OPERATING SYSTEM

The most important program that runs on a computer. Every general-purpose computer
must have an operating system to run other programs. Operating systems perform basic tasks,
such as recognizing input from the keyboard, sending output to the display screen, keeping
track of files and directories on the disk, and controlling peripheral devices such as disk
drives and printers.

For large systems, the operating system has even greater responsibilities and powers. It is
like a traffic cop -- it makes sure that different programs and users running at the same time
do not interfere with each other. The operating system is also responsible for security,
ensuring that unauthorized users do not access the system.

Operating systems can be classified as follows:

 multi-user : Allows two or more users to run programs at the same time. Some
operating systems permit hundreds or even thousands of concurrent users.
 multiprocessing : Supports running a program on more than one CPU.
 multitasking : Allows more than one program to run concurrently.
  multithreading : Allows different parts of a single program to run concurrently.
 real time: Responds to input instantly. General-purpose operating systems, such
as DOS and UNIX, are not real-time.

Operating systems provide a software platform on top of which other programs, called
application programs, can run. The application programs

must be written to run on top of a particular operating system. Your choice of operating
system, therefore, determines to a great extent the applications you can run. For PCs, the
most popular operating systems are DOS, OS/2, and Windows, but others are available, such
as Linux.

As a user, you normally interact with the operating system through a set of commands. For
example, the DOS operating system contains commands such as COPY and RENAME for
copying files and changing the names of files, respectively. The commands are accepted and
executed by a part of the operating system called the command processor or command line
interpreter. Graphical user interfaces allow you to enter commands by pointing and clicking
at objects that appear on the screen.

You have already had experience with at least one of them

– IBM PCs commonly come with Windows XP

Operating System… Some may have Windows 2000
on them
– Macs have MAC OS operating system
– Sun machines use UNIX or LINUX operating
systems
– Palm PDAs come with PalmOS

Operating System
• An operating system is a ‘program’, a piece of
 software, rather than hardware
• It is the first program to be loaded in memory, after POST is completed
• It is a rather special program – it manages the computer and everything that runs on it
• Amongst other things, the operating system provides you with a User-Interface, so
you can actually use the computer

Need Of Operating System

• Operating System provides a stable and consistent way to deal with hardware without
having to know all the details of the hardware.
• To manage the hardware and software resources.
• It plays the role of good parent, making sure that each application gets the necessary
resources while playing nicely with other applications.

Features Of Operating System

• Program execution.
• Interrupts
• Protected mode and supervisor mode.
• Memory management
• Virtual Memory
• Multitasking
• Disk access and file systems
• Device drivers
• Networking
• Security
•
Functions Of Multi-User Operating System
• Processor management and Scheduling
• Device Management
• File and data management
• Memory management
• Handling users
• Communication
• Security
• Fault Tolerance management
• User command execution
• Job accounting

What does an Operating System do?

The operating system manages a lot o things including

– Memory
– Processor
– Other hardware
– Applications
– File System
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Examples Of O.S.

• Windows 7
• Windows Vista
• Windows XP Professional edition
• Windows XP Home edition
• Windows 2000
• Windows ME
• Windows 98
• Windows NT
• Windows 95
• UNIX
• Linux
• Apple Macintosh

Types of Operating Systems

Operating Systems for Desktops

_ Single-User, Single-Task
– At one time, only one task (application, program) can run on the computer
– Eg. DOS, Palm OS
_ Single-User, Multi-Task
– Most common type on desktops
– E.g. Microsoft Windows, Apple’s MacOS
_ Multi-User
– Allows several users to work simultaneously on a computer
– Mainly run on servers
– E.g. UNIX or LINUX

Types of Operating Systems

Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS)

– Normally used to control scientific machinery
– Ensures that a given task occurs in precisely the time allocated for it
– Typically not user friendly
– Often is an embedded OS

_Embedded Operating Systems

– Operating system built into the circuitry of a device, e.g. cell phones,
medical equipment, bar-code scanners
– Eg Windows XP Embedded, Windows CE (also an RTOS), Symbian

Network Operating Systems

– Designed to work on network servers
– Such machines often have multiple processors and fault-tolerance built into them
– High level of reliability is required
– Eg. Windows NT Server, Windows Server 2003, Unix/Linux for servers,
Novell Netware

DOS (Disk Operating System)

MS-DOS command list

* See our our complete overview page for a brief description on each of the below
commands.
A ansi.sys | append | arp | assign | assoc | at | atmadm | attrib
B backup | batch | bootcfg | break
cacls | call | cd | chcp | chdir | chdsk | chkntfs | choice | cipher | cls | cmd | color |
C
command | comp | compact | control | convert | copy | ctty
date | debug | defrag | del | delete | deltree | dir| disable | diskcomp | diskcopy | diskpart
D
| doskey | dosshell | driveparm
E echo | edit | edlin | emm386 | enable | endlocal | erase | exit | expand | extract
F fasthelp | fc | fdisk | find | findstr | fixboot | fixmbr | for| format | ftp | ftype
G goto | gpupdate | graftabl
H help | hostname
I if | ifhlp.sys | ipconfig
J NONE
K keyb
L label | lh | listsvc | loadfix | loadhigh | lock | logoff | logon
map | md | mem| mkdir | mode | more | move | msav | msbackup | msd | mscdex |
M
mwbackup
N nbtstat | net | netsh | netstat | nlsfunc | nslookup
O NONE
 P path | pathping | pause | ping | popd | power | print | prompt | pushd
Q qbasic
R rd | reg | ren | rename | rmdir | route | runas
scandisk | scanreg | set | setlocal | setver | sfc | share | shift | shutdown | smartdrv | sort |
S
start | subst | switches | sys | systeminfo | systemroot
T taskkill | telnet | time | title | tracert | tree | type
U undelete | unformat | unlock
V ver | verify | vol
W NONE
X xcopy
Y NONE
Z NONE

About md

Allows you to create your own directories in MS-DOS.

Syntax

Creates a directory.

MKDIR [drive:]path
MD [drive:]path

Examples

md test

The above example creates the "test" directory in the directory you are currently in.

md c:\test

Create the "test" directory in the c:\ directory.

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