Overview of Operating System

What is Operating System

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INTRODUCTION

An operating system is complex, so it is difficult to

give a simple universal definition. Instead, here are
some common definitions:
 An operating system is an interface between the hardware
of a computer and the user (programs or humans).
 An operating system is a program (or a set of programs)
that facilitates the execution of other programs.
 An operating system acts as a general manager supervising
the activity of each component in the computer system.
Operating system is a system software which
controls the whole function or operations of your
computer system.
 INTRODUCTION

• An OS is a program which acts as an interface between

computer system users and the computer hardware.
• The operating system is a resource manager which manages
your computer system resources.
• It provides a user-friendly environment in which a user may
easily develop and execute programs.
• Otherwise, hardware knowledge would be mandatory for
computer programming.
 Operating System (continue)

• In general, a computer system has some

resources which may be utilized to solve a
problem. They are
– Memory
– Processor(s)
– I/O
– File System
– etc.
Operating System (continue)

Mainboard
Operating System (continue)
Operating System (continue)

mainboard
Operating System (continue)

processor
Operating System (continue)

RAM
 Operating System (continue)
The OS manages these resources and
allocates them to specific programs and users.

 An OS provides services for

Processor Management
Memory Management
File Management
Device Management
Concurrency Control
 User interface: Medium for user communication.
• An Operating System provides two types of user
interface’s.
-Text based command line interpreters (CLI’s) or Character User
Interface (CUI)
The User has to type the commands on the command prompt to
get the work completed.
Ex. DOS, UNIX.
– Graphical user interface (GUI):
The User need not type any commands. He /
She just point and clicks on the desired Icon to get
the work done.
Ex. Windows (98, XP, NT, 2000. 7) etc,.

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 MS-DOS Overview

 MS-DOS is an acronym for MicroSoft Disk Operating System

 It is a CUI based operating system.

 It provides user with a command prompt (generally called as C:\) where

various command could be typed.

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 What is Command

 It is a string of characters which tells the computer what to do.

 For example, to copy a file called file.txt from the flash drive
to the hard drive, one could type

C:\> copy f:\file.txt c:\

The word "copy" is a DOS command which causes files to be

copied from one location to another

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 Entering the DOS Environment
 If the OS is DOS then the system will directly show prompt (C:\>)

 If the OS is windows one must either terminate the Windows environment, or

open a DOS shell within the Windows environment.

Ist Method: Terminating Windows Environment

Select “Restart in MS-DOS Mode” from Shut Down in Start

Menu.

IInd Method: Opening DOS Shell in Windows

Select Start>Programs>Accessories>Command Prompt (XP)

Start>Programs>Accessories>MS-DOS Prompt (98)

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 Files and Directory
Files
 A file is a collection of Records.
 It is the smallest unit of File System (Storage) in a computer.
 Any document created using computer is a file. This document could either be
a letter, any excel sheet, any image or even a database.

Directory
 A collection of files is directory (in DOS) or folder (in Windows)

 A directory/folder eases the management of related files/ documents, like the

various circulars related to personnel could be placed in a directory called
“personnel” and all the circulars related to students could be placed in a
directory called “students”.

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 Filenames in DOS?

 The filename in DOS have the following format.

<name>.<ext>

 It has two parts the name and the extension.

 The name could be of 8 characters and the extension of 3

characters.

 The filename can contain alphabets and numbers. It cannot

contain any special character other than underscore (_) and
also no spaces.
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 Filenames in DOS?
• .bat for batch files
• .exe for executable files
• .txt for text files
• .dll dynamic link library—Windows file.dll
• .com command file
• .dat data file
• .dbf database file
• .dir directory system
• .doc MS Word document
• .dos DOS file 17
 Organization of files in DOS

The DOS file system is a hierarchical file system.

Files are collected into directories, and directories may contain

both files and other directories.

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 Some DOS Commands
dir: Listing of all the directories.
C:\> dir

cls: Clears the screen.

C:\> cls

md: Make Directory.

C:\> md (directory name>

This will create a directory with the specified name.

edit: Edits a file.

C:\> edit <filename>

This will open a editor window where the contents of file can be seen. These contents
could also be edited here and on saving, the contents of file will change.

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 Some DOS Commands (Contd.)
type: Displays the content of a file.

C:\> type <filename>

This will display the contents of file on the computer. The contents of file could
only be viewed but could not be changed, as in the case of edit.

cd: Change Directory.

C:\> cd (directory name>

This will change the directory from current directory to the specified directory.

rd: Remove Directory.

C:\> rd (directory name>

If the directory is needed to be removed permanently from the computer, use
this command. For this command to be executed it is necessary that the
directory should be empty and user should be on a directory above it. 20
 Some DOS Commands (Contd.)
copy: Copies a file.

C:\> copy <source> <destination>

This will copy the file from the source location to the specified destination. The
command creates a copy of the file on the destination i.e. the file would be
found on both the location.

move: Moves a file. (like cut in window)

C:\> move <source> <destination>

This will move the file from the source location to the specified destination.
The file from the source location would be removed and would be moved to the
destination.

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 Some DOS Commands (Contd.)
ren: Renames a file.
C:\> ren <old filename> <new filename>
This will change the name (rename) of the file to a new name as
specified.

del: Deletes a file.

C:\> del <filename>
This will delete the file permanently from the system.

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 Overview of Windows

 Windows is a GUI based operating system.

 It is also developed by Microsoft Corporation, which is headed by

Mr. Bill Gates.

 Over the years the Microsoft have evolved various versions of

Windows. Win95, Win98, Win2000, Win ME, Win NT, Win XP.

 It gives user a handy environment where he doesn’t have to

remember and learn the syntaxes of various commands as is the case
in DOS.

 The user can just point and click on the Icons provided to him on the
screen. 23
 Folders and Documents

 Folders are a way to organize your documents within drives in Windows as

are the directories in DOS.

 A document is each thing that you create on a computer. A document can

be made using any type of software.

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