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What's An OS For?: - Purposes

The document discusses what an operating system is and its purposes which include allowing safe and efficient sharing of a computer among multiple tasks, making a machine easier to program, and helping to port programs between machines. It describes how an operating system manages hardware resources, provides logical abstractions for applications to interface with physical devices, and controls interactions between users and applications. The document also covers various operating system concepts such as booting, user interfaces, files and memory management, and how operating systems have evolved for networked and real-time environments.

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Tanafe
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80 views

What's An OS For?: - Purposes

The document discusses what an operating system is and its purposes which include allowing safe and efficient sharing of a computer among multiple tasks, making a machine easier to program, and helping to port programs between machines. It describes how an operating system manages hardware resources, provides logical abstractions for applications to interface with physical devices, and controls interactions between users and applications. The document also covers various operating system concepts such as booting, user interfaces, files and memory management, and how operating systems have evolved for networked and real-time environments.

Uploaded by

Tanafe
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What’s an OS for?

• Purposes:
– To allow a computer to be SHARED among
several tasks or jobs safely and efficiently.
• Sequentially in time, or
• In parallel (timesharing, or batch)
– To make the machine easier to program
– To help in porting programs between machines
What is an operating system?
• The operating system: A collection of
programs that manages and controls applications
and other software, and coordinates the various
hardware components to perform tasks requested
by the user.
– Allows use of (partial list!)
• the keyboard
• the mouse
• printing to a printer of your choice
• viewing information on a monitor
• saving or retrieving files
• formatting a disk
• running programs
• controlling any external device attached to the computer
What is an OS?
• Resource Manager of physical (HW) devices ...
• Abstract machine environment. The OS defines a
set of logical resources (objects) and operations on
those objects (an interface on the use of those
objects).
• Allows sharing of resources. Controls interactions
among different users.
• Privileged, protected software - the kernel.
Different kind relationship between OS and user
code (entry via system calls, interrupts).
What is an OS?
• Birthplace of system design principles:
e.g., Separation of Policy and Mechanism.
• Supporting role - to provide services for the
target workload, not an end product itself.
• Not the command interpreter and not a
library of utility functions that can be linked
into user programs.
HW Resources to be Managed
• CPU (computation cycles)
• Primary memory
• Secondary memory devices (disk, tapes)
• Networks - bandwidth for web transactions
• Input devices (keyboard, mouse, camera)
• Output devices (printers, display, speakers)
Working simultaneously. Shared among tasks.
||ism - concurrent demands from all directions.
Examples of Abstractions
• Threads or Processes (Fork)
• Address spaces (Allocate)
• Files (Open, Close, Read, Write)
• Messages (Send, Receive)
What is an operating system?
• BIOS (Basic Input Output System)
– Small unchangeable part of the operating
system in the ROM.
– BIOS:
• A collection of programs that have the capability of
communicating with peripheral devices.
– Keyboards, Disk drives, printers, display/monitors, and
other devices.
• BIOS most important task: Loads the operating
system into RAM and turns control of the computer
over to it.
Booting the Computer
• “Booting up”(Starting) the computer:
– The computer invokes a stripped-down version of the operating
system found in ROM. (Makes the computer recognize the
keyboard, floppy and the hard disk drives.)
– Diagnostics are run on RAM and any cards residing in the
computer.
– The programs in ROM make the computer look for the rest of the
operating system on the floppy disk.
• If it can’t find the floppy disk, it will look for rest of the operating
system on the hard disk.
– The operating system (found on the floppy or hard disk drive) is
loaded into RAM.
– The programs residing in RAM now control the computer.
Booting the Computer
• Cold boot:
– Starting up the computer by turning the power
on.
– Operating system in ROM looks for and loads
the remaining operating system into RAM.
• Warm boot:
– Reloads the operating system into RAM
without disrupting the power to the disk drives
or power supply.
Booting the Computer
• Booting with Multiple Operating Systems
– Common when you need to run programs
recognized by older operating systems.
• Example: MS DOS and Windows
– Common when you need two different
operating systems and have only one machine.
• Example: Macintosh X and Windows

– Partitioning: Dividing a hard drive so that it


appears to the computer to be two (or more)
separate disk drives.
User Interface
• User interface: The part of the operating system
that the user sees and communicates with.
– Two basic ways the operating system is presented to
the user:
• Command line - Commands are typed in using the keyboard.
– Example: >copy c:paper.txt a:*.*
• GUI (Graphical User Interface) - Icons (graphical
representation of command choices) are selected using an
input device, usually a mouse.
– Takes advantage of drag and drop.
User Interface
• Version number: The number given to a program
that is used for identification.
– Indicates the variant of the program being considered.
– Release and modification numbers give even more
specific information about the program variant.

• Why is knowing the version number of the


operating system important?
– Programs such as word processors, spreadsheets and
others are written for a particular version of the
operating system.
– They use parts of the operating system to function.
Files and File Management
• File: the name given to any program or chunk of
data that is stored on floppy, hard disk. CD ROM,
or other storage.
– Naming files:
• Early operating systems allowed 8-letter names.
• Modern operating systems allow as many as 256 letters.
– Extensions:
• A 3-letter extension is added to the file name separated by a
period.
– Helps the operating system identify the type of file.
– Example: index.htm identifies a document called index that is
made up of HTML code.
Files and File Management

• Two types of file systems:


– Flat File system: stores the files in a single list.
– Hierarchical File system organizes files in a
treelike structure or hierarchy.
• Organizes files into groupings.
– Folders: A grouping of files or other folders under a
single name.
Memory Concerns:Cache and Virtual Memory

• RAM Cache Memory: Very fast memory that is


used by the operating system to house the data and
instructions that are currently being used.
– The interaction is between ordinary RAM and a special
type of very fast and expensive RAM.
• Program and data are taken from disk and placed in RAM.
• Cache controller loads instructions and data into cache.
• CPU takes program instructions from cache RAM. (fast!)
• Data needed by the program is also taken from RAM. (fast!)
• CPU performs the instructions of the program.
• The results of the computation are placed back into cache RAM.
• Results are placed back into ordinary RAM.
• When complete, the final results are placed back on the disk.
Memory Concerns: Cache and Virtual Memory

• VRAM or Video RAM: Very fast memory


that is used by the operating system to
house video display data that allows
quicker, better video display.
– RAM isn’t fast enough to make quick changes
in the display.
– By putting the image data into this faster video
RAM, delays can be made minimal.
Memory Concerns: Cache and Virtual Memory

• Virtual Memory - addresses the problem of a


program being too big to fit into the available
RAM.
– The operating system divides the program into pieces.
– The pieces are stored on the hard disk as if it were
additional RAM memory needed by the program.
– The pieces are retrieved into RAM as needed.

– Disadvantage: This slows the system down, because


retrieval of information from the disk is time
consuming.
Operating Systems
for the Networked World
• Two categories of operating systems:
– The single CPU.
– The multiprocessor system that has many CPUs (such
as a supercomputer).

• Parallel processing (Multiprocessing):


– Programs are divided into pieces.
– Each of the pieces get processed by one of many
processors.
– Several processors or CPUs are simultaneously
computing a program.
Operating Systems
for the Networked World
• Distributive processing:
– Makes use of a network.
– Decentralizes and distributes the computing needs over
several interconnected computers.
• Operating Systems designed for networks:
– Handles all of the single-computer chores.
– Communicates with other computers in the network.
– One computer on the network can act as a shared
storage unit.
• Server: A computer that provides data and programs on
request from multiple clients.
Operating Systems
for the Networked World
• Real-time processing:
– Involves human interaction with the computer.
– Requires quick or timely return of results.
– Referred to in the engineering and manufacturing world
as Controlling processes.
• ATM: Customer wants cash now, not tomorrow! Bank wants
to know how much money you have (even if after hours)
before you are able to make a withdrawal from your account.
• Airline ticket reservation system: Travel agent needs to know
how many seats are still available. (Immediately)
Three Cutting Edge Operating Systems

• Comparing:
– Windows 2000
– Macintosh X
– Linux
• Computer Start-up Requirements
– The majority of all operating systems reside on the hard
drive of the computer.
• Operating system must be loaded into RAM.
• Time to boot up:
– Depends on how many features have been added to the operating
system.
– All three boot up in less than one minute.
Main Issues in OS
• Structure • Protection,
• Concurrency and Access control,
Synchronization Security
• Extensibility, • Reliability,
Compatibility Fault Tolerance
• Communication • Persistence, Longevity
• Sharing • Scalability,
• Naming Distribution
• Performance • Accounting - $$

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