Chapter 1: Introduction

Operating System Concepts – 10h Edition Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne ©2018
 Chapter 1: Introduction
 What Operating Systems Do
 Computer-System Organization
 Computer-System Architecture
 Operating-System Structure
 Operating-System Operations
 Process Management
 Memory Management
 Storage Management
 Protection and Security
 Kernel Data Structures
 Computing Environments
 Open-Source Operating Systems

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 Objectives

 To describe the basic organization of computer

systems
 To provide a grand tour of the major
components of operating systems
 To give an overview of the many types of
computing environments
 To explore several open-source operating
systems

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 What is an Operating System?

 A program that acts as an intermediary between a

user of a computer and the computer hardware
 Operating system goals:
 Execute user programs and make solving user
problems easier
 Make the computer system convenient to use
 Use the computer hardware in an efficient
manner

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 Computer System Structure
 Computer system can be divided into four
components:
 Hardware – provides basic computing resources
 CPU, memory, I/O devices
 Operating system
 Controls and coordinates use of hardware
among various applications and users
 Application programs – define the ways in which
the system resources are used to solve the
computing problems of the users
 Word processors, compilers, web browsers,
database systems, video games
 Users
 People, machines, other computers

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 Four Components of a Computer System

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 What Operating Systems Do

 Depends on the point of view

 Users want convenience, ease of use and good
performance
 Don’t care about resource utilization
 But shared computer such as mainframe or
minicomputer must keep all users happy
 Users of dedicate systems such as workstations
have dedicated resources but frequently use shared
resources from servers
 Handheld computers are resource poor, optimized
for usability and battery life
 Some computers have little or no user interface,
such as embedded computers in devices and
automobiles

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 Operating System Definition

 OS is a resource allocator
 Manages all resources
 Decides between conflicting requests for
efficient and fair resource use
 OS is a control program
 Controls execution of programs to prevent
errors and improper use of the computer

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 Operating System Definition (Cont.)

 No universally accepted definition

 “Everything a vendor ships when you order an
operating system” is a good approximation
 But varies wildly
 “The one program running at all times on the
computer” is the kernel.
 Everything else is either
 a system program (ships with the operating
system) , or
 an application program.

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 Computer Startup

 bootstrap program is loaded at power-up or

reboot
 Typically stored in ROM or EPROM,
generally known as firmware
 Initializes all aspects of system
 Loads operating system kernel and starts
execution

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 Computer System Organization
 Computer-system operation
 One or more CPUs, device controllers connect
through common bus providing access to shared
memory
 Concurrent execution of CPUs and devices
competing for memory cycles

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 Computer-System Operation

 I/O devices and the CPU can execute

concurrently
 Each device controller is in charge of a particular
device type
 Each device controller has a local buffer
 CPU moves data from/to main memory to/from
local buffers
 I/O is from the device to local buffer of controller
 Device controller informs CPU that it has finished
its operation by causing an interrupt

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 Common Functions of Interrupts

 Interrupt transfers control to the interrupt

service routine generally, through the interrupt
vector, which contains the addresses of all the
service routines
 Interrupt architecture must save the address of
the interrupted instruction
 A trap or exception is a software-generated
interrupt caused either by an error or a user
request
 An operating system is interrupt driven

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 Interrupt Handling

 The operating system preserves the state of the

CPU by storing registers and the program
counter
 Determines which type of interrupt has
occurred:
 polling
 vectored interrupt system
 Separate segments of code determine what
action should be taken for each type of interrupt

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 Interrupt Timeline

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 I/O Structure
 After I/O starts, control returns to user program
only upon I/O completion
 Wait instruction idles the CPU until the next
interrupt
 Wait loop (contention for memory access)
 At most one I/O request is outstanding at a
time, no simultaneous I/O processing
 After I/O starts, control returns to user program
without waiting for I/O completion
 System call – request to the OS 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 I/O device table to determine
device status and to modify table entry to
include interrupt

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 Storage Definitions and Notation Review
The basic unit of computer storage is the bit. A bit can contain one of two
values, 0 and 1. All other storage in a computer is based on collections of bits.
Given enough bits, it is amazing how many things a computer can represent:
numbers, letters, images, movies, sounds, documents, and programs, to name
a few. A byte is 8 bits, and on most computers it is the smallest convenient
chunk of storage. For example, most computers don’t have an instruction to
move a bit but do have one to move a byte. A less common term is word,
which is a given computer architecture’s native unit of data. A word is made up
of one or more bytes. For example, a computer that has 64-bit registers and
64-bit memory addressing typically has 64-bit (8-byte) words. A computer
executes many operations in its native word size rather than a byte at a time.

Computer storage, along with most computer throughput, is generally measured

and manipulated in bytes and collections of bytes.
A kilobyte, or KB, is 1,024 bytes
a megabyte, or MB, is 1,0242 bytes
a gigabyte, or GB, is 1,0243 bytes
a terabyte, or TB, is 1,0244 bytes
a petabyte, or PB, is 1,0245 bytes

Computer manufacturers often round off these numbers and say that a
megabyte is 1 million bytes and a gigabyte is 1 billion bytes. Networking
measurements are an exception to this general rule; they are given in bits
(because networks move data a bit at a time).

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 Storage Structure
 Main memory – only large storage media that the CPU
can access directly
 Random access
 Typically volatile
 Secondary storage – extension of main memory that
provides large nonvolatile storage capacity
 Hard disks – rigid metal or glass platters covered with
magnetic recording material
 Disk surface is logically divided into tracks, which are
subdivided into sectors
 The disk controller determines the logical interaction
between the device and the computer
 Solid-state disks – faster than hard disks, nonvolatile
 Various technologies
 Becoming more popular

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 Storage Hierarchy

 Storage systems organized in hierarchy

 Speed
 Cost
 Volatility
 Caching – copying information into faster
storage system; main memory can be viewed
as a cache for secondary storage
 Device Driver for each device controller to
manage I/O
 Provides uniform interface between
controller and kernel

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 Storage-Device Hierarchy

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 Caching

 Important principle, performed at many levels in

a computer (in hardware, operating system,
software)
 Information in use copied from slower to faster
storage temporarily
 Faster storage (cache) checked first to
determine if information is there
 If it is, information used directly from the
cache (fast)
 If not, data copied to cache and used there
 Cache smaller than storage being cached
 Cache management important design
problem
 Cache size and replacement policy

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 Direct Memory Access Structure

 Used for high-speed I/O devices able to transmit

information at close to memory speeds
 Device controller transfers blocks of data from buffer
storage directly to main memory without CPU
intervention
 Only one interrupt is generated per block, rather than
the one interrupt per byte

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 How a Modern Computer Works

A von Neumann architecture

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