AIM :- Install & test different types of Operating system & compare its features.

OVERVIEW
An Operating System (OS)(as shown in Fig 1) is an interface between a computer
user and computer hardware. An operating system is a software which performs all the basic
tasks like file management, memory management, process management, handling input and
output, and controlling peripheral devices such as disk drives and printers.
Some popular Operating Systems include Linux Operating System, Windows
Operating System,VMS,OS/400,AIX,z/OS,etc. Following are some of important functions of
an operating System:
 Memory Management
 Processor Management
 Device Management
 File Management
 Security
 Control over system performance
 Job accounting
 Error detecting aids
 Coordination between other software and end users.

Figure1.OperatingSystem
 LINUXOPERATINGSYSTEM
Linux is a free and open source operating system and it is a clone version of UNIX
operating system. It is open source as its source code is freely available. It is free to use.
Linux was designed considering UNIX compatibility. Its functionality list is quite similar to
that of UNIX.

LINUXARCHITECTURE

Figure2.LinuxOSArchitecture

The architecture of a linux system consists of the following layers−

Hardware layer

Hardware consists of all peripheral devices (RAM/HDD/CPUetc).

Kernel

It is the core component of Operating System, interacts directly with hardware,

provides low level services to upper layer components.
Shell

An interface to kernel, hiding complexity of kernel's functions from users.

The shell Takes Commands from the user and executes kernel's functions.
Utilities

Utility programs that provide the user most of the functionalities of an operating
systems.
COMPONENTSOFALINUXOPERATINGSYSTEM
Linux operating system has primarily three components:
Kernel

Kernel is the core part of linux. It is responsible for all major activities of
thisoperatingsystem.Itconsistsofvariousmodulesanditinteractsdirectlywith the underlying
hardware. Kernel provides the required abstraction to hide low level hardware details to
system or application programs.
System Library

System libraries are special functions or programs using which application programs
or system utilities accesses Kernel's features. These libraries implement most of the
functionalities of the operating system and do not requires kernel module's code access rights.
System Utility

SystemUtilityprogramsareresponsibletodospecialized,individuallevel
tasks.

Figure3.LinuxOperatingSystem
 KERNEL MODE VS USER MODE
Kernel component code executes in a special privileged mode called kernel mode with
full access to all resources of the computer. This code represents a single process, executes
in single address space and do not require any context switch and hence is very efficient and fast.
Kernel runs each processes and provides system services to processes, provides protected
access to hardware to processes. Support code which is not required to run in kernel mode
is in System Library. User programs and other system programs works in User Mode which
has no access to system hardware and kernel code. User programs/
utilities useSystemlibrariestoaccessKernelfunctionstogetsystem'slowleveltasks.
BASICFEATURES
Following are some of the important features of linux operating system

 Portable

Portability means software can work on different types of hardware in same way.
Linux kernel and application programs supports their installation on any kind of hardware
platform.

 Open Source

Linux source code is freely available and it is community based development project.
Multiple teams work in collaboration to enhance the capability of Linux operating system and
it is continuously evolving.

 Multi User

Linux is a multiuser system means multiple users can access system resources like
memory/ ram/ application programs at same time.

 Multiprogramming

Linux is a multiprogramming system means multiple applications can run at same

time.

 Hierarchical File System

Linux provides a standard file structure in which system files/ user files are arranged.
 Shell
Linux provides a special interpreter program which can be used to
execute commands of the operating system. It can be used to do various
types of operations, call application programs. etc.

 Security
Linux provides user security using authentication features like
password protection/ controlled access to specific files/ encryption of data.
COMPARISONSBETWEENLINUXOSWITHDIFFERENTOS
LINUXVSWINDOWS

S.N LINUX WINDOWS

1. It is an open source operating system It is a commercial operating system

(closed source)
2. In linux, monolithic kernel is used In windows, micro kernel is used.

3. In the comparison of file system, Windows are slower compared to Linux

Linux runs faster even with older hardware

4. Linux files are ordered in a tree structure In windows, files are stored in folders on
starting with the root different data drives like
directory. C: D: E:
5. It is customizable It is not possible to customize the
windows OS
6. It supports multiple desktop environments It supports only preinstalled desktop
environment
7. It is more secure than windows Vulnerable to viruses and malware
attacks.
8. Booting takes either primary or logical In windows,booting supports only primary
partition in linux partition

LINUXVSMAC

S.N LINUX MAC

1. It is an open source operating system It is a commercial operating system

(closed source)
2. In linux, monolithic kernel is used Mac OS is based the Xnuhybrid micro
kernel
3. It is used as OS, as server provide platform Mac is an operating system provides
to run other application platform to run other application

4. It is customizable It is not possible to customize the Mac OS

5. It supports many flavours like RedHat, It does have any flavours.

Ubuntu, Fedora,Suse,
etc,
6. It supports multiple desktop environments It supports only preinstalled desktop
like GNOME,KDE, Mate, Budgie, environment
Cinnamon, Deepin
etc,…

LINUX VS UNIX

S.N LINUX UNIX

1. It is an open source operating system It is a licensed OS(closedsource)

2. It is developed by linux community It was developed by ATand TBell

of developers labs
3. Linux uses KDE and Gnome. Other Unix was initially command
GUI supported are LXDE,Xfce, based OS. Most of the unix
Unity, Mate. distributions now have Gnome.
4. Bash(Bourne Again SHell)is default Bourne Shell is default shell for
shell for Linux. Unix.
5. Its flavours are RedHat, Ubuntu, Its flavours are SunOS, Solaris,
Suse, Kali Linux, etc,… HP-UX, AIX, Sco Unix, etc,…
6. Linux is used in wide varieties from It is mostly used on servers,
desktop, servers, smart phones to workstations or PCs.
mainframes.