An Introduction to
Operating Systems
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Understanding Operating Systems: Definition, Services, and UNIX, Study notes of Operating Systems
An introduction to operating systems, defining what they are and the basic tasks they perform. It also discusses the services operating systems provide, such as program execution, I/O operations, and communications. The document highlights the advantages of the UNIX operating system and lists different types of operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, Mainframe, DOS, OS/2, Linux, Mac OS, and AmigaOS.
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2021/2022
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An Introduction to
Operating Systems
Definition
An Operating System, orOS, is low-level softwarethat enables a user andhigher-level applicationsoftware to interact with acomputer’s hardware andthe data and otherprograms stored on thecomputer.
An OS performs basictasks, such as recognizinginput from the keyboard,sending output to thedisplay screen, keepingtrack of files and directorieson the disk, and controllingperipheral devices such asprinters.
Application programs and OS
Operating systems provide a software platform on top of which otherprograms, called
application programs,
can run.
The choice of operating system, therefore, determines to a greatextent the applications a user can run.
For example, the DOS operating system contains commands such
as COPY and RENAME for copying files and changing the names offiles, respectively. The commands are accepted and executed by apart of the operating system.
Similarly, the UNIX operating system has commands like CP andMV to copy and rename.
UNIX
UNIX was one of the first operating systemsto be written, in 1971.
Advantages of UNIX are…
Multitasking – multiple programs can run atone time.
Multi-user – allows more than a single userto work at any given time. This isaccomplished by sharing processing timebetween each user.
Safe – prevents one program fromaccessing memory or storage spaceallocated to another program, and enablesfile protection, requiring users to havepermission to perform certain functions,such as accessing a directory, file, or diskdrive.