OPERATING SYSTEM

Operating systems
 An operating system (OS) is a program that acts as an
interface between the system hardware and the user.
Moreover, it handles all the interactions between the
software and the hardware
Examples
 UNIX
 Linux
 BLACKBERRY OS
 CHROME OS
 ANDROID
 iOS
Server OS
FUNCTIONS OF OS
User interface. The user interacts with the computer system
through the operating system. Hence OS act as an interface
between the user and the computer hardware.
 GUI lets a user interact with the device/system with the

help of graphical elements, like windows, menus, icons, etc.

The CLI, on the other hand, lets a user interact with their
device/system with the help of various commands.

Booting the computer
 The process of starting or restarting the computer is known as booting. If the computer is switched
off completely and if turned on then it is called cold booting. Warm booting is a process of using the
operating system to restart the computer
 When your computer is first turned on, it uses a special piece of hardware/software called the BIOS
(Basic Input Output System).
 The BIOS is generally stored on a ROM (Read Only Memory) microprocessor chip stored on your
computers motherboard.
 This chip has instructions on it to tell the computer to perform a Power On Self Test (POST). The
POST tests for the existence of various devices on your computer and ensures that they are
working properly.
 Once the POST has finished, and assuming that everything to this point is working correctly, the
BIOS looks for a small program called a Bootstrap Loader stored on a floppy disk, a hard disk or
even on a ‘bootable’ Compact Disk (CD) . The Bootstrap Loader program has basically one function:
to load other parts of the operating system into the computer’s memory so that it can be used. The
bootstrap program must locate the operating-system kernel and load it into memory. Once the
kernel is loaded and executing, it can start providing services to the system and its
users.Eventually the Bootstrap Loader gives control of the computer to the rest of the operating
system
Error detection
 The operating system can also diagnose problems with
hardware devices or software programs. Although the
operating system may not be able to fix the problems, it will
certainly flag the problem to the end-user so that a solution
can be investigated.
File management:
 An operating system contains file management programs
that control the creation, deletion, and access of files of
data and programs.
 File man­agement also involves keeping track of the physical

location of files on magnetic disks and other secondary

storage devices. Operating systems maintain directo­ries of
information about the location and characteristics of files
stored on a com­puter system's secondary storage devices
Resource Management

 An operating system uses a variety of resource manage­

ment programs to manage the hardware and networking
resources of a computer system, including its CPU, memory,
secondary storage devices, telecommunications processors,
and input/output peripherals.
Processor Management

 The OS manages the order in which processes have access

to the processor, and how much processing time that each
process must stay in the multiprogramming environment.
This is called process scheduling
Task management
 Operating system manages the accomplishment of the
computing tasks of end users.
 They give each task a slice of a CPU's time and interrupt the
CPU operations to substitute other tasks.
 Task management may involve a multitasking capability where
several computing tasks can occur at the same time as follows:
 Multitasking—executing more than one program concurrently:
Earlier microcomputers could do only single-tasking.
Multitasking is the execution of two or more programs by one
user concurrently on the same computer with one central
processor.
Memory management
 An Operating System does the following activities for
memory management
 Allocates the memory when a process requests it to do so
 Keeps tracks of primary memory, i.e., what part of it are in

use by whom, what part are not in use.

 Allocate, deallocate space for processes
 Swap processes
 In multiprogramming, the OS decides which process will get

memory when and how much.

Device management
 Controls how input and output devices, like keyboards,
printers, and USB ports, are used
Security

 The operating system uses a password protection

mechanism to protect user data and programs
Other functions of OS
 Formatting or initializing: Formatting or initializing a disk
is the process of preparing that disk so that it can store data
or programs.
 Loading and running of the application software’s
Choice of an operating system

 What application software runs on the operating system?

 What kind of hardware does the operating system run on?
 How quickly does the operating system run?
 How easy is the operating system to learn and use?
 Is the operating system designed for single users or for multiple
users on networks?
 Does the operating system have strong multitasking capabilities?
 How reliable is the operating system?
 What about the cost to acquire and install?
 What technical support and assistance is required to install and
run it? Where is this support available?
EVOLUTION OF OPERATING SYSTEM
EVOLUTION OF OS
 First Generation (Serial Processing)
 Time Period: The 1940s and 1950s marked the start of
electronic computers. They were the new trend, replacing old
mechanical
 No Operating System: Imagine a computer without an
operating system! That’s how they were. They just did tasks
one by one.
 The programmer would write a program and submit it to the
operator who would run it.
 Programs were written on punch card
 The programmer would then come for the output later on.
EVOLUTION OF OS
 Second Generation (Batch System)
 Due to the inefficiencies of serial processing, the need for a more
optimized approach became evident. This led to the development of a
batch-processing system. This era (1950-60) is called the second
generation of operating systems.
 In a batch system, similar tasks (or jobs) are grouped into batches and
then processed sequentially without any user interaction.
 The goal was to automate the processing of jobs and minimize the
setup time.
 A scripting language, Job Control Language (JCL), was introduced to
manage these batches.
 It allows operators to specify the sequence of jobs to be executed.
1.2 History of Operating Systems
 Third generation: Multiprogramming:The most important
aspect of job scheduling is the ability to multiprogramm.
 Multiprogramming is a type of multitasking that allows

multiple programs to run simultaneously on a single CPU.

 The O/S picks and executes any of the jobs in memory
 Eventually, a job will wait for some operation such as I/O
 In multiprogramming, when this happens the O/S, simply

switches to and executes another job.  Making this

decision is known as CPU scheduling
Third generation: multiprogramming
 Multiple jobs in memory
◦ Protected from one another
Job 3  Operating system protected
from each job as well
Job 2  Resources (time, hardware)
Memory split between jobs
partitions Job 1  Still not interactive
◦ User submits job
◦ Computer runs it
Operating
◦ User gets results minutes (hours,
system days) later

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EVOLUTION OF OS
 Fourth Generation (Time-Sharing Operating System:1960-
1970)
 Time-sharing, or multitasking is a logical extension of
multiprogramming.
 In time-sharing, multiple jobs, are executed by the CPU switching
between so frequently that the users may not realize
 Time-sharing systems were developed to provide interactive use of
the computer system
 It allows many users to share the computer simultaneously.
 As the system switches rapidly from one user to the other, the user
is given the impression that they have their own computer.
 The OS allocates a small time slice or quantum to each task.
EVOLUTION OF OS
 Networked Systems – (1980s to 1990s)
 At 1980s,the craze of computer networks at it’s peak .A special type of Operating Systems
needed to manage the network communication . The OS like Novell NetWare and Windows
NT were developed to manage network communication which provide users facility to
work in collaborative environment and made file sharing and remote access very easy.
 Mobile Operating Systems – (Late 1990s to Early 2000s)
 Invention of smartphones create a big revolution in software industry, To handle the
operation of smartphones , a special type of operating systems were developed. Some of
them are : iOS and Android etc. These operating systems were optimized with the time
and became more powerful.
 AI Integration – (2010s to ongoing)
 With the growth of time, Artificial intelligence came into picture.Operating system
integrates features of AI technology like Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa and became
more powerful and efficient in many way. These AI features with operating system create
a entire new feature like voice commands, predictive text, and personalized
recommendations.
Types of OS
Number of users

• Single-user OS
• Allows one user to access the system at a time, and is often
used on laptops and personal computers
• Multi-user OS
• Allows multiple users to access the system simultaneously,
and is often used on servers and mainframes
Number of tasks

•Single-tasking OS
Can only execute one program at a time, and is often used in embedded or
real-time systems
•Multi-tasking OS
Can run multiple programs at the same time, and is commonly used in
general-purpose systems