1.

0 INTRODUCTION OPERATING SYSTEMS

MEANING AND IMPORTANCE OF OPERATING SYSTEMS

What is an Operating System?

 A program that acts as an intermediary between a user of a computer and the computer
hardware
 An operating system is a program that acts as an interface between the user and the
computer hardware and controls the execution of all kinds of programs.

FOLLOWING ARE SOME OF IMPORTANT FUNCTIONS OF AN OPERATING

SYSTEM.

1) Memory Management
2) Processor Management
3) Device Management

1
 4) File Management
5) Security
6) Control over system performance
7) Job accounting
8) Error detecting aids
9) Coordination between other software and users

1. MEMORY MANAGEMENT
Memory management refers to management of Primary Memory or Main Memory. Main
memory is a large array of words or bytes where each word or byte has its own address.
Main memory provides a fast storage that can be accessed directly by the CPU. For a program to
be executed, it must in the main memory. An Operating System does the following activities for
memory management:

 Keeps tracks of primary memory, i.e., what part of it are in use by whom, what part are
not in use.
 In multiprogramming, the OS decides which process will get memory when and how
much.
 Allocates the memory when a process requests it to do so.
 De-allocates the memory when a process no longer needs it or has been terminated.
2. PROCESS MANAGEMENT
In multiprogramming environment, the OS decides which process gets the processor when and
for how much time. This function is called process scheduling. An Operating System does the
following activities for processor management:
 Keeps tracks of processor and status of process. The program responsible for this task is
known as traffic controller.
 Allocates the processor (CPU) to a process.
 De-allocates processor when a process is no longer required.
3. DEVICE MANAGEMENT

2
An Operating System manages device communication via their respective drivers. It does the
following activities for device management:
 Keeps tracks of all devices. The program responsible for this task is known as the
 I/O controller.
 Decides which process gets the device when and for how much time.
 Allocates the device in the most efficient way.
 De-allocates devices.
4. File Management
A file system is normally organized into directories/folder for easy navigation and usage. These
directories may contain files and other directions.
An Operating System does the following activities for file management:
 Keeps track of information, location, uses, status etc. The collective facilities are often
known as file system.
 Decides who gets the resources.
 Allocates the resources.
 De-allocates the resources.
Other Important Activities
Following are some of the important activities that an Operating System performs:
5. SECURITY -- By means of password and similar other techniques, it prevents unauthorized
access to programs and data.
6. CONTROL OVER SYSTEM PERFORMANCE -- Recording delays between request for
a service and response from the system.
7. JOB ACCOUNTING -- Keeping track of time and resources used by various jobs and users.
8. ERROR DETECTING AIDS -- Production of dumps, traces, error messages, and other
debugging and error detecting aids.
9. COORDINATION BETWEEN OTHER SOFTWARE AND USERS -- Coordination and
assignment of compilers, interpreters, assemblers and other software to the various users of
the computer systems.

THE HISTORY OF OPERATING SYSTEMS

3
GENERATIONS OF OPERATING SYSTEMS

Early computing systems had no operating system. Users had complete access to the machine
language. They hand-coded all instructions. (1940s we had no operating system)

a) The first generation (1950s)

The operating systems of the 1950s were designed to smooth the transition between jobs. Before
the systems were developed, a great deal of time was lost between the completion of one job and
the initiation of the next.

 This was the beginning of batch processing systems in which jobs were gathered in
groups or batches.

b) The second generation (early 1960s)

The second generation of operating systems was characterized by the development of;

 Shared systems with multiprogramming and

 Beginning of multiprocessing.
 Device independence began to appear.
 Real-time systems emerged

c) The third generation (Mid-1960s to Mid-1970s)

The third generation of operating systems effectively began with the introduction of the IBM
system/360 family of computers in 1964.

Third generation operating systems were multimode systems. Some of them simultaneously
supported the following

 Batch processing
 Time sharing
 Real-time processing
 Multiprocessing. They were large and expensive.

d) The fourth generation (Mid-1970s to present)

Fourth generation systems are the current state of the art.

4
  They support Networking
 User friendly- menu-driven systems that guide the user through various options expressed
in simple English.
 The concept of virtual machines has become widely used.
 Database systems have gained central importance.
 The concept of distributed data processing has become firmly entrenched.

DEFINITION OF THE OPERATING SYSTEMS TERMINOLOGY’S

1. Virtual Machine
A Virtual Machine is a software that creates a virtualized environment between the computer
platform and the end user in which the end user can operate software.
2. System call
It is the interface between the operating system and its application programs or are built in
instructions that requests services from the operating system. They are called calls because the
program has to call on the operating system to provide some information or services.
A system call is request in a Unix-like operating system made via a software interrupt by an
active process for a service performed by a kernel
3. Process
A process is basically a program in execution.
4. File
A file is a named collection of related information that is recorded on secondary storage
5. Shell
In computing, a shell is a user interface for access to an operating system's services
6. Kernel
Part of the operating system that remain in the main storage permanently during core functions.
It is the core of the operating system that is responsible for managing and controlling the
computer resources.
7. Spooling -Spooling an acronym which stand for Simultaneous Peripheral Operation online.
Whereas buffering is not an acronym. Spooling is more efficient than buffering, as spooling
can overlap processing two jobs at a time. Buffering use limited area in main memory
while Spooling uses the disk as a huge buffer.

5
Spooling –
Spooling stands for Simultaneous peripheral operation online. A spool is a similar to
buffer as it holds the jobs for a device till the device is ready to accept the job. It
considers disk as a huge buffer which can store as many jobs for the device till the
output devices are ready to accept them.
Buffering –
he main memory has an area called buffer that is used to store or hold the data
temporarily that is being transmitted either between two devices or between a device or
an application. Buffering is an act of storing data temporarily in the buffer. It helps in
matching the speed of the data stream between the sender and receiver. If speed of the
sender’s transmission is slower than receiver, then a buffer is created in main memory
of the receiver, and it accumulates the bytes received from the sender and vice versa.
The basic difference between Spooling and Buffering is that Spooling overlaps the
input/output of one job with the execution of another job while the buffering overlaps
input/output of one job with the execution of the same job.

8. Semaphore - Semaphore is simply a variable. This variable is used to solve the critical
section problem and to achieve process synchronization in the multiprocessing environment.
The two most common kinds of semaphores are counting semaphores and
binary semaphores.
9. The main function of the dispatcher (the portion of the process scheduler) is assigning
ready process to the CPU. The key difference between scheduler and dispatcher is that
the scheduler selects a process out of several processes to be executed while
the dispatcher allocates the CPU for the selected process by the scheduler.
10.  Firmware - is data that is stored on a computer or other hardware device's ROM (read-only
memory) that provides instruction on how that device should operate.

11. Wild card - A special symbol that stands for one or more characters. Many operating
systems and applications support wildcards for identifying files and directories. This enables
you to select multiple files with a single specification. For example, in DOS and Windows,
the asterisk(*) is a wild card that stands for any combination of letters. The file specification
m*
therefore, refers to all files that begin with m. Similarly, the specification
m*.doc
refers to all files that start with m and end with.doc.

6
Question:What is the difference between a keyword search using the ‘*‘ (asterisk)
versus a keyword search using the ‘%‘ (percent)? Both work in the catalog, but return
different sets. Why?

Answer: A wildcard is a character (*,?,%,.) that can be used to represent one or more
characters in a word. Two of the wildcard characters that can be used in Koha
searches are the asterisk (‘*‘) and the percent sign (‘%‘). However, these two
characters act differently when used in searching.

The ‘*‘ is going to force a more exact search of the first few characters you enter prior
to the ‘*‘. The asterisk will allow for an infinite number of characters in the search as
long as the first few characters designated by your search remain the same. For
example, searching for authors using the term, Smi*, will return a list that may
include Smith, Smithers, Smithfield, Smiley, etc depending on the authors in your
database.

The ‘%‘ will treat the words you enter in the terms of “is like“. So a search of Smi%
will search for words like Smi. This results in a much more varied results list. For
example, a search on Smi% will return a list containing Smothers, Smith, Smelley,
Smithfield and many others depending on what is your database.

The bottom line in searching with wildcards: ‘*‘ is more exact while ‘%‘ searches for
like terms.

OPERATING SYSTEMS STRUCTURE

The structure of an operating system is dictated by the model employed in building them.an
operating system is broad framework that unifies the many features and services the operating
system provides and tasks it performs.
The operating system are broadly classified into three categories based on their structuring
mechanisms as follows
1. Monolithic operating system
2. Layered operating system
3. Client-server or microkernel operating system.

7
1) MONOLITHIC OPERATING SYSTEM
A monolithic kernel is an operating system architecture where the entire operating system is
working in kernel space and is alone in supervisor mode. Operating system runs in a privileged
processor mode with access to system data and to the hardware; applications run in non-
privileged mode with a limited set of interfaces available and with limited access to system data.

Properties of Monolithic Kernels

 OS is all in one place
 Applications use a well-defined system call interface to interact with kernel

Examples: Unix, Windows NT/XP, Linux, BSD, OS/161

Advantages?
Good performance, well understood, easy for kernel developers, high level of protection between
applications
Disadvantages?

8
No protection between kernel components, not (safely, easily) extensible, overall structure
becomes complicated (no clear boundaries between modules)

2) LAYERED OPERATING SYSTEM

In layered operating system, the operating system is broken up into number of layers. The
components of the operating system are organized into modules and layers one on top of each
other. Each module provides a set of functions that other modules can call.

State two advantages and two disadvantages of a layered operating system.

Advantages of layered operating systems are:

1. It is decomposable and therefore effects separation of concerns and different abstraction

levels

9
 2. It allows good maintenance, where you can make changes without affecting layer
interfaces

Disadvantages of layered operating systems are:

1. It is difficult to exactly assign functionalities to the correct and appropriate layer

2. Because of having too many layers, performance of the system is degraded

3) CLIENT-SERVER OPERATING SYSTEM.

Microkernel operating system is aimed at migrating traditional services of an operating
system out of the monolithic kernel into the user level process. This idea is to divide the
operating system into several processes each of which implements a single set of services

Advantages of Client Server Networks over Peer to Peer Networks

1)  Centralization: Unlike P2P, where there is no central administration, here in this architecture

there is a centralized control. Servers help in administering the whole set-up. Access rights and
resource allocation is done by Servers.
2)  Proper Management: All the files are stored at the same place. In this way, management of
files becomes easy. Also it becomes easier to find files.
3) Back-up and Recovery possible: As all the data is stored on server its easy to make a back-
up of it. Also, in case of some break-down if data is lost, it can be recovered easily and

10
efficiently. While in peer computing we have to take back-up at every workstation.
4) Upgrading and Scalability in Client-server set-up: Changes can be made easily by just
upgrading the server. Also new resources and systems can be added by making necessary
changes in server.
5)  Accessibility: From various platforms in the network, server can be accessed remotely.
6)  As new information is uploaded in database, each workstation need not have its own storage
capacities increased (as may be the case in peer-to-peer systems). All the changes are made only
in central computer on which server database exists.
7)  Security: Rules defining security and access rights can be defined at the time of set-up of
server.

Disadvantages of Client Server Architecture v/s P-2-P Technology

1)  Congestion in Network: Too many requests from the clients may lead to congestion, which
rarely takes place in P2P network. Overload can lead to breaking-down of servers. In peer-to-
peer, the total bandwidth of the network increases as the number of peers increase.
2)  Client-Server architecture is not as robust as a P2P and if the server fails, the whole network
goes down. Also, if you are downloading a file from server and it gets abandoned due to some
error, download stops altogether. However, if there would have been peers, they would have
provided the broken parts of file.
3) Cost: It is very expensive to install and manage this type of computing.
4) You need professional IT people to maintain the servers and other technical details of
network.

TYPES OF OPERATING SYSTEM

1. Batch Operating System
The users of a batch operating system do not interact with the computer directly. Each user
prepares his job on an off-line device like punch cards and submits it to the computer operator.

11
To speed up processing, jobs with similar needs are batched together and run as a group. The
programmers leave their programs with the operator and the operator then sorts the programs
with similar requirements into batches.

The problems with Batch Systems are as follows:

 Lack of interaction between the user and the job.
 CPU is often idle, because the speed of the mechanical I/O devices is slower than the
CPU.
 Difficult to provide the desired priority.

2. Time-sharing Operating Systems

Time-sharing is a technique which enables many people, located at various terminals, to use a
particular computer system at the same time. Processor's time which is shared among multiple
users simultaneously is termed as time-sharing.
Advantages of Timesharing operating systems are as follows:
 Provides the advantage of quick response
 Avoids duplication of software
 Reduces CPU idle time
Disadvantages of Time-sharing operating systems are as follows:
 Problem of reliability
 Question of security and integrity of user programs and data
 Problem of data communication

3. Distributed Operating System

Distributed systems use multiple central processors to serve multiple real-time applications and
multiple users. Data processing jobs are distributed among the processors accordingly.

The processors communicate with one another through various communication lines (such as
high-speed buses or telephone lines). These are referred as loosely coupled systems or
distributed systems.

12
The advantages of distributed systems are as follows:
 With resource sharing facility, a user at one site may be able to use the resources
available at another.
 Speedup the exchange of data with one another via electronic mail
 If one site fails in a distributed system, the remaining sites can potentially continue
operating.
 Better service to the customers.
 Reduction of the load on the host computer.
 Reduction of delays in data processing.

4. Network Operating System

A Network Operating System runs on a server and provides the server the capability to manage
data, users, groups, security, applications, and other networking functions. The primary purpose
of the network operating system is to allow shared file and printer access among multiple
computers in a network, typically a local area network (LAN), a private network or to other
networks.

Examples of network operating systems include Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft
Windows Server 2008, UNIX, Linux, Mac OS X, Novell NetWare, and BSD.

The advantages of network operating systems are as follows:

 Centralized servers are highly stable.
 Security is server managed.
 Upgrades to new technologies and hardware can be easily integrated into the system.
 Remote access to servers is possible from different locations and types of systems.

The disadvantages of network operating systems are as follows:

 High cost of buying and running a server.
 Dependency on a central location for most operations.
 Regular maintenance and updates are required.

5. Real-Time Operating System

13
A real-time system is defined as a data processing system in which the time interval required to
process and respond to inputs is so small that it controls the environment. The time taken by the
system to respond to an input and display of required updated information is termed as the
response time. So in this method, the response time is very small as compared to online
processing.
There are two types of real-time operating systems.
Hard real-time systems
Hard real-time systems guarantee that critical tasks complete on time. In hard real-time systems,
secondary storage is limited or missing and the data is stored in ROM. In these systems, virtual
memory is almost never found.
Soft real-time systems
Soft real-time systems are less restrictive. A critical real-time task gets priority over other tasks
and retains the priority until it completes. Soft real-time systems have limited utility than hard
real-time systems

JOB CONTROL
a) Command languages
b) Job control languages
c) System messages
1. COMMAND LANGUAGES
A computer programming language composed chiefly of a set of commands or operators, used
especially for communicating with the operating system of a computer.

Examples include; shell and batch programming languages

2. JOB CONTROL LANGUAGE

This is a scripting language used on IBM mainframe operating systems to instruct the system on
how to run a batch job or a subsystem.

The purpose of job control language is to say which programs run, using which files or devices
for input or output.

14
3. SYSTEM MESSAGES

System massages is a form of communication between objects, processes or other resources used
in object oriented programming, inter-process communication and parallel computing.

15