FUNDAMENTALS OF COMPUTER

AND
PROGRAMMING
 UNIT 5
WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEM AND ITS
ENVIRONMENT
 WHAT IS OPERATING SYSTEM?

DEFINITION:

AN OPERATING SYSTEM (OS) IS SOFTWARE THAT ACTS AS AN INTERFACE BETWEEN COMPUTER

HARDWARE AND THE USER.

EXAMPLES OF OS:
WINDOWS, LINUX, MACOS, ANDROID.

IMPORTANCE OF OS:

• MANAGES HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE RESOURCES.

• PROVIDES A USER-FRIENDLY INTERFACE FOR PERFORMING TASKS.

 INTRODUCTION TO GUI-BASED OS

GUI DEFINITION:
A GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE (GUI) ALLOWS USERS TO INTERACT WITH THE SYSTEM USING
GRAPHICS (ICONS, BUTTONS) RATHER THAN TEXT COMMANDS.

FEATURES OF A GUI:

• EASY TO USE.

• SUPPORTS MULTITASKING.

• DRAG-AND-DROP FUNCTIONALITY.

WHY WINDOWS IS POPULAR:

• SIMPLE GUI.

• BROAD SOFTWARE COMPATIBILITY.

 WINDOWS CONFIGURATION AND SETUP

WHAT IS CONFIGURATION?
ADJUSTING SYSTEM SETTINGS TO OPTIMIZE PERFORMANCE AND USABILITY.

BASIC CONFIGURATION OPTIONS IN WINDOWS:

• CONTROL PANEL/SETTINGS: CHANGE DISPLAY, SOUND, USER ACCOUNTS.

• DEVICE MANAGER: MANAGE HARDWARE DEVICES.

• POWER OPTIONS: CUSTOMIZE ENERGY USAGE.

SETUP TASKS:

• INSTALLING SOFTWARE.

• ADDING DEVICES LIKE PRINTERS AND SCANNERS.

 WINDOWS SERVICES

WHAT ARE SERVICES?

BACKGROUND PROCESSES THAT SUPPORT VARIOUS FUNCTIONALITIES OF THE OS.
EXAMPLES OF SERVICES IN WINDOWS:
• PRINT SPOOLER: MANAGES PRINT TASKS. (ALLOWS USERS TO QUEUE MULTIPLE PRINT TASKS WITHOUT WAITING
FOR ONE TO FINISH BEFORE STARTING THE NEXT).
• WINDOWS UPDATE: KEEPS THE SYSTEM UPDATED (KEEPS THE OPERATING SYSTEM UPDATED WITH THE LATEST
SECURITY PATCHES, FEATURES, AND BUG FIXES).
• NETWORK SERVICES: MANAGES INTERNET CONNECTIVITY (HANDLES INTERNET AND NETWORK-RELATED
TASKS, SUCH AS MANAGING WI-FI, ETHERNET CONNECTIONS, AND DOMAIN NAME RESOLUTION).
• MANAGING SERVICES:
USE TASK MANAGER OR SERVICES APP TO MONITOR AND MANAGE THEM.
• RIGHT-CLICK ON THE TASKBAR AND SELECT TASK MANAGER.
• GO TO THE SERVICES TAB.
• VIEW THE LIST OF RUNNING SERVICES, THEIR STATUS, AND THE PROCESS ID (PID).
• START OR STOP A SERVICE BY RIGHT-CLICKING ON IT.
 NETWORK CONFIGURATION IN WINDOWS

WHY CONFIGURE NETWORK?

TO CONNECT TO THE INTERNET OR A LOCAL NETWORK EFFICIENTLY.
STEPS TO CONFIGURE NETWORK IN WINDOWS:
• OPEN SETTINGS → NETWORK & INTERNET.
• CHOOSE CONNECTION TYPE: WI-FI, ETHERNET.
• SET IP ADDRESS MANUALLY OR USE AUTOMATIC CONFIGURATION.
• TEST THE CONNECTION.
TROUBLESHOOTING TOOLS:
• NETWORK TROUBLESHOOTER.
• COMMAND PROMPT (PING, IPCONFIG COMMANDS).
 UNIT 6
LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM AND ITS
ENVIRONMENT
 WHAT IS LINUX?

DEFINITION:
LINUX IS A FREE AND OPEN-SOURCE OPERATING SYSTEM BASED ON THE UNIX STANDARD. IT IS WIDELY USED IN
VARIOUS FIELDS, FROM PERSONAL COMPUTING TO ENTERPRISE SERVERS.
FEATURES:
• MULTI-USER AND MULTI-TASKING.
• PORTABILITY ACROSS HARDWARE PLATFORMS.
• STRONG COMMUNITY SUPPORT.
• STABILITY AND PERFORMANCE.
• VARIETY OF DISTRIBUTIONS LIKE UBUNTU, FEDORA, DEBIAN, ETC.
WHY OPEN SOURCE MATTERS?
• ENCOURAGES INNOVATION.
• TRANSPARENT CODEBASE.
• FREE TO USE AND MODIFY.
 IMPORTANCE OF UNIX-BASED OS

• FOUNDATION OF MODERN SYSTEMS: MANY MODERN OPERATING SYSTEMS, INCLUDING LINUX AND
MACOS, ARE DERIVED FROM UNIX PRINCIPLES.

• RELIABILITY: UNIX-BASED SYSTEMS ARE KNOWN FOR THEIR ROBUSTNESS AND EFFICIENCY IN
HANDLING MULTI-USER AND MULTITASKING ENVIRONMENTS.

• USE CASES:
• INTERNET SERVERS.
• SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH.
• EMBEDDED SYSTEMS (E.G., ROUTERS, IOT DEVICES).
 LINUX ENVIRONMENT OVERVIEW

CORE COMPONENTS:

• KERNEL: MANAGES HARDWARE RESOURCES AND SYSTEM CALLS.

• SHELL: COMMAND-LINE INTERFACE FOR USER INTERACTION.

• FILE SYSTEM: ORGANIZES AND STORES DATA.

COMMON SHELLS: BASH, ZSH, FISH.

• LINUX DISTRIBUTIONS: TAILORED TO DIFFERENT NEEDS (E.G., UBUNTU FOR EASE OF USE, KALI
LINUX FOR SECURITY).

• FILE PERMISSIONS: CONTROLS ACCESS (READ, WRITE, EXECUTE).

 LINUX ENVIRONMENT OVERVIEW

1. KERNEL
• DEFINITION:
THE KERNEL IS THE CORE PART OF THE LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM THAT ACTS AS A BRIDGE BETWEEN HARDWARE
AND SOFTWARE.
• FUNCTIONS:
• RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: ALLOCATES CPU TIME, MEMORY, AND I/O RESOURCES TO PROCESSES.
• HARDWARE INTERACTION: COMMUNICATES WITH HARDWARE THROUGH DRIVERS.
• SYSTEM CALLS: PROVIDES AN INTERFACE FOR APPLICATIONS TO REQUEST SERVICES FROM THE HARDWARE (E.G.,
READING FILES, ACCESSING NETWORK).

• KEY FEATURES:
• HIGHLY SECURE AND STABLE.
• SUPPORTS MULTITASKING AND MULTI-USER ENVIRONMENTS.

• ANALOGY:
THINK OF THE KERNEL AS THE BRAIN OF THE OPERATING SYSTEM, MAKING DECISIONS ABOUT HOW RESOURCES
ARE USED.
 LINUX ENVIRONMENT OVERVIEW
2. SHELL

• DEFINITION:
THE SHELL IS A COMMAND-LINE INTERFACE (CLI) THAT ALLOWS USERS TO INTERACT WITH THE OPERATING SYSTEM BY TYPING
COMMANDS.

• FUNCTIONS:
• ACCEPTS USER INPUT AND TRANSLATES IT INTO ACTIONS THE KERNEL CAN PERFORM.
• ENABLES AUTOMATION THROUGH SHELL SCRIPTS.

• TYPES OF SHELLS IN LINUX:

• BASH (BOURNE AGAIN SHELL): THE DEFAULT SHELL IN MANY LINUX DISTRIBUTIONS, KNOWN FOR ITS SIMPLICITY AND
SCRIPTING CAPABILITIES.
• ZSH (Z SHELL): ENHANCED WITH FEATURES LIKE AUTO-COMPLETION, BETTER SCRIPTING, AND CUSTOMIZATION.
• FISH (FRIENDLY INTERACTIVE SHELL): FOCUSES ON USER-FRIENDLINESS WITH FEATURES LIKE SYNTAX HIGHLIGHTING.

• EXAMPLE COMMANDS:
• LS: LIST FILES IN A DIRECTORY.
• CD: CHANGE DIRECTORY.
• ECHO: DISPLAY MESSAGES OR VARIABLES.
 LINUX ENVIRONMENT OVERVIEW

3. FILE SYSTEM
• DEFINITION:
THE FILE SYSTEM IS THE STRUCTURE USED TO STORE AND ORGANIZE DATA ON A STORAGE
DEVICE (LIKE A HARD DISK OR SSD).
• LINUX FILE SYSTEM STRUCTURE:
• ORGANIZED IN A HIERARCHICAL FORMAT, STARTING FROM THE ROOT DIRECTORY /.
• COMMON DIRECTORIES:
• /BIN: ESSENTIAL BINARIES.
• /HOME: USER-SPECIFIC FILES AND FOLDERS.
• /ETC: CONFIGURATION FILES.
• /VAR: VARIABLE DATA LIKE LOGS.

• FEATURES OF LINUX FILE SYSTEM:

• SUPPORTS PERMISSIONS AND OWNERSHIP.
• JOURNALING ENSURES DATA INTEGRITY DURING POWER FAILURES OR CRASHES.
 SETTING UP LINUX

• LINUX DISTRIBUTIONS: CHOOSE BASED ON USER NEED:

• UBUNTU: BEGINNER-FRIENDLY.
• CENTOS/RED HAT: ENTERPRISE USE.
• ARCH LINUX: ADVANCED USERS.

• INSTALLATION STEPS:
• DOWNLOAD ISO.
• CREATE BOOTABLE USB/DVD (TO INSTALL LINUX, YOU NEED TO PREPARE A USB DRIVE OR DVD WITH THE
LINUX OS SO THE COMPUTER CAN USE IT DURING INSTALLATION)
• CONFIGURE BIOS/UEFI (TO INSTALL LINUX, YOU NEED TO TELL YOUR COMPUTER TO START ("BOOT") FROM
YOUR USB DRIVE (OR DVD) INSTEAD OF THE REGULAR HARD DRIVE).
• PARTITION DISKS.
• INSTALL AND SET UP USER ACCOUNTS.

• POST-INSTALLATION TASKS:
• INSTALL UPDATES (SUDO APT UPDATE && SUDO APT UPGRADE).
• CONFIGURE ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE.
 SERVICES IN LINUX

• SYSTEM SERVICES: EXAMPLES: CRON (TASK SCHEDULER), SSH (REMOTE ACCESS).

• SERVICE MANAGEMENT COMMANDS:

• START: SUDO SYSTEMCTL START <SERVICE>
• STOP: SUDO SYSTEMCTL STOP <SERVICE>
• ENABLE AT BOOT: SUDO SYSTEMCTL ENABLE <SERVICE>

• MONITORING SERVICES:
• CHECK STATUS: SUDO SYSTEMCTL STATUS <SERVICE>
 SCRIPTING IN LINUX

• PURPOSE:
• AUTOMATE REPETITIVE TASKS.
• SIMPLIFY SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION.

• KEY CONCEPTS:
• VARIABLES, LOOPS (FOR, WHILE), CONDITIONALS (IF, ELSE).

• EXAMPLE SCRIPT:
• #!/BIN/BASH
• ECHO "SYSTEM INFORMATION"
• ECHO "CURRENT USER: $(WHOAMI)"
• ECHO "UPTIME: $(UPTIME)"
• ADVANCED SCRIPTING:
• FILE MANIPULATION.
• NETWORK DIAGNOSTICS.
 NETWORK CONFIGURATION

• KEY TOOLS:
• IFCONFIG, IP, PING, NETSTAT, SS.

• SETTING IP ADDRESS:
• STATIC: CONFIGURE /ETC/NETWORK/INTERFACES.
• DYNAMIC: USE DHCP.

• CONFIGURING SSH:
• INSTALL: SUDO APT INSTALL OPENSSH-SERVER.
• START SERVICE: SUDO SYSTEMCTL START SSH.
• CONNECT: SSH USER@IP_ADDRESS.

• PRACTICAL SCENARIO:
• SHARE FILES VIA FTP OR CONFIGURE A BASIC WEB SERVER FOR LOCAL ACCESS.