Computer Science
Types of Operating Systems
Operating systems can be categorized into several types, including real-time, single-user, multi-user, and multi-tasking systems. Real-time operating systems are designed for time-critical applications, while single-user systems are intended for individual use. Multi-user systems allow multiple users to access the system simultaneously, and multi-tasking systems enable concurrent execution of multiple tasks. Each type serves specific computing needs and requirements.
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10 Key excerpts on "Types of Operating Systems"
eBook - PDF- Palmer, Greg Tomsho(Authors)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
20 Chapter 1 Operating Systems Fundamentals Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-300 The Hands-On Projects at the end of this chapter enable you to view the interfaces (desktops) of Windows 10, Linux, and Mac OS X — all of which enable users to interact with the operating system. Types of Operating Systems There are many types of computer operating systems, which work in very different ways and are intended for very different purposes. To a large extent, the functions required by a com-puter dictate what the operating system will do and how. As an example, the computer in a microwave oven needs device drivers for the light-emitting diode (LED) display, numeric key-pad, and door-closing switches, whereas the computer in a television needs drivers to monitor the remote control and tell the tuner to change the channel. The same goes for various types of small and large computers; a computer designed to handle a high volume of numerical operations for many users needs different functions than the PC used to run a word processor. In general, operating systems are organized by the size, type, and purpose of the computer on which they run. For example, PC-class computers are designed for individual users to perform tasks, such as word processing, dat abase and spreadsheet management, and net-working with other computers. Over the years, PCs have become faster, more complex, and more powerful, offering the user more features. As a result, many PCs can now handle complex operations that go beyond simply running a user ’ s application software. This ability has resulted in advanced operating systems that are designed to provide complex graphical user interfaces and advanced services and applications. The lines of division by size, type, and purpose are therefore getting more vague every day.
eBook - PDF- Greg Tomsho(Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
• Early operating systems tended to be single- tasking, but modern systems are largely multitasking. • A true multiuser system is one in which multiple users access and run a single application on a single computer at the same time. • Two common Types of Operating Systems are desktop (or client) and server operating systems. • The BIOS is low-level program code that operates between the computer hardware and a higher-level operating system to initiate communications with hardware devices, perform hardware tests at startup, and enable the startup of the higher-level operating system. • Device drivers can extend the native functions of an operating system to provide access and control over different types of devices, such as printers and DVD drives. • The history of operating systems and computers represents a progression from physically huge computers to large computers to desktop-sized computers that MODULE 1 Operating Systems Fundamentals 37 Copyright 2021 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. have powerful processing capabilities and operating systems. • An operating system may be geared to run a large mainframe computer or a small PC. However, small PC systems can now be very powerful; when combined, they can be used in many places instead of mainframe systems. • From a user standpoint, one of the most significant advances in operating systems was the refinement of the GUI, as seen in the development of Windows-based and Mac OS systems. • Current popular operating systems include Windows 10, Server 2012/R2, Server 2016, Server 2019, UNIX/Linux, and macOS Mojave.
eBook - PDF- Michael Tooley(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Newnes(Publisher)
All of the last group are distinct types, but all have features in common in that they allow several processors to cooperate to some degree in providing the user with a service. In addition, there exist special -purpose operating systems particularly designed for critical or high-performance applications such as real-time or transaction processing work. These are often referred to as real-time executives. This text will concentrate on the three major categories of general-purpose operating system. All operating systems are the result of compromises made by the operating system designer between: (a) the capabilities of the underlying hardware, the needs and demands of the users, where not all classes of user may be in agreement as to what is needed. (b) mutually exclusive choices among methods and tech-niques, for example, choosing a particular scheduling technique may make it impossible to do real-time process-ing. Operating Systems 117 (c) stringencies of resources time and money. (d) marketing considerations such as eventual cost or com-plexity of the product. For example, choosing to use a round-robin scheduler, where each process is given a discrete time interval in turn in which to use the processor, is suitable for a time-sharing system but cannot be used for a system which must support real-time applications. As a result, no one operating system is suitable for every possible application and one of the choices to be made in designing an application system may be the choice of an operating system. Broad categories of application include: real-time, transac-tion processing, interactive systems and batch systems.
eBook - PDFSoftware
A Technical History
- Kim W. Tracy(Author)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- ACM Books(Publisher)
Lastly, operating systems have been affected by having different types (or “classes” as per Bell’s Law) of computers. Whenever a new type of computer is introduced, it gives the opportunity to leverage the unique features of that new class of computer and to introduce a new operating system or to modify an existing 88 Chapter 3 Operating Systems one to take advantage of those features. An example would be the introduction of the Android operating system that was designed to work on smartphone-type devices (and has since expanded to other mobile devices). Apple’s iOS builds off its success with MacOS and utilizes some of the same features. These new types of devices introduce an opportunity to re-think what the operating system should do for those kinds of devices. Operating systems evolved over time from very simple monitors, which did lit- tle more than make the use of a computer more efficient, to protecting data and programs from one another, and to providing a major portion of the user interface. As computers became more powerful and less expensive, the ability to use some of those computing cycles for managing the resources of the machine became more palatable and feasible. 3.2 Operating Systems Scope Operating systems have a significant number of types and many operating systems have come and gone over time. This section details some of the major types of oper- ating systems, major features, as well as describes several operating systems that had a significant influence on later systems. 3.2.1 Operating System Types Throughout most of this chapter, an “operating system” refers to a general-purpose operating system that is meant to be put to a wide variety of uses. However, there are a number of specialized operating systems that have been honed to specific purposes. Some of these are described below. ∙ Resident monitors are one of the simplest forms of an operating system.
No longer available |Learn more- (Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- White Word Publications(Publisher)
________________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ________________________ Chapter 2 Operating System An operating system ( OS ) is software, consisting of programs and data, that runs on computers and manages computer hardware resources and provides common services for efficient execution of various application software. For hardware functions such as input and output and memory allocation, the operating system acts as an intermediary between application programs and the computer hardware, although the application code is usually executed directly by the hardware and will frequently call the OS or be interrupted by it. Operating systems are found on almost any device that contains a computer—from cellular phones and video game consoles to supercomputers and web servers. Examples of popular modern operating systems for personal computers are (in alphabetical order): GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows and Unix Types of Operating Systems Real-time Operating System : It is a multitasking operating system that aims at executing real-time applications. Real-time operating systems often use specialized scheduling algorithms so that they can achieve a deterministic nature of behavior. The main object of real-time operating systems is their quick and predictable response to events. They either have an event-driven or a time-sharing design. An event-driven system switches between tasks based on their priorities while time-sharing operating systems switch tasks based on clock interrupts. Multi-user and Single-user Operating Systems : The operating systems of this type allow a multiple users to access a computer system concurrently. Time-sharing system can be classified as multi-user systems as they enable a multiple user access to a computer through the sharing of time. Single-user operating systems, as opposed to a multi-user operating system, are usable by a single user at a time.
eBook - PDF- Henry M. Walker(Author)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Chapman and Hall/CRC(Publisher)
Apple’s operating systems have allowed users, even begin-ning users, to easily perform valuable tasks, such as editing text, pictures, and sound. • Unix and Linux tout their reliability and ability to link complex processing tasks, with new graphical interfaces simplifying interactions with users. Proponents on each side could expand on these comments at great length (just ask them!). Each of these operating systems has its own strengths and advantages, and the choice of one over another depends on what a user wants to do and with whom that user wants to interact. Summary Operating systems handle common tasks and administrative functions that allow users to run computers with relative ease. Such tasks include identifying one user from another, keeping track of distinct requests (e.g., associating typing in a window with the correct pro-cessing), scheduling and coordinating processing, allocating resources (e.g., files, printers, memory), handling files, and communicating with other machines. When these tasks are performed centrally, individual users need not worry about doing these tasks themselves. 130 ◾ The Tao of Computing Multitasking allows computers to split their processing time and resources among sev-eral processes or users. Processing requires coordination when computers work on several tasks at the same time. When starting a computer, the operating system must prepare for its role of coordination; this process is called booting. Rebooting involves shutting down a computer and staring it again. Although rebooting should be needed rarely, if ever, rebooting sometimes provides a convenient way to recover and move forward when malfunctions arise in processing. Because the oversight and administration of computers can be done in many ways, different operating systems have developed, including Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Macintosh OS X.
eBook - PDFThe Architecture of Computer Hardware, Systems Software, and Networking
An Information Technology Approach
- Irv Englander, Wilson Wong(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
While it is true that a single operating system can be ported to operate with different hardware, it is also true that a particular hardware platform can support different oper- ating systems. Thus, the user or system designer can select an operating system that pro- vides the desired facilities for the particular use of the system. Although x86-based personal computers have traditionally been provided with some version of Windows, there are other operating system options available that a user could select. An unsophisticated user on a stand-alone system might run Windows 10 for its familiarity and ease of use, but a more sophisticated user with particular needs might prefer Apple Macintosh macOS for its excel- lent tools and applications or Linux for its additional power. 16.3 Services and Facilities Section 16.2 provided an overview of the various services and components that make up an operating system. In this section, we consider the fundamental building blocks of an operat- ing system in more detail. There are ten major blocks to be considered, not all of which will necessarily be found in any particular operating system: • The user interface, command processor, and application program interface • The file management system • The input/output control system • Process control management and interprocess communication • Memory management • Scheduling and dispatching • Secondary storage management • Network management, communication support, and communication interfaces • System protection management and security • Support for system administration. There are other system functions, such as accounting and error handling, that are some- times handled as separate blocks but frequently appear within the blocks already listed. 464 OPERATING SYSTEMS: AN OVERVIEW In different Types of Operating Systems, some of these components may be combined, or even absent.
eBook - PDF- Ann McHoes, , Ida M. Flynn, , Ann McHoes, Ida M. Flynn(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
For example, a mobile operating system often needs to minimize the heat the device gener-ates. Likewise, if it’s a real-time operating system, designers need to aggressively manage memory usage, processor time, device allocation, and files so that urgent deadlines will not be missed. For these reasons, operating systems are often complex pieces of software. As we might expect, no single operating system is perfect for every environment. Some systems can be best served with a UNIX system, others benefit from the structure of a Windows system, and still others work best using Linux, Mac OS, Android, or even a custom-built operating system. Conclusion In this chapter, we looked at the definition of an operating system as well as its overall function. What began as hardware-dependent operations software has evolved to run increasingly complex computers and, like any complicated subject, there’s much more detail to explore, such as the role of the main memory resource, the CPU (processor), the system’s input and storage devices, and its numerous files. Each of these functions needs to be managed seamlessly, as does the cooperation among them and other system essentials, such as the network it’s connected to. As we’ll see in the remainder of this text, there are many ways to perform every task, and it’s up to the designers of the operating system to choose the policies that best match the environment and its users. In the following chapters, we’ll explore in detail how each portion of the operating system works, as well as its features, functions, and benefits. We’ll begin with the part of the operating system that’s the heart of every computer: the module that manages main memory. Key Terms batch system: a type of computing system that executes programs, each of which is submitted in its entirety, can be grouped into batches, and is executed without external intervention.
- Misty Vermaat, Susan Sebok, Steven Freund, Jennifer Campbell(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
New versions of an operating system usu-ally are backward compatible , which means they recognize and work with applications written for an earlier version of the operating system (or platform). Newly developed applications may or may not be backward compatible; that is, they may or may not run on older operating systems. Further, an application may or may not be upward compatible , meaning it may or may not run on newer versions of an operating system. The three basic categories of operating sys-tems on computers and mobile devices are desk-top, server, and mobile. Table 9-2 lists examples in each of these categories, which are discussed on the following pages. CONSIDER THIS What are some alternatives to passwords? Many computers and mobile devices offer alternatives to setting and entering a password in order to gain access. Alternatives to passwords include specifying passcodes containing only numeric characters, swiping or touching areas of the screen in a specified order or pattern, or fingerprint or facial recognition. CONSIDER THIS Do operating systems encrypt data and files? To protect sensitive data and information further as it travels over a network, the operating system may encrypt it. Recall that encryption is the process of encoding data and information into an unreadable form. Administrators can specify that data be encrypted as it travels over a network to prevent unauthorized users from reading the data. When an authorized user attempts to read the data, it is automatically decrypted, or converted back into a readable form. Table 9-2 Examples of Operating Systems by Category Category Name Desktop Windows macOS UNIX Linux Chrome OS Server Windows Server macOS Server UNIX Linux Mobile Google Android Apple iOS Windows (Mobile Edition) Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
eBook - PDF- Steve Heath(Author)
- 2002(Publication Date)
- Newnes(Publisher)
212 Embedded systems design 7 Real-time operating systems What are operating systems? Operating systems are software environments that provide a buffer between the user and the low level interfaces to the hardware within a system. They provide a constant interface and a set of utilities to enable users to utilise the system quickly and efficiently. They allow software to be moved from one system to another and therefore can make application programs hardware independent. Program debugging tools are usually included which speed up the testing process. Many applications do not require any operating system support at all and run direct on the hard-ware. VMEbus SYSTEM Application Operating system System calls Device drivers Device drivers Discrete components CPU RAM Hardware independence through the use of an operating system Such software includes its own I/O routines, for example, to drive serial and parallel ports. However, with the addition of mass storage and the complexities of disk access and file struc-tures, most applications immediately delegate these tasks to an operating system. The delegation decreases software development time by providing system calls to enable application software access to any of the I/O system facilities. These calls are typically made by building a parameter block, loading a specified register with its location and then executing a software interrupt instruction. Real-time operating systems 213 Data Address Parameter block in memory 1. Create parameter block. This has the data for the operating system to use. 2. Load pointer to block into A0. 3. Execute a TRAP instruction. 4. Wait for call to complete. 5. Check parameter block for status. A0 Typical system call mechanism for the M680x0 processor family The TRAP instruction is the MC68000 family equivalent of the software interrupt and switches the processor into supervisor mode to execute the required function.
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