Operating System and its

Functions
Dr. M.S.CHAHAR
Astt. Professor
RBSMTC, Agra
 What is Operating System
 operating system is the set of programs that controls a
computer.
 It provide a pleasant and effective interface between the
user and the hardware
 Makes the computer more convenient to use
 Operating System is a software, which makes a
computer to actually work.

 It is the software the enables all the programs we use.

 The OS organizes and controls the hardware.

 OS acts as an interface between the application

programs and the machine hardware.

 Examples: Windows, Linux, Unix and Mac OS, etc.,

Contd……..
Some Examples of
Operating System
 Functions of Operating
system

 Process Management
 Memory Management
 File Management
 Security management
 Command Interpreter
 1.Process management

 Process management OS
manages many kinds of
activities :-
All process from start to shut down
Creation and deletion of user and
system processes.
 2. Memory Management

 The major activities of an

operating regard to memory-
management are:-
 Decide which process are loaded into
memory when memory space becomes
available.
 Allocate and deallocate memory space as
needed.
 3.File Management

 The file management system

allows the user to perform
such tasks:-
Creating files and directories
Renaming files
Coping and moving files
Deleting files
 4.Security Management

 By security management OS
manages many tasks such
as:-
Alert messages
Dialogue boxes
Firewall
Passwords
 5.Command Interpreter

 A command interpreter is an
interface between system
and the user. There are two
types of user interface:-
Command line
Graphical user interface
 Contd……
 With a command line user interface
the user interact with the OS by typing
command to perform specific tasks

 With a graphical user interface the

user interacts with the OS by using a
mouse to access windows icons and
menus
 Structure of Operating System
(Contd…):
 The structure of OS consists of 4 layers:
1. Hardware
Hardware consists of CPU, Main
memory, I/O Devices, etc,

2. Software (Operating System)

Software includes process management
routines, memory management routines,
I/O control routines, file management
routines.

(Contd…)
Structure of Operating System
(Contd…):

3. System programs
This layer consists of compilers,
Assemblers, linker etc.

4. Application programs
This is dependent on users need. Ex.
Railway reservation system, Bank
database management etc.,
 Evolution of OS:
 The evolution of operating systems went through
seven major phases.

 Six of them significantly changed the ways in

which users accessed computers through the
open shop, batch processing, multiprogramming,
timesharing, personal computing, and distributed
systems.

 In the seventh phase the foundations of

concurrent programming were developed and
demonstrated in model operating systems.
(Contd…)
 Evolution of OS (contd..):
Major Technical Operating
Phases Innovations Systems
Open Shop The idea of OS IBM 701 open shop
(1954)

Batch Tape batching, BKS system (1961)

First-in, first-out
Processing scheduling.

Multi- Processor multiplexing, Atlas supervisor

Indivisible operations, (1961),
programming Demand paging, Exec II system (1966)
Input/output spooling,
Priority scheduling,
Remote job entry

(Contd…)
 Evolution of OS (contd..):
Timesharing Simultaneous user
interaction,
Multics file system
(1965),
On-line file systems Unix (1974)

Concurrent Hierarchical systems,

Extensible kernels,
RC 4000 system (1969),
13 Venus system
Programming Parallel programming (1972),
concepts, Secure parallel 14 Boss 2 system
languages (1975).

Personal Graphic user interfaces OS 6 (1972)

Pilot system (1980)
Computing
Distributed Remote servers WFS file server (1979)
Unix United RPC (1982)
Systems 24 Amoeba system
(1990)
 Batch Processing:
 Batch processing same type of jobs batch
(BATCH- a set of jobs with similar needs)
together and execute at a time.
 The OS was simple, its major task was to transfer
control from one job to the next.
 The job was submitted to the computer operator
in form of punch cards. At some later time the
output appeared.
 The OS was always resident in memory. (Ref. Fig.
next slide)
 Common Input devices were card readers and
tape drives.
 Batch Processing (Contd…):
 Common output devices were line printers, tape
drives, and card punches.
 Users did not interact directly with the computer
systems, but he prepared a job (comprising of
the program, the data, & some control
information).
OS

User
progra
m area
 Multiprogramming:
 Multiprogramming is a technique to execute
number of programs simultaneously by a single
processor.
 In Multiprogramming, number of processes
reside in main memory at a time.
 The OS picks and begins to executes one of the
jobs in the main memory.
 If any I/O wait happened in a process, then CPU
switches from that job to another job.
 Hence CPU in not idle at any time.
Multiprogramming (Contd…):
OS •Figure dipicts the layout of
multiprogramming system.
Job 1
• The main memory consists
Job 2 of 5 jobs at a time, the CPU
executes one by one.
Job 3 Advantages:
Job 4 •Efficient memory utilization
•Throughput increases
Job 5
•CPU is never idle, so
performance increases.
 Time Sharing Systems:
 Time sharing, or multitasking, is a logical
extension of multiprogramming.
 Multiple jobs are executed by switching the CPU
between them.
 In this, the CPU time is shared by different
processes, so it is called as “Time sharing
Systems”.
 Time slice is defined by the OS, for sharing CPU
time between processes.
 Examples: Multics, Unix, etc.,
 Operating Systems functions:
 The main functions of operating systems are:

1. Program creation
2. Program execution
3. Input/Output operations
4. Error detection
5. Resource allocation
6. Accounting
7. protection
 Types of OS:

Operating System can also be classified as,-

 Single User Systems

 Multi User Systems

 Single User Systems:

 Provides a platform for only one user at

a time.

 They are popularly associated with

Desk Top operating system which run
on standalone systems where no user
accounts are required.
 Example: DOS
 Multi-User Systems:

 Provides regulated access for a number of users

by maintaining a database of known users.

 Refers to computer systems that support two or

more simultaneous users.

 Another term for multi-user is time sharing.

 Ex: All mainframes and are multi-user systems.

 Example: Unix
 User Interface
 The Graphical User Interface has a
visual environment using windows,
buttons, and icons.
 Microsoft Windows operating system is
the most popular, we will discuss the
different features of a GUI based
operating systems with the help of
Windows operating system.
 Task Bar
 Taskbar is a bar displayed at the
bottom of the GUI desktop. It is used to
launch and monitor running
applications. The taskbar in Microsoft
Windows may include the Start menu
button, Quick Launch bar, taskbar
buttons, and notification area.
 Taskbar elements
 The Start menu button gives access to installed
programs, recent documents and OS settings.

 The Quick Launch bar contains shortcuts to

applications. Microsoft Windows XP displays the
Quick Launch bar by default, so it might already
be part of your taskbar. Look for the Quick Launch
bar directly to the right of your Start button. If
your Quick Launch bar is disabled, you can
display it by right clicking your taskbar, and
selecting Toolbars
 Quick Launch option.
 Setting Taskbar Options
 Windows, you can customize the
taskbar according to your choice. To do
so, right-click the Taskbar.
 The pop- up menu displays some of the
commonly used options and the
properties option. You can select the
option you want by clicking on
“Properties” to open the Taskbar and
Start Menu properties dialog box.
Some of the options are discussed below:
 Lock the taskbar: If selected, all sizing handles on
the taskbar are hidden so you can't accidentally
move or resize it.
 Auto-hide the taskbar: If you select this option,
the taskbar will be hidden most of the time so as
to not take up any space on the screen. To make
it visible, move the mouse pointer to its position
prior to hiding.
 Keep the taskbar on top of other windows: If
selected, the taskbar is visible at all times, even
when large maximized program windows are
covering the rest of the screen.
 Group similar taskbar buttons: If
selected, multiple taskbar buttons
collapse into a single button so the
buttons don't become too small on the
taskbar.
 Show Quick Launch: If selected, Quick
Launch toolbar is displayed to the right
of the Start button.
 Icons
 Icon is a graphic symbol that denotes a
program or a command or a data file or
a concept in a graphical user interface.
 There are thousands of icons in
windows Operating system. Some
important icons are categorized into six
groups as follows:
1. File management icons are used for
storing and retrieving files and folders
within the system. E.g. My Computer,
My Document, etc.
2. Database management icons are used
for accessing different types of
databases.
3. Office Icons are used for accessing
office applications. E.g. Word, Excel,
etc.
1. Internet access icons are used for upload
and download files from the internet. E.g.
Internet Explorer, FTP, etc.
2. Multimedia icons are used for accessing
audio and video files. E.g. Windows Media
Player, Sound Recorder, etc.
3. Utility Icons are used for managing the
system. E.g. Backup, Control Panel, etc.
 MENU
 Running an application in GUI based
operating system is quite easy and can
be done in many ways. Some of the
ways are mentioned below:
1. If the application icon is available on
the desktop, double-click it
2. Click on the Start Menu to open the list
of applications installed. Choose the
application you want to run and
double-click it.
3. Click on Start Menu then click on Run
and type the name of the application
in the textbox and press enter.
 Operating System Simple
Setting
 Changing System Date and Time
 Changing Display Properties
 To Add and Remove a Windows
Component
 Changing Mouse Properties
 To Add or Remove Printers
 File and Directory
Management
 Creating and Renaming of Files and
Directories
A file object provides a representation of a
resource that can be managed by the I/O
system. Like other objects, they enable
sharing of the resources, they have names,
they are protected by object-based
security, and they support synchronization.
The I/O system also enables reading from
or writing to the resource.
Common Utilities