5.

OPERATING
SYSTEM
Subtitle
Content

 5.1 Introduction
 5.2 Evolution
 5.3 Components of OS: UI, memory manager, process manager, file manager,
device manager
 5.4 Components of OS: UI, memory manager, process manager, file manager, device
manager (continue)
Objectives

After studying this chapter, the student should be able to:

 Understand the role of the operating system.

 Understand the process of bootstrapping to load the operating system into memory.

 List the components of an operating system.

 Discuss the role of the memory manager.

 Discuss the role of the process manager.

 Discuss the role of the device manager.

 Discuss the role of the file manager in an operating system.

 Understand the main features of three common operating systems: UNIX, Linux and Windows.
1-INTRODUCTION
1. Introduction

 A computer is a system composed of two major

components: hardware and software. Computer
hardware is the physical equipment.

 Software is the collection of programs that allows

the hardware to do its job. Computer software is
divided into two broad categories: the operating
system and application programs.

 Application programs use the computer hardware

to solve users’ problems. The operating system, on
the other hand, controls the access to hardware by
users
Figure 5.1 Computer system
Operating System

 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.

 Two major design goals of an operating system are:

❑ Efficient use of hardware. Figure 5.2 Operating systems

❑ Ease of use of resources.
Bootstrap Process

 The operating system provides supports for other

programs. For example, it is responsible for loading
other programs into memory for execution. However,
the operating system itself is a program that needs
to be loaded into the memory and be run. How is
this dilemma solved?

 The solution is a two-stage process. A very small

section of memory is made of ROM and holds a
small program called the bootstrap program.

 When the computer is turned on, the CPU counter

is set to the first instruction of this bootstrap
program and executes the instructions in this
program. Figure 5.3 Bootstrap Process
 When loading is done, the program counter is set to
the first instruction of the operating system in
RAM.
2 - EVOLUTION
Overview

Figure 5.3 Evolution of Operating systems

Batch systems

 Batch systems Batch operating systems were designed in the 1950s to control mainframe computers. At
that time, computers were large machines that used punched cards for input, line printers for output and
tape drives for secondary storage media. Each program to be executed was called a job. A programmer
who wished to execute a job sends a request to the operating system.

Figure 5.4 Structure of Batch operating systems

Time-sharing systems

 Time-sharing systems To use computer system resources efficiently, multiprogramming was introduced.
The idea is to hold several jobs in memory at a time, and only assign a resource to a job that needs it on
the condition that the resource is available. Multiprogramming brought the idea of time sharing:
resources could be shared between different jobs, with each job being allocated a portion of time to
use a resource.

Figure 5.5 Structure of Time-sharing operating systems

Personal systems

 Personal systems When personal computers were introduced, there was a need for an operating system
for this new type of computer.

 During this era, single-user operating systems such as DOS (Disk Operating System) were introduced.

Figure 5.6 DOS system

Parallel systems

 Parallel systems The need for more speed and efficiency led to the design of parallel systems: multiple
CPUs on the same machine.

 Each CPU can be used to serve one program or a part of a program, which means that many tasks can be
accomplished in parallel instead of serially. The operating systems required for this are more complex
than those that support single CPUs.

Figure 5.7 Structure of Parallel operating systems

Distributed systems

 Distributed systems Networking and internetworking, as we saw in Chapter 6, have created a new
dimension in operating systems.

 A job that was previously done on one computer can now be shared between computers that may be
thousands of miles apart. Distributed systems combine features of the previous generation with new
duties such as controlling security.

Figure 5.8 Structure of Distributed operating systems

Real-time systems

 Real-time systems (RTOS) A real-time system is expected to do a task within a specific time
constraint.

 They are used with real-time applications, which monitor, respond to or control external processes or
environments.

Figure 5.9 A real-time system

3- COMPONENTS OF OS
Introduction

 Today’s operating systems are very complex. An operating system needs to manage different resources in
a computer system. It resembles an organization with several managers at the top level. Each manager is
responsible for managing their department, but also needs to cooperate with others and coordinate
activities.

 A modern operating system has at least four duties: memory manager, process manager, device
manager and file manager.

Figure 5.10 Components of an operating system

3.1 User interface

 Each operating system has a user interface, a

program that accepts requests from users
(processes) and interprets them for the rest of
the operating system.

 A user interface in some operating systems,

such as UNIX, is called a shell. In others, it is
called a window to denote that it is menu
driven and has a GUI (graphical user
interface) component.

Figure 5.11 Sample UI

3.2 Memory manager

 One of the responsibilities of a modern computer

system is memory management. Although the
memory size of computers has increased
tremendously in recent years, so has the size of
the programs and data to be processed.

 Memory allocation must be managed to prevent

applications from running out of memory.
Operating systems can be divided into two broad
categories of memory management:
monoprogramming and multiprogramming.

Figure 5.12 Memory manager in OS

Monoprogramming

 In monoprogramming, most of the memory

capacity is dedicated to a single program; only a
small part is needed to hold the operating system.

 In this configuration, the whole program is in

memory for execution. When the program finishes
running, the program area is occupied by another
program.

Figure 5.13 Memory manager in OS

Multiprogramming

 In multiprogramming, more than one program is

in memory at the same time, and they are
executed concurrently, with the CPU switching
rapidly between the programs.

Figure 5.14 Memory manager in OS

Categories of multiprogramming

Figure 5.15 Memory manager in OS

Categories of multiprogramming (cont)

Figure 5.16 Memory manager in OS

Virtual memory

 Demand paging and demand segmentation mean that,

when a program is being executed, part of the
program is in memory and part is on disk. This means
that, for example, a memory size of 10 MB can execute
10 programs (each of size 3 MB). At any moment, 10
MB of the 10 programs are in memory and 20 MB are on
disk.

 Therefore a virtual memory size of 30 MB. Virtual

memory, which implies demand paging, demand
segmentation or both, is used in almost all operating
systems today. Figure 5.17 Memory manager in OS
 3.3 Process manager

 A second function of an operating system is

process management, but before discussing this
concept, we need to define some terms.

 Program, job, and process

 A program is a non-active set of instructions

stored on disk.

 A program becomes a job from the moment it

is selected for execution until it has finished
running and becomes a program again.

 A process is a program in execution. It is a

program that has started but has not finished.

Figure 5.18 Windows 7 system process manager

State diagrams & Queuing

State diagrams

 The relationship between a program, a job and a

process becomes clearer if we consider how a
program becomes a job and how a job becomes a
process

Queuing

 To handle multiple processes and jobs, the

process manager uses queues (waiting lists). A
job control block or process control block is
associated with each job or process. This is a
block of memory that stores information about
that job or process. The process manager stores
the job or process control block in the queues
instead of the job or process itself.
Process synchronization

 The whole idea behind process management is to synchronize different processes with different
resources. Whenever resources can be used by more than one user (or process, in this case), we can have
two problematic situations: deadlock and starvation.

Figure 5.19 Deadlock in OS

Process synchronization (cont)

Figure 5.20 Starvation in OS

3.4 Device manager

 The device manager, or input/output manager, is

responsible for access to input/ output devices.
There are limitations on the number and speed of
input/output devices in a computer system.

 The device manager monitors every

input/output device constantly to ensure that the
device is functioning properly.

 The device manager maintains a queue for

each input/output device or one or more queues
for similar input/output devices.

 The device manager controls the different

policies for accessing input/output devices.

Figure 5.21 Windows 7 system divice manager

3.5 File manager

 Operating systems today use a file manager to control

access to files. A detailed discussion of the file
manager also requires advanced knowledge of
operating system principles and file access concepts
that are beyond the scope of this book. The file
manager:

 controls access to files.

 supervises the creation, deletion, and modification

of files.

 controls the naming of files.

Figure 5.22 Windows 10 file explorer
 supervises the storage of files.

 is responsible for archiving and backups.

A SURVEY OF OPERATING SYSTEMS (UNIX)

 UNIX was originally developed in 1969 by

Thomson and Ritchie of the Computer Science
Research Group at Bell Laboratories.

 UNIX has been a popular operating system

among computer programmers and computer
scientists.

 UNIX is a multiuser, multiprocessing,

portable operating system. It is designed to
facilitate programming, text processing and
communication

Figure 5.23 Component of UNIX

A SURVEY OF OPERATING SYSTEMS (LINUX)

 Linux In 1991, Linus Torvalds, a Finish student

at the University of Helsinki at the time,
developed a new operating system that is known
today as Linux.

 The initial kernel, which was similar to a small

subset of UNIX, has grown into a full-scale
operating system today.

 The Linux 2.0 kernel, released in 1997, was

accepted as a commercial operating system: it has
all features traditionally attributed to UNIX

Figure 5.24 Component of UNIX

A SURVEY OF OPERATING SYSTEMS (WINDOWS)

 Windows In the late 1980s Microsoft, under the

leadership of Dave Cutler, started development of a
new single-user operating system to replace MS-
DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System).

 Several versions of windows are followed, such as

Windows NT (NT standing for New Technology),
Windows 2000, Windows XP (XP stands for
eXPerience in 2001), Windows 7 (supports the
functions for touch-controlled screen and has
released this year of 2009), Windows 8/8.1,
Windows 10, and so on.

Figure 5.25 Component of Window