Chapter 17: Operating System Fundamentals
Operating System
The most important basic program that runs on a computer is Operating System or System
Software. Every general-purpose computer must have an operating system to run other
programs called as Application Softwares. 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 etc.
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.
Operating systems can be classified as follows:
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.
Application Support & Operating System Types
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,Windows, From Microsoft
OS/2 From IBM
Unix Open Standard
Linux Open Standard
Macantosh From Apple
Netware,Suse Linux From Novel
User Interface
User can interact with the system in two ways
1. CLI – Command Line Interface
2. GUI – Graphical User Interface
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.
Hard Drive
The computer storage device, which spins, reads and writes one or more fixed disk platters.
Hard drives are the storage medium in desktop and laptop computers as well as all servers
and mainframes throughout the world. They are also used in printers for storing fonts and
print jobs as well as digital music players and a myriad of other portable and stationary
computer-based devices. Although removable disks encased in cartridges use the same
"hard" disk media and a similar drive technology, they are mostly called "removable drives"
rather than hard drives.
How to Partition
To create a new partition, select the unpartitioned space in Disk Manager and Right Click
select Create New Partition. To create a new partition with the Required amount of space
allotted to it, press Enter.
Now select the partition just created to install Windows on. Format the drive as NTFS (Quick
Formating, or Full Formating) Depending on the size of the drive and how fast your
computer is, this will take some time. Wait a while then, follow Windows Setup's steps. set
the required options and supply the necessary information . seria key,Name and
password,Organisation info etc and let it reboot as many times as necessary until it asks you
to log in for the first time.
Partition
When referring to a computer hard disk drive, a partition is a segment of the hard drive
that is separated from other portions of the hard disk drive. Partitions help enable users to
easily divide a computer hard disk drive into different drives and/or into different portions for
multiple operating systems to run on the same drive.
With older file allocation tables, such as FAT16, creating smaller partitions allows a computer
hard disk drive to run more efficiently and save more disk space. However, with new file
allocation tables, such as FAT32, this is no longer the case.
Partitioning softwares
1. Creating, Deleting (unpartition), fdisk.
2. Information about creating partitions and setting up a drive in Windows 2000, XP, Explaned
above
3. If you wish to extend a partition, shrink a partition, combine partitions, or otherwise manipulate
a partition that can be done through a standard partition program, we would recommend you
look into Partition Magic.
In addition to the utilities to create hard disk drive partitions, there are hundreds of different
types of partitions; below is a listing of some of these types of partitions as well as a brief
description about these partitions. While all of these partitions are available, it is very likely
that not all of these partitions will be listed in your partition utility.
Type of Partition Description
AIX Partition (Boot) Partition used with the AIX operating system.
As defined by Microsoft a boot partition is a partition that
Boot Partition contains the files required for a system startup. Also see:
System Partition
BSD/OS Partition
Partition used with the BSD operating system.
(OpenBSD)
DOS (12-bit, 16-bit)
Partition used with older versions of MS-DOS.
Partition
Partition that is extended from one or more of the original
DOS Extended Partition
MS-DOS partitions.
DRDOS (Hidden,
Partition used with the DR. DOS operating system.
Secured)
Extended Partition Partition that is extended from one or more of the primary
partitions.
Hibernation Partition Partition used with older hibernation programs.
HPFS Partition (OS/2
Partition used with IBM OS/2 and Microsoft NT 3.x
IFS)
Linux (Linux native,
Partition used with various variants of the Linux operating
Linux swap, Linux
systems.
extended, ext2fs)
MINIX Partition used with the MINIX operating system.
When using Microsoft fdisk a NON-DOS partition indicates a
NON-DOS Partition partition that is not native to the Microsoft operating system.
For example, this could be a Linux partition.
NEC DOS Partition used with the old NEC DOS variant.
NEXTSTEP Partition used with the Nextstep operating system.
Novell Netware Partition used with the Novell Netware operating system.
Partition used with Microsoft Windows NT 4.x, Windows 2000
NTFS
and Windows XP.
Partition Magic Partition created using the Partition Magic utility by
(PowerQuest) PowerQuest.
Partition created by the PC ARMOUR security utility. When
PC-ARMOUR
created this partition is commonly protected by a password.
In a Microsoft operating system the Primary Partition
Primary commonly refers to the main partition used for the Microsoft
operating system.
Partition used with the Sun Solaris X86 platform operating
Solaris X86
system.
As defined by Microsoft a system partition is a partition that
System Partition
contains the system32 directory. Also see: Boot Partition
Tandy DOS Partition used with the old Tandy DOS variant.
Unix System V (SCO,
IRIX, ISC, Unix, Partition used with various Unix operating systems.
UnixWare, etc...)
VMWare (VMWare
Partition used by VMWare.
Swap)
XENIX (XENIX /usr) Partition used with the XENIX operating system.
Formating
Low-Level Formatting
Low-level formatting is the process of outlining the positions of the tracks and sectors.on the hard disk
and writing the control structures that define where the tracks and sectors are. This is often called a
"true" formatting operation, because it really creates the physical format that defines where
the data is stored on the disk.
The first time that a low-level format ("LLF") is performed on a hard disk, the disk's platters
start out empty. That's the last time the platters will be empty for the life of the drive. If an
LLF is done on a disk with data on it already, the data is permanently erased.
High-Level Formatting
After low-level formatting is complete, we have a disk with tracks and sectors--but nothing
written on them. High-level formatting is the process of writing the file system
Structures on the disk that let the disk be used for storing programs and data. If you are
using DOS, for example, the DOS FORMAT command performs this work, writing such
structures as the master boot record and file allocation tables to the disk. High-level
formatting is done after the hard disk has been partitioned
Master boot record:
The MBR is always located at cylinder 0, head 0, and sector 1, the first sector on the
disk. This is the consistent "starting point" that the disk always uses
Master Partition Table:
This small table contains the descriptions of the partitions that are contained on the
hard disk.
Master Boot Code:
The master boot record contains the small initial boot program that the BIOS loads
and executes to start the boot process.
Dual Boot
A dual boot system is a computer system in which two operating systems are installed on
the same hard drive, allowing either operating system to be loaded and given control. When
you turn the computer on, a boot manager program displays a menu, allowing you to choose
the operating system you wish to use. A boot manager works by replacing the original
Master Boot Record (MBR) with its own so that the boot manager program loads instead of
an operating system. Some popular boot manager programs are LILO,GRUB, System
Commander, and Partition Magic. Common combinations of operating systems used on dual
boot systems include Linux and Windows . Since more than two operating systems can be
installed on a computer, the term multiboot system is sometimes used.
OR
Also called a multiboot, an operating system configuration that enables the user to boot the
computer system from one of two different operating systems that are both installed on the
same hard drive. The operating system that is loaded is given control, typically through a
boot management program that will override the original MBR and load instead of an
operating system.
What is a driver?
A driver is software that allows your computer to communicate with hardware or devices.
Without drivers, the hardware you connect to your computer—for example, a video card or a
webcam—will not work properly.In most cases, drivers come with Windows or can be found
by going to Windows Update in Control Panel and checking for updates. If Windows doesn't
have the driver you need, you can find it on the disc that came with the hardware or device
you want to use, or on the manufacturer's website.
A driver is a special kind of software program that interacts with a particular device. The
driver contains the special knowledge of the device to interact with the operating system. In
personal computers, a driver is often packaged as a dynamic link library (DLL) file.
