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SIT 102: Operating Systems Exam 2023/24

This document outlines the examination details for the SIT 102 - Operating Systems course at Murang’a University of Technology for the 2023/2024 academic year. It includes instructions for candidates, a breakdown of questions in two sections, and various topics related to operating systems such as multitasking, scheduling algorithms, file access mechanisms, and I/O management. The exam duration is set for 2 hours, and candidates are required to answer specific questions as per the provided guidelines.

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mwendamark125125
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52 views3 pages

SIT 102: Operating Systems Exam 2023/24

This document outlines the examination details for the SIT 102 - Operating Systems course at Murang’a University of Technology for the 2023/2024 academic year. It includes instructions for candidates, a breakdown of questions in two sections, and various topics related to operating systems such as multitasking, scheduling algorithms, file access mechanisms, and I/O management. The exam duration is set for 2 hours, and candidates are required to answer specific questions as per the provided guidelines.

Uploaded by

mwendamark125125
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

MURANG’A UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION


TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

ORDINARY UNIVERSITY EXAMINATION

2023/2024 ACADEMIC YEAR


FIRST YEAR SECOND SEMESTER EXAMINATION FOR BIT, BBIT,
BDIT, BMCS, Bed (SCIENCE), Bed (ARTS), BCS, BSE, AND BCT

SIT 102 – OPERATING SYSTEMS

DURATION: 2 HOURS

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES:

1. Answer question one and any other two questions.


2. Mobile phones are not allowed in the examination room.
3. You are not allowed to write on this examination question paper.

Page 1 of 3
SECTION A: ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS IN THIS SECTION
QUESTION ONE (30 MARKS)
a) Provide definitions for the following terms in relation to operating system.
i. Program (2 marks)
ii. Context switching (2 marks)
iii. Multitasking (2 marks)
iv. Semaphore (2 marks)
b) Elucidate any three examples of an operating system call. (6 marks)
c) Explain the role of a cache in an operating system. (4 marks)
d) Using a scenario of program execution, describe how an operating system performs the round
robin time scheduling. (6 marks)
e) Discuss two algorithms used to improve hard–disk performance in an operating system.
(6 marks)

SECTION B – ANSWER ANY TWO QUESTIONS IN THIS SECTION


QUESTION TWO (20 MARKS)
a) Explain the meaning of the following terms below, and point out their effects on performance
of the computer from users’ view. (4 marks)
i. Pre-emptive multitasking
ii. Non pre-emptive multitasking
b) With an aid of a diagram, describe Batch operating system. Also give one advantage and one
disadvantage of batch system. (4 marks)
c) Assume the following process arrived in the order P1, P2, P3 with their respective burst / run
time.
Process Burst time (m/sec)
P1 12
P2 7
P3 15

You are required to;


i. Draw Gantt charts to represent the three processes using FIFO and SJF.
(2 marks)
ii. Calculate the waiting time for each process using FIFO and SJF respectively.
(2 marks)
iii. Calculate the average waiting time of the processes with FIFO and SJF
respectively. (4
marks)
iv. Discuss the difference between FIFO algorithm and SJF with respect to the
calculations above. (4 marks)

Page 2 of 3
QUESTION THREE (20 MARKS)
a) List and explain three (3) file access mechanisms. (6 marks)
b) Discuss three techniques that operating system used to manage 1/0 activities.
(6 marks)
c) A company intends to set up a distributed operating system for their service delivery
considerations. Elucidate four problems the company is likely to contend with in this task.
(8 marks)

QUESTION FOUR (20 MARKS)

a) Discuss the impact of disk block–size on the performance of a hard–disk storage system.
(4 marks)
b) A disk has a response time of 200ms and a block size of 4kbytes. How long will it take to
copy a 5MB file to RAM which has an access time of 2ns. Show your working and
computation.
(6 marks)
c) Distinguish between starvation and dead lock in operating system. Assuming the operating
system detects that the system is deadlock; what can the operating system do to recover from
the deadlock. (6 marks)
d) A process must go through a minimum of four states to be considered complete. Using a
diagram, illustrate all the possible states that a process undergoes during its execution.
(4 marks)

Page 3 of 3

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