2. An operating system or OS is a series of
programmes what manage the computers
hardware resources. Also it provides services
for application software. Many devices use
operating such as Windows 7, Game consoles
and mobile phones such as smart phones.
3. Operating systems are found everywhere in our day to day lives without
us even knowing. We also use them on a day to day basis such as :
Computers
Game consoles ( Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo Wii )
Mobile phones
SATNAV
Cars
4. The main functions of an operating system are to control the
main hardware elements in the computer.
The five main features of an operating system:
Processor management
Memory management
Device management
Storage management
User interface
5. The managing processor has two main issues. Making sure that each of the
processes and applications receive enough of the processor's time to work
properly. The processor can only do one thing at a time so the operating system
is in charge for sending the task to the processor.
A buffer is a region of a physical memory storage used to temporally hold data.
The purpose of most buffers is to act as a holding area, enabling the CPU to
manipulate data before transferring it to a device. For example, word processors
use a buffer to keep track of changes to files. Then when you save the file the
word processor updates the disk file with the contents of the buffer.
6. Memory management is the act of managing computer
memory. In its simpler forms, this involves providing ways to
give memory to programs when they need it, and then
freeing it for reuse when it longer needed in that specific
program. The management of memory is critical to the
computer in the way of finding enough space for memory to
programs that need it but doing that at a standard pace.
7. The path between the operating system and almost all hardware not on the
computer's motherboard goes through a special program called a driver. The
drivers job is to be the translator between the electrical signals of the hardware
subsystems and the high-level programming languages of the operating system
and application programs.
A device driver or software driver is a computer programme which convert the
messages from the OS into messages that the hardware device can understand.
A device driver simplifies programming by acting as translator between a
hardware device and the applications or operating systems that use it.
8. When an operating system manages the computer's memory there are two broad tasks to
be accomplished:
Each process must have enough memory in which to execute, and it can neither run
into the memory space of another process nor be run into by another process.
The different types of memory in the system must be used properly so that each
process can run most effectively.
A file allocation table is a table that the operating system uses to locate files on a disk. The
name originates from the usage of a table which centralizes the information about which
areas belong to files, are free or possibly unusable, and where each file is stored on the
disk. To limit the size of the table, disk space is allocated to files in contiguous groups of
hardware sectors called clusters.
9. User interface design is the design of computers, mobile and websites with the
focus point on the user's experience and interaction to the interface. The point of
user interface design is to make the user's interaction as simple and efficient as
possible and something what appeals to the user.
10. The OS manage the execution of processes so that you
believe lots of things are happening. In order to give the
appearance of lots 0f the things happening at the same time
the OS has to switch between different processes.
