Bou Study this screen display and answer these questions 1 How do you enter Unix commands? 2. Which Unix commands does it show? 3 What is the output of each command? 4 What will happen when the last command is entered? 5. Which other Unix commands do you know? peo east Unix screen display Match the labels to the four layers of this diagram with the help of the diagram caption. bom Ad 1 applications programs 2 user 3 hardware G4 operating system Conceptual diagram of an operating system Closest tothe user are applications programs ‘aleulate the trajectory of racket. ‘Te operating system Isthe set of programs between the and the hardware| © MBER stirs tent ete ws do you tint means i Operating Systems: Hidden Software Now read this text to check your answer and to find the answers to these questions: 1 What difference is there between applications software and operating systems? 2 Why is the supervisor program the most important operating system program? 3. What is the difference between resident and non-resident programs? 4 What are the main functions of an opera When 2 brand new computer comes off the factory ‘assembly line, tan do nothing, The hardware needs software to make it work. Are we talking about applications software such as wordprocessing or spreadsheet software? Partly, But an applications software package does not communicate directly with the hardware. Between the applications software and the hardware isa software face - an operating system, AToperating system is between applications software and the computer hardware, of programs that lies The most important program In the operating system, the rogram that manages the ‘operating system, isthe supervisor program, most of which remains in memory and is thus referred to as resident, The supervisor controls the ing system? entire operating system and loads into memory othe ‘operating system programs (called nonresident) from disk storage only as needed. ‘An operating system has three main functions: (1) manage the computer's resources, such as the central processing unit, | memory, disk drives, and (2) establish a user and (3) execute and provide services for applications software. Keep in mind, however, that much of the work of an operating from th User. In particular, the first listed function, managing the computer's resources, is taken system is hide ‘are of without the user being aware of the details ‘thermore, al input and output operations, although invoked by an applications program, are actually carried ‘ut by the operating system,38 UNIT6 Operating Systems HEB Complete the gaps in this summary of the text on operating systems using these linking words and phrases: valthough “in addition «because — * such as «but ~ therefore The user is aware of the effects of different applications programs . operating systems are invisible to most users. They lie between applications programs, .ss2.. wordprocessing, and the hardware. The supervisor program is the most important. It remains in memory, ..Asss& it is referred to as resident. Others are called non-resident £<;.u58. they are loaded into memory only when needed. Operating systems manage the computer's resources, ‘Suc.26... the central processing unit. they establish a user interface, and execute and pro 3s for applications software, #:8-28842“input and output operations are invoked by applications programs, they are carried out by the operating system, We can use thebing noun. Itcan be the baat by focsing Bact T CORTE SPC BDEatiig'systim: e100 forward'to having cl ied and ON. sahara eat 3 Another function of the operating Is executing and providing services for applications software. 38. 5!!00)UNITS Operating Systems 39 BED ewe cach ot essences ‘An important function of the operating system is to manage the computer's resources, ‘Managing the computer's resources is an important function of the operating system. One task of the supervisor program is to load into memory non: resident programs as required, The role of the operating system the hardware, to communicate directly with One of the key functions of the operating system is to establish a user interface. An additional role is to provide services for applications software, Part of the work of mainframe operating systems is to support multiple programs and users. The task in most cases is to facilitate interaction between a single user and a PC. One of the most important functions of a computer is to process large amounts of data quickly. The main reason for installing more memory is to allow the computer to process data faster, HIGH complete these sentences with the correct form of the verb: it 2 3 4 finitive or -ing form. Don't switch off without (close down) your PC. | want to (upgrade) my computer. He can't get used to (log on) with a password. 9 You can find information on the internet by (use) a search engine, He objected to (pay) expensive telephone calls for Internet access. He tried to (hack into) the system without (know) the password. You needn't learn how to (program) in HTML before (design) webpages, ook forward to (input) data by voice instead of (use) a keyboard. } f k a40. UNIT6 Operating Systems these actions. vas Unix help write directory © P| search tbr copy C rename mkdir aa print date fae show users m show time man create/directory grep Phone twho | delete m | Delete a file | eeket te | Rename a file |" eet Copya file ieee fess Send ale toa printer | ee te Obtain help wel ae Create a directory ne Wnte dir Show date and time w tine |] der Show users on system Talk to other users on system |} (< we Search fora string Ba ERI work in pairs, A and B. Each of you has information about ‘some popular operating systems. Find out from the information you have and by asking each other, the answers to these questions: Student A Your information is on page 184, Student B Your information is on page 190. 1 Which operating system is used on Apple Macintosh microcomputers? 2 What is Penpoint designed for? TEEN Try to find the commands from the lists below which will haveUNIT 6 Operating Systems 41 Name one system used on IBM mainframes. Which operating system is Linux related to? Name an IBM operating system similar to MS-DOS. Which operating system replaced MS-D0S? Which systems are in fact graphically orientated shells for MS- os? | How many versions of Windows 9X were developed? i) 9 Which operating systems are designed for networks? 10 Which operating system is used by DEC VAX minicomputers? MERE his description ofthe Mac 05 xis crawn fom the table below. Write a similar description of Linux. Mac OS X isa Unix-based operating system designed for use on Apple ‘Mac computers. It inchides memory-protecion, pre-emptive multitasking and symmetric multiprocessing support. Graphics are provided by 2 graphics engine known as Quartz It has advanced-PDF standards support OpenGL and Quicktime integrated into the OS, The operating systern features ae accessed through a graphical user interface called Aqua | EF | eee || Mae os x Linux i |type I Unixcbased Unix-based | computer Apple Mac wide variety | features | memory-protection, variety of i pre-emptive multi- distribution kits tasking, symmetric available | | multiprocessing support graphics engine Quartz xFreess : standard support advanced-PDF, | 1 | OpenGL, Quicktime } | user interface type | GUI command line, GUL | userinterface | Aqua KDE, Gnome | Source code not available freely available | availability |42 UNIT6 Oper ing Systems Find the answers to these questions in the following text. 1. What did Linus Torvalds use to write the Linux kernel? 2 How was the Linux kernel first made available to the general public? 3. Whatis a programmer likely to do with source code? 4 Why will most software companies not sell you their source code? 5 What type of utilities and applications are provided in a Linux distribution? 6 What isx? 7 What graphical user interfaces are ‘mentioned in the text? SS LINUX Linux has its roots in a student project. In 1992, an undergraduate called Linus Torvalds as studying computer science in Helsinki, Finland. Like most computer science courses, big component of it was taught on (and about) Unix. Unix was the wonder operating system of the 1970s and 1980s: both a textbook example of the principles of operating system design, and sufficiently robust to be the standard 05 in engineering and scientific computing. But Unix vas a commercial product (licensed by ATET to ‘number of resellers), and cost more than a student could pay. Annoyed by the shortcomings of Minix fa compact Unix clone written as a teaching aid by Professor Andy Tannenbaum) Linus set out to rite his own ‘kemel”~ the core of an ‘operating system that handles memory allocation, talks to hardware devices, and makes sure everything keeps running. He used the GNU programming tools developed by Richard Stallman's Free Software Foundation, an organisation of volunteers dedicated to fulfilling Stallman’ ideal of making good software that anyone could use without paying. When he'd ‘written a basic kernel, he released the source code to the Linux kernel on the Internet Source code is important. I's the original from Which compiled programs are generated. Ifyou ‘don’t have the source code to a program, you can't modify it to fix bugs or add new features ‘Most software companies won't sell you theit source code, or will only do so for an eye- watering price, because they believe that if theySS $$$ __________] 2 make it available it will destroy their revenue stream, What happened next was astounding, from the comentional, commercial software industry point of view — and utterly predictable to ‘© anyone who knew about the Free Software Foundation. Programmers {mostly academics and students) began using Linux. They found that t didn't do things they wanted it to do — so they fixed it And where they Improved it, they sent the improvements to Linus, who ralled them into the kernel. And Linux began to grow. ‘There's a term for this model of software evelopment; it’s called Open Source (see \[Link]/ for more information) s» Anyone can have the source code ~ it's free {in the sense of free speech, not free beer). Anyone can contribute to it. IF you use it heavily you may want to extend or develop or fix bugs in it ~ and itis so easy to give your fixes back to 4 the community that most people do so. An operating system kernel on its own isn't a lot of use; but Linux was purposefully designed 48 a near-clone of Unix, and there isa lot of software out there that is free and was designed © t0 compile on Linux. By about 1992, the first ‘distributions’ appeared, A distribution isthe Linux-user term for a complete operating system kit, complete with the utilities and applications you need to make it do useful things ~ command interpreters, programming tools, text editors, typesetting tools, and graphical usr interfaces based on the X windowing system. X is a standard in academic and scientific computing, but not hitherto common on PCS: it's a complex distributed windowing system on which people implement graphical interfaces like KDE and Gnome. ‘As more and more people got to know about Linux, some of them began to port the Linux ‘emel to run on non-sterdard computers. Because it's fee, Linux is now the most widely ported operating system there is. {Adapted trom Smooth Operator by Charles Stoss, Computer Shopper magazine, November 1998), UNIT 6 Operating Systems 43 Re-read the (ext find the ansivers to these questions. 1. Match the terms in Table A with the statements in Table B. Table A Kernel Free Software Foundation Source code Open Source distribution x Table B | Atype of software development where any programmer can develop or fix bugs inthe software li_ The original systems program from which compiled programs are generated iil A complete operating system kit with the utilities and applications you need to ‘make it do useful things iv Asstandard distributed windowing system ‘on which people implement graphical Interfaces v_ An organisation of volunteers dedicated to making good software that anyone ‘could use without paying i The core of an operating system that handles memory allocation, talks to hardware devices, and makes sure everything keeps running 2. Mark the following statements as True or False: Linux was created in the 1980s, Minix was created by a university student. Linux is based on Unix ‘Minix is based on Unix. Linux runs on more types of computer than any ather operating system,