privileges

You might also like