OS Definitions, Functions and Types

Study material

Index

S. No. Content
1. Objectives
2. Introduction
3. Functions of OS
4. Types of O.S.: Single User, Multi User, Multi
Programming, Multi-Tasking, Real Time, Time Sharing,
Batch Processing
5. Parallel Processing
6. Distributed Processing
7. Mobile Devices Operating System
8. File Allocation Table (FAT & FAT 32)
9. NTFS

1. Objectives:
After studying this module the learner will know:
a. What is an Operating System?
b. Objectives and Goals
c. Efficiency
d. Functions
e. Types of Operating System.
f. Mobile Devices Operating System
g. File Allocation Table(FAT & FAT 32)
h. NTFS

2. Introduction
The most fundamental system program is the operating system, which
controls all the computer’s resources and provides the base upon which
application programs can be written.
It shields programmer from the complexity of the hardware and puts a
layer of software on top of the bare hardware to manage all parts of the
system and present the user with an interface or virtual machine that is
easier to understand and program.

DEFINITIONS

 An operating system is an interface between the hardware and the

user.

 An operating system (OS) is system software that manages

computer hardware, software resources, and provides common
services for computer programs.
  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.

 An Operating System is an integrated set of programs that controls

the resources (the CPU, memory, i/o devices, etc.) of a computer
system or virtual machine that is more convenient to use than the
bare machine.

The dominant desktop operating system is Microsoft Windows with a

market share of around 82.74%.

List of operating system

OS Name Share

Windows 40.34

Android 37.95

iOS 15.44

Mac OS 4.34

Linux 0.95

Chrome OS 0.14

Windows Phone 0.06

OS
Fig: Different Operating systems with their market share

OBJECTIVES/GOALS

An OS is a layer of software on a bare hardware machine that performs

two basic
objectives/goals:

a) Resource Management
b) Virtual machine management (User friendliness)
a) Resource management

A user process accesses several hardware and software resources during

its execution.
Resource management encompasses the following:
a) Time management (CPU, Disk Scheduling)
b) Space management (MM & SM)
c) Process Synchronization & deadlock handling
d) Accounting & status information

Therefore, OS is also known as resource manager. The main task of an

OS
 is to collect all the resources and schedule the resources to the requesting
process.

The virtual machine management encompasses the following tasks:

a) Execution Environment (Process creation, management, control and
termination, file
manipulation, interrupt handling, support for i/o operations, language
support)
b) Error detection and handling
c) Protection and Sharing

EFFICIENCY OF OPERATING SYSTEM

The efficiency of an OS and the overall performance of a computer

installation is
judged by a combination of two main factors. They are:
1) Throughput - It is the total amount of work performed by the
computer system over a
given duration of time. In other words, amount of work on number of
processes that
are completed by the system per unit of time is called throughput. It is
taken as n/t
where n processes are completed in an interval of t seconds.
2) Turnaround Time – It is the interval from the time of submission of
job to the
system for processing to the time of completion of the job.

3. FUNCTIONS OF OPERATING SYSTEM

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 which is known as absolute address. For a program to
get executed, it must be mapped to absolute addresses and loaded into
memory.
 So efficient memory utilization is very necessary here, which is done by
OS. It
takes care of the allocation and deallocation (according to priorities) of
memory
space to the various programs. Support of modular programming –
instead of
loading one entire monolithic program it can load some modules (If
program is
modular). This will increase CPU and memory utilization.

An Operating System does the following activities for memory

management −
o Keeps tracks of primary memory, i.e., what part of it are in use by
whom,
what part are not in use.
o In multiprogramming, the OS decides which process will get
memory when
and how much.
o Allocates the memory when a process requests it to do so.
o De-allocates the memory when a process no longer needs it or has
been
terminated.

2. Process management –
A process/task is an instance or a part of a program in execution.A
program is just a passive entity whereas a process is an active entity. It is
a smallest unit of work that is independently schedulable. It performs the
required functions of its related program. To accomplish its task, a
process needs resources like CPU, memory, files and i/o devices which is
allocated by
the OS.

An Operating System does the following activities for process

management −
o Provides process synchronization for resource sharing among
concurrent processes.
o Provides inter-process communication among concurrent
processes.
o Provides mechanisms for deadlock handling.
3. Processor/CPU management

In multiprogramming environment, the OS decides which process gets the

processor/CPU 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.

[Link] Management – Information is stored on PD, CD, HDs, tapes, FD,

etc. For convenience OS provides a uniform logical view of the
information storage. This logical unit is known as file. A file system is
normally organized into directories for easy navigation and usage. These
directories may contain files and other directories.
Creation/deletion of files and directories, manipulation/retrieval/naming of
files and directories, backing and storing files.
Slide 13(a)
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.

4. Secondary Storage Management – The principle online storage medium

for storing programmes and data is a disk. System Programs like
compilers, debuggers, editors, linkers, etc. are stored on the disk. It is the
job of OS to swap-out and swap-in programs as and when required. It
also takes care of storage allocations, file space management, disk
scheduling.

5. Networking Management – A distributed OS is an OS that runs on a

network computers. The memory files are shared by the number of users
 in the network from server. For example- If 20 nodes are connected by a
server through LAN then the OS, RAM, files, processor slots are all
shared by 20 users. Each users feels that he is running on a single large
system with one OS.

 System Information Protection and Security - Three types of

protection mechanisms are used by OS: Access Control, Information
flow control and Certification.
 Access Control - OS provides read, write and execution access
permissions for the files to the users. System mechanism refers to the
mechanism for controlling the access to computer resources by various
users and processes. Since many users handle the system and multiple
process being executed, so there is a need of protection from each other
and also protection of OS from the user processes.
 Information flow control - OS regulates the flow of data within the
system. So some information should be restricted to the users also.
 Certification - OS provides the priorities and hierarchies to the resources
to avoid destructions and fraudulent unauthorized access.

Device Management- An OS has a set of device drives ie. s/w routines

that control respective i/o devices through their controllers. Device
drivers are written for KB, Mouse, monitor, disk, etc. A device driver
hides the peculiarities of its i/o device. A device(i/o) communicates with
a host CPU through a connection point with a port. A controller is an
electronic device that controls a port or a bus or a device. A controller
will have 3 things: Processor + Micro code + Local Memory. Some
devices have their own in-built controllers also, like disk drives.

An Operating System manages device communication via their respective

drivers. It does the following activities for device management –

 Keeps tracks of all devices. 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 efficient way.
 De-allocates devices.

Examples of OS

Desktop/Laptop OS
 Windows (95/98/2000/NT/XP)
Mac OS X
Linux
Unix(Sco, SUN, Solaris, HP, IBM)
IBM OS/2
RTOS
Amoeba

Mobile OS
Android OS
BADA (Samsung)
Blackberry OS
iOS (Apple)
Meego OS (Nokia & Intel)
Palm OS
Symbian (Nokia)

Embedded OS
Contiki
Montis
Tiny OS
Lite OS
Free RTOS

4. TYPES OF OPERATING SYSTEM

Single user operating system

 A single-user operating system is a type of system that has been

developed and designed to use on a computer. It can be used on a similar
device, and it only has one user at a time. ... Single-task operating
systems can function on electronic devices, like a computer, and will run
only one application at a time.
Multi user operating system

 A multi-user operating system (OS) is a computer system that allows

multiple users that are on different computers to access a
single system's OS resources simultaneously, as shown in this figure
appearing on your screen right now. Users on the system are connected
through a network.

Multi programming OS
 In a multiprogramming system, two or more processes execute one after
another or more different independent programs by the same computer
system.

 In this concept, two or more user programs can be in main memory and
can be executed concurrently. The CPU can give time to various
programs despite sitting idle when one is busy with I/O operations.

When one program is waiting for I/O transfer there is next program ready
to utilize the processor. Therefore, several processes can share the time of
the CPU.

Multi tasking
 Multitasking, in an operating system, is allowing a user to perform more
than one computer task (such as the operation of an application program)
at a time. The operating system is able to keep track of where you are in
these tasks and go from one to the other without losing information.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MULTIPRORAMMING AND

MULTITASKING

 Multitasking is the process of separating a program into several tasks.

This is usually done using a threading library (eg. POSIX
threads). Multiprocessing: is the thing ensuring that those tasks you
defined in your software will be executed simultaneously (in parallel) on
the hardware.
 Real time

 A real-time operating system (RTOS) is an operating system (OS)

intended to serve real-time applications that process data as it comes in,
typically without buffer delays. Processing time requirements (including
any OS delay) are measured in tenths of seconds or shorter increments of
time.

Time Sharing
  Time-sharing is a technique which enables many people, located at
various terminals, to use a particular computer system at the
same time. Time-sharing or multitasking is a logical extension of
multiprogramming. Processor's time which is shared among multiple
users simultaneously is termed as time-sharing.

Batch Processing

 Batch processing is a technique in which an Operating System collects the

programs and data together in a batch before processing starts. An
operating system does the following activities related to batch processing −

 The OS defines a job which has predefined sequence of

commands, programs and data as a single unit.

 The OS keeps a number a jobs in memory and executes

them without any manual information.

 Jobs are processed in the order of submission, i.e., first

come first served manner.

 When a job completes its execution, its memory is

released and the output for the job gets copied into an
output spool for later printing or processing.
[Link] Processing

 Parallel processing requires multiple processors and all the processor

works simultaneously in the system. Here, the task is divided into
subparts and these subparts are then distributed among the available
processors in the system. Parallel processing completes the job on the
shortest possible time.
 [Link] processing

 Distributed processing is a phrase used to refer to a variety of computer

systems that use more than one computer (or processor)
to run an application. This includes parallel processing in which a single
computer uses more than one CPU to execute programs.

 More often, however, distributed processing refers to local-area networks

(LANs) designed so that a single program can run simultaneously at
various sites. Most distributed processing systems contain
sophisticated software that detects idle CPUs on the network and parcels
out programs to utilize them.
 Fig: Distributed Computing vs Parallel Computing

7. MOBILE DEVICE OPERATING SYSTEM

 Smartphones are now participating nearly in each and every sphere of life
like business, education, workplace and healthcare.
 A mobile operating system (or mobile OS) is an operating system for
smartphones, tablets, PDAs, or other mobile devices.

 Mobile operating systems combine features of a personal computer

operating system with other features useful for mobile or handheld use;
usually including, and most of the following considered essential in
modern mobile systems; a touchscreen, cellular, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS
mobile navigation, camera, video camera, speech recognition, voice
recorder, music player, near field communication and infrared blaster.

PALM OS

 Palm OS (also known as Garnet OS) is a mobile operating system

initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants (PDAs) in
1996. Palm OS was designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based
graphical user interface. It is provided with a suite of basic applications
for personal information management.
 SYMBIAN OS

 Symbian was a closed-source mobile operating system (OS) and

computing platform designed for smartphones which was originally
developed by Symbian Ltd.

IOS

 iOS (originally iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and

developed by Apple Inc. and distributed exclusively for Apple hardware.
It is the operating system that presently powers many of the company's
mobile devices, including the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. It is the
second most popular mobile operating system in the world by sales, after
Android.

ANDROID OS

 Android is a mobile operating system (OS) currently developed by

Google, based on the Linux kernel and designed primarily for
touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

 Android has been the best selling OS on tablets since 2013.

BLACKERRY OS

 BlackBerry OS is a proprietary mobile operating system developed by

BlackBerry Ltd for its BlackBerry line of smartphone handheld devices.

8. FILE ALLOCATION TABLE(FAT)

 FAT stands for File Allocation Table, is specifically, a table maintained

on a hard disk by MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows operating systems
that acts as a table of contents, showing where directories and files are
stored on the disk. By extension, the acronym FAT is also used to refer to
the file system itself for MS-DOS and Windows platforms.

 Today FAT comes in three different Forms – FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32.
The names refer to the number of bits used by the entries in table that
gave the file system its name!

9. NTFS(New Technology File System)

 NTFS (NT file system; sometimes New Technology File System) is
the file system that the Windows NT operating system uses for storing
and retrieving files on a hard disk. NTFS is the Windows NT equivalent
of the Windows 95 file allocation table (FAT) and the OS/2 High
Performance File System (HPFS). However, NTFS offers a number of
improvements over FAT and HPFS in terms of performance,
extendibility, and security.

II Practice Questions:

A) Short Answer Type

1. What is an operating system?
2. What are the Functions of OS?
3. What is NTFS?
4. What is File Allocation Table(FAT)?
5. Mention two main objectives of OS.

B) Long Answer Type

1. Explain Different types of OS.
2. Explain Mobile Operating System.