a Micro-VM
The operating system is the most important program that runs on a computer. Every general-purpose computer must have an operating system to run other programs and applications. 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.
The Classification of Operating systems
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.
Interacting With the Operating System
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.
Read Also:
- Windows Bridge for iOS
Windows Bridge for iOS is a tool developed by Microsoft for bringing Apple iOS apps to the Windows platform. Microsoft first announced the open-source Windows Bridge for iOS technology at its Build 2015 conference in April 2015, and the company debuted an early “Developer Preview” version of the technology later in August of the same […]
- Android M
Android M is the Android codename for the upcoming 6.0 update of the open source Android mobile operating system. The Android M release was first announced at Google I/O in May 2015 and is expected to make its official debut in October or November 2015 as the successor to the “Lollipop” Android 5.0 and 5.1 […]
- OS X El Capitan
OS X El Capitan is version 10.11 of Apple Computer’s Mac OS X operating system for Macintosh desktop, laptop and server computers, and serves as the successor to OS X Yosemite. OS X El Capitan was introduced at Apple’s 2014 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in early June 2015 along with iOS 9, with official availability […]
- iOS 9
iOS 9 is the ninth major update for Apple’s iOS mobile operating system that runs on portable Apple devices like the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Apple iOS 9 was introduced at the company’s 2015 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in early June 2015 along with OS X El Capitan, with official availability expected in the […]
- a Microvisor
The term microvisor refers to a Xen-based security-focused hypervisor developed by security firm Bromium that provides micro-virtualization technology to ensure secure computing environments. Short for micro-hypervisor, a microvisor works with the VT (Virtualization Technology) features built into Intel, AMD and other CPUs to create hardware-isolated micro virtual machines (micro-VMs) for each task performed by a […]