Computer Science (H046, H446)

Operating system
Mrs Janarthanan
Please note that you may see slight differences between
this paper and the original.
Duration: Not set
Candidates answer on the Question paper.

OCR supplied materials:

Additional resources may be supplied with this paper.

Other materials required:

• Pencil
• Ruler (cm/mm)

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
• Write your name, centre number and candidate number in the boxes above. Please write clearly and in capital letters.
• Use black ink. HB pencil may be used for graphs and diagrams only.
• Answer all the questions, unless your teacher tells you otherwise.
• Read each question carefully. Make sure you know what you have to do before starting your answer.
• Where space is provided below the question, please write your answer there.
• You may use additional paper, or a specific Answer sheet if one is provided, but you must clearly show your candidate
number, centre number and question number(s).

INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES

• The quality of written communication is assessed in questions marked with either a pencil or an asterisk. In History and
Geography a Quality of extended response question is marked with an asterisk, while a pencil is used for questions in
which Spelling, punctuation and grammar and the use of specialist terminology is assessed.
• The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question.
• The total number of marks for this paper is 32.
• The total number of marks may take into account some 'either/or' question choices.

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 1 A secondary school is upgrading their computers. They decide to install "thin client" computers. A thin
client computer is when users access their computer in the usual way with a keyboard, mouse and
monitor. However, all processing takes place on the virtual machine on a server rather than the
computer at their desk.

(i) Describe one advantage of using virtual machines in this way.

[2]

(ii) Describe one disadvantage of using virtual machines in this way.

[2]

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 2(a) Julie is a university student. She is considering buying a laptop to help with her studies both at home
and university. Her friend has told her she will need to choose an operating system to run on her
laptop.

Two functions of an operating system are memory management and scheduling.

State two other functions of an operating system.

[2]
(b) The operating system Julie is considering makes use of paging to manage the laptop’s memory.

Explain one benefit of using paging for this purpose.

[2]

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 (c) Julie’s friend has told her she should buy a laptop with a solid-state drive that uses flash technology
rather than a magnetic hard drive.

Explain two reasons why Julie would use flash technology to store her files.

[4]

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 3 Open source software has grown in popularity over the last few decades.

Linux is a popular open source operating system and Windows is a popular closed source operating
system.

Give three functions of an operating system.

[3]

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 4 The electricity company decides to trial smart meters. These can be connected to a computer so the
user can download and analyse records of their electricity usage.

(i) In order to be able to access all the functionality of the meter, the computer needs a device driver.
Describe what is meant by the term ‘device driver’.

[2]

(ii) In order to transfer data, the meter and computer need an established set of rules for how they will
communicate.

State the term used for a set of rules for communication between two devices.

[1]

(iii) Once downloaded, the user can analyse the data.

State the type of application that the user might use to analyse the data once downloaded.

[1]

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 5(a) Desktop operating systems are an essential part of modern personal computer systems (i.e. desktops
and laptops).

Describe how a desktop operating system is loaded when a personal computer is first switched on.

[2]

(b) Operating systems often come with utilities.

State a utility that might be supplied with a desktop operating system to help with system
maintenance.

[1]

6 A company produces digital photo frames (i.e. photo frames that display digital photographs).

Identify the type of operating system that the photo frame is most likely to use.

Operating system Tick one

Distributed
Embedded
Multi-user
[1]

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 7 Memory management in a computer for main memory can use either paging or segmentation.

(i) Explain what is meant by ‘paging’.

[2]

(ii) Explain what is meant by ‘segmentation’.

[2]

(iii) State two similarities between paging and segmentation.

[2]

8 Explain why memory management is necessary.

[3]

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 END OF QUESTION PAPER

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