Purpose of an Operating System

• To manage hardware and software

resources in a system
– Memory, processor, disk space, programs
• To ensure the system behaves in a
predictable way
• To provide a stable, consistent high-level
interface to the hardware
– Individual applications do not need to know
hardware implementation details
 When is an Operating System
Needed ?
• When you want to abstract away from
the hardware
– You want your program to run on different
hardware platforms
• When systems must be multi-functional
To run different kinds of programs
 When is an Operating System
NOT Needed ?
• When the system does only one thing
and flexibility is not needed.
E.g., a microwave
 History of Operating Systems
Once there was Unix the earliest operating
Systems of computer.
•Features
– Multi-threaded, multi-user
– Extensively Networkable (Support TCP/IP/IPC)
– Supported on many systems (but not PCs!)
Was originally free, and source code was available.But By
late 1980s was commercial, expensive, no available
source, and came in many flavours.
Interface of Operating Systems

CUI GUI
How Multiple Program run
At the Same time??
 kernel
The kernel is the central component of the
operating system that deals with your hardware.
*As the user, you never work with the kernel
itself.

You must interact with it through a shell

program.
kernel
 Shell
The shell program is the visual setting you see when
you use your computer. It’s also the part of the
operating system where users can issue commands to
the computer. Some operating systems use a command
line interface that allows you to type in specific
commands. Others have a graphical user interface
(GUI). GUIs use windows, menus, and icons to help you
control your computer. Some operating systems have a
variety of GUIs, allowing users to select the one they
want.
 Some popular os

For computer
•Windows
•Linux
•Mac
For mobile
•Symbian s60,s40
•Symbian UIQ
Popularity of OS