UNIT-1

INTRODUCTION :

What is an Operating System:

An Operating System (OS) is software that acts as an interface between
computer hardware and the user. It helps you to communicate with the
computer. It also manages the use of hardware resources and enables
proper implementation of application programs. While the hardware
provides raw computer power, OS is responsible for making the computer
power useful for the users. Every computer irrespective of its size and
application needs an operating system to make it functional and useful. The
purpose of an operating system is to provide an environment in which a
user can execute programs in convenient and efficient manner. In short OS
is the master control program of a computer.

The different roles performed by an operating system are as follows:

1) It operates CPU of the computer
2) It controls input/ output devices that provides the interface between the
user and the computer.
3) It handles the working of application programs with the hardware and
software system.
4) It manages the storage and retrieval of information using storage
devices.

Input/ output CPU

devices

Controls Operates

handles manages

PROGRAMS
Files/ directories
Functions of an Operating System
To achieve the goals of an Operating system, the Operating System
performs a number of functionalities. They are:

1) Process Management: Process management involves the execution

of various tasks such as creation of processes, scheduling of processes
and termination of processes. When a process runs in a computer system
, a number of resources such as memory and CPU of the computer
system are utilized. It is the responsibility of an operating system to
manage the running processes by performing tasks such as resource
allocation and process scheduling In a multi-programming environment, at
a particular instant of time, the CPU may have a number of processes that
are in the ready state. But at a time, only one process can be processed
by a processor the OS decides the order in which processes have access
to the processor, and how much processing time each process has.

An Operating System performs the following activities for Process

Management.

 An operating system manages the processors work by allocating

various jobs to it and ensuring that each process receives enough
time from the processor to function properly.
 Keeps track of the status of processes.

2) Memory Management: Memory management function of operating

system helps in allocating the main memory space to the processes and
their data at the time of their execution. For the execution of a process,
the whole process is put into the main memory and the process is
executed. Main memory is fast storage and it can be accessed directly by
the CPU. For a program to be executed, it should be first loaded in the
main memory and after the execution of the process, the memory is freed
and that memory can be used for other processes. So, it is the duty of the
Operating System to manage the memory by allocating and de allocating
the memory for the process.
An Operating System performs the following activities for Memory
Management:
 It keeps track of primary memory, i.e., which bytes of memory are used
by which user program.
 It Allocates the memory to a process when the process requests it and
deallocates the memory when the process has terminated or is
performing an I/O operation.

 Upgrading the performance of the computer system

 Enabling the execution of multiple processes at the same time
 Sharing the same memory space among different processes.

3) Device Management: Device management is another important

function of the operating system. There are various I/O and storage
devices that are present in a system. Various processes require access to
these resources and the process should not directly access these devices.
So, it is the duty of the Operating System to allow the use of I/O devices
by the various process and also keep a track of all devices. An OS
manages the devices in a computer system with the help of device
controllers and device drivers.
4) File Management: File management is defined as the process of
manipulating files in a computer system. There are various files, folders
and directory system in a particular computer. All these are maintained
and managed by the Operating System of the computer. All files related
information are maintained by using a File Allocation Table or FAT. So,
every detail related to the file i.e. filename, file size, file type, etc is stored
in the File Allocation Table. Also, it is the duty of the Operating System to
make sure that the files should not be opened by some unauthorized
access.
An Operating System carries out the following file management
activities.
 It helps in creating new files and placing them at a specific
location.
 It helps in easily and quickly locating the files in computer system.
 It makes the process of sharing of files among different users
easy.
 It helps store the files in separate folders known as directory
 It helps modify the content and as well as the name of the file.

5) Security Management: The security management function of an

operating system helps in implementing mechanisms that secure and
protect the computer system internally as well as externally.
Internal security refers to the protection of activities of one process from
the activities of another process. There may be number of processes
running in the computer system concurrently. It is the responsibility of the
operating system to make sure that only one process at a time has access
to a particular resource of the computer. Most of the time OS make use of
the concept of Least privilege to implement internal security.
External security refers to the implementation for securing data stored in
the computer as well as the various resources of the computer against
unauthorized access. The most common external security mechanism used
by OS is a software firewall.
Types of operating system:
1) Simple Batch Operating System
This type of operating system does not interact with the computer
directly. Some computer processes are very lengthy and time-
consuming. To speed the same process, a job with a similar type of
needs are batched together and run as a group. There is an operator
which takes similar jobs having the same requirement and group
them into batches. It is the responsibility of the operator to sort jobs
with similar needs.

Advantages of Batch Operating System:

 It is very difficult to guess or know the time required for any job to
complete. Processors of the batch systems know how long the job
would be when it is in queue
 Multiple users can share the batch systems
 The idle time for the batch system is very less
 It is easy to manage large work repeatedly in batch systems
Disadvantages of Batch Operating System:
 The computer operators should be well known with batch systems
 It is sometimes costly
 The other jobs will have to wait for an unknown time if any job fails

Examples of Batch based Operating System: Payroll System, Bank

Statements, etc.
2) Multiprogramming Operating System

A multiprogramming operating system may run many programs on a single

processor computer. If one program must wait for an input/output transfer
in a multiprogramming operating system, the other programs are ready to
use the CPU. As a result, various jobs may share CPU time. However, the
execution of their jobs is not defined to be at the same time period. When a
program is being performed, it is known as a "Task", "Process",
and "Job". Concurrent program executions improve system resource
consumption and throughput as compared to serial and batch processing
systems.

ADVANTAGES:

1. It provides less response time.

2. It may help to run various jobs in a single application simultaneously.
3. It helps to optimize the total job throughput of the computer.
4. Short-time jobs are done quickly in comparison to long-time jobs.
5. It helps in improving CPU utilization and never gets idle.
6. The resources are utilized smartly.

Disadvantages
1. It is highly complicated and sophisticated.
2. The CPU scheduling is required.
3. Memory management is needed in the operating system because all
types of tasks are stored in the main memory.
4. The harder task is to handle all processes and tasks.

3) Multitasking Operating Systems –

Each task is given some time to execute so that all the tasks work
smoothly. Each user gets the time of CPU as they use a single system.
These systems are also known as Multitasking Systems. The task can be
from a single user or different users also. The time that each task gets to
execute is called quantum. After this time interval is over OS switches
over to the next task.
Advantages of Time-Sharing OS:
 Each task gets an equal opportunity
 CPU idle time can be reduced

Disadvantages of Time-Sharing OS:

 One must have to take care of the security and integrity of user
programs and data
 Process having higher priority will not get the chance to be executed
first because the equal opportunity is given to each process.

4) Personal Computer Operating System

Personal computer operating system provides a good interface to a single

user. Personal computer operating systems are widely used for word
processing, spreadsheets and Internet access.Personal computer
operating system are made only for personal.You can say that your
laptops, computer systems, tablets etc. are your personal computers and
the operating system such as windows 7, windows 10, android, etc. are
your personal computer operating system.

And you can use your personal computer operating system for your
personal purposes, for example, to chatting with your friends using some
social media sites, reading some articles from internet, making some
projects through microsoft powerpoint or any other, designing your website,
programming something, watching some videos and movies, listening to
some songs and many more.

5) Parallel Processing Systems are designed to speed up the execution

of programs by dividing the program into multiple fragments and
processing these fragments simultaneously. Such systems are
multiprocessor systems also known as tightly coupled systems. Parallel
systems deal with the simultaneous use of multiple computer resources
that can include a single computer with multiple processors, a number of
computers connected by a network to form a parallel processing cluster or
a combination of both. Parallel computing is an evolution of serial
computing where the jobs are broken into discrete parts that can be
executed concurrently. Each part is further broken down to a series of
instructions. Instructions from each part execute simultaneously on
different CPUs.
Parallel systems are more difficult to program than computers with a single
processor because the architecture of parallel computers varies
accordingly and the processes of multiple CPUs must be coordinated and
synchronized.

6) Distributed Operating System

In a Distributed Operating System, we have various systems and all these
systems have their own CPU, main memory, secondary memory, and
resources. These systems are connected to each other using a shared
communication network. Here, each system can perform its task
individually. The best part about these Distributed Operating System is
remote access i.e. one user can access the data of the other system and
can work accordingly. So, remote access is possible in these distributed
Operating system

Advantages of Distributed Operating System:

 Failure of one will not affect the other network communication, as all
systems are independent from each other
 Since resources are being shared, computation is highly fast and
durable
 These systems are easily scalable as many systems can be easily
added to the network
Disadvantages of Distributed Operating System:
 Failure of the main network will stop the entire communication
 To establish distributed systems the language which is used are not
well defined yet
 These types of systems are not readily available as they are very
expensive. Not only that the underlying software is highly complex and
not understood well yet
Examples of Distributed Operating System are- LOCUS, etc.

7 ) Real-time Operating System

The Real-time Operating Systems are used in the situation where we are
dealing with some real-time data. So, as soon as the data comes, the
execution of the process should be done and there should be no So,
whenever you want to process a large number of request in a very short
period of time, then you should use Real-time Operating System. For
example, the details of the temperature of the petroleum industry are very
crucial and this should be done in real-time and in a very short period of
time. A small delay can result in a life-death situation. So, this is done with
the help of Real-time Operating System. There are two types of Real-time
Operating System:

1. Hard Real-time: In this type, a small delay can lead to drastic

change. So, when the time constraint is very important then we use
the Hard Real-time.
2. Soft Real-time: Here, the time constraint is not that important but
here also we are dealing with some real-time data.

Advantages:

1. There is maximum utilization of devices and resources.

2. These systems are almost error-free.
Disadvantages:

1. The algorithms used in Real-time Operating System is very

complex.
2. Specific device drivers are used for responding to the interrupts as
soon as possible.