INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

OPERATING SYSTEM

Table of Contents Page no.

Question 1…………………………………………………………………………….2

Question 2……………………………………………………………………………3

Question 3……………………………………………………………………………3

Question 4…………………………………………………………………………..3 - 6

Question 5………………………………………………………………………….6 - 8

Reference ……………………………………………………………………………9

Quest 1. What is Operating System? Give any 4 examples?

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An operating system is the program that, after being initially loaded into the computer by a boot
program, manages all the other programs in a computer. The other programs are called
applications or application programs. The application programs make use of the operating
system by making requests for services through a defined application program interface (API). In
addition, users can interact directly with the operating system through a user interface such as a
command language or a graphical user interface (GUI).

An operating system performs these services for applications:

➢ In a multitasking operating system where multiple programs can be running at the same
time, the operating system determines which applications should run in what order and
how much time should be allowed for each application before giving another application
a turn.
➢ It manages the sharing of internal memory among multiple applications.
➢ It handles input and output to and from attached hardware devices, such as hard disks,
printers, and dial-up ports.
➢ It sends messages to each application or interactive user (or to a system operator) about
the status of operation and any errors that may have occurred.
➢ It can offload the management of what are called batch jobs (for example, printing) so
that the initiating application is freed from this work.
➢ On computers that can provide parallel processing, an operating system can manage how
to divide the program so that it runs on more than one processor at a time.

All major computer platforms (hardware and software) require and sometimes include an
operating system. Linux, Windows 2000, VMS, OS/400, AIX, and z/OS are all examples of
operating systems.

Quest 2. What is a command interpreter? Name the operating system using a command
interpreter?

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The command interpreter (CI) is the program that acts as the interface between user and the
operating system. It checks the MPE/iX commands that user enter for spelling and syntax errors.
The CI then passes the command along to the appropriate system procedure for execution.
Following execution, control returns to the CI, which becomes ready for another command. user
can run the CI from within the editor and then enter the MPE/iX commands necessary to
compile, link, and run a program. Then, by entering EXIT, user can immediately return to the
editor. User can also run the CI from within the CI.

/Quest 3. Explain system call with examples?

A system call is the mechanism used by an application program to request service from the
kernel. A system call is a request made by any arbitrary program to the kernel for performing
tasks -- picked from a predefined set -- which the said program does not have required
permissions to execute in its own flow of execution. System calls provide the interface between a
process and the kernel. These calls are generally available as assembly language instructions and
they are usually listed in the various manuals used by the assembly-language programmers. Most
operations interacting with the system require permissions not available to a user level process,
i.e. any I/O performed with any arbitrary device present on the system or any form of
communication with other processes requires the use of system calls.

Quest 4. Compare and contrast between Windows NT, Windows XP and Windows Vista?

Windows NT ---Windows NT is a Microsoft Windows personal computer operating system

designed for users and businesses needing advanced capability. NT's technology is the base for
the Microsoft successor operating system, Windows 2000. Windows NT which may originally
have stood for "New Technology," although Microsoft doesn't say) is actually two products:
Microsoft NT Workstation and Microsoft NT Server. The Workstation is designed for users,
especially business users, who need faster performance and a system a little more fail-safe than
Windows 95 and Windows 98. The Server is designed for business machines that need to
provide services for network-attached computers. The Server is required, together with an
Internet server such as Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS), for a Windows system that

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plans to serve Web pages. Windows NT Workstation: Microsoft says that 32-bit applications run
20% faster on this system than on Windows 95 (assuming both have 32 megabytes of RAM).
Since older 16-bit applications run in a separate address space, one can crash without crashing
other applications or the operating system. Security and management features not available on
Windows 95 are provided. The Workstation has the same desktop user interface as Windows 95..

Windows XP -- Windows XP is a family of 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems produced by

Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, notebook
computers, and media centers. The name "XP" stands for experience. Windows XP is the
successor to both Windows 2000 Professional and Windows Me, and is the first consumer-
oriented operating system produced by Microsoft to be built on the Windows NT kernel (version
5.1) and architecture. Windows XP was first released on 25 October 2001, and over 400 million
copies were in use in January 2006, according to an estimate in that month by an IDC analyst. It
is succeeded by Windows Vista, which was released to volume license customers on 8
November 2006, and worldwide to the general public on 30 January 2007. Direct OEM and retail
sales of Windows XP ceased on 30 June 2008, although it is still possible to obtain Windows XP
from System Builders (smaller OEMs who sell assembled computers) until 31 January 2009 or
by purchasing Windows Vista Ultimate or Business and then downgrading to Windows XP.

Windows XP is known for its improved stability and efficiency over the 9x versions of Microsoft
Windows. It presents a significantly redesigned graphical user interface, a change Microsoft
promoted as more user-friendly than previous versions of Windows. New software management
capabilities were introduced to avoid the "DLL hell" that plagued older consumer-oriented 9x
versions of Windows. It is also the first version of Windows to use product activation to combat
software piracy, a restriction that did not sit well with some users and privacy advocates.
Windows XP has also been criticized by some users for security vulnerabilities, tight integration
of applications such as Internet Explorer 6 and Windows Media Player, and for aspects of its
default user interface. Later versions with Service Pack 2, and Internet Explorer 7 addressed
some of these concerns.

The two major editions are Windows XP Home Edition, designed for home users, and Windows
XP Professional, designed for business and power-users. XP Professional contains advanced
features that the average home user would not use. However, these features are not necessarily

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missing from XP Home. They are simply disabled, but are there and can become functional.
These releases were made available at retail outlets that sell computer software, and were pre-
installed on computers sold by major computer manufacturers. As of mid-2008, both editions
continue to be sold. A third edition, called Windows XP Media Center Edition was introduced in
2002 and was updated every year until 2006 to incorporate new digital media, broadcast
television and Media Center Extender capabilities. Unlike the Home and Professional edition, it
was never made available for retail purchase, and was typically either sold through OEM
channels, or was pre-installed on computers that were typically marketed as "media center PCs".

Windows Vista -- Windows Vista (pronounced /ˈvɪstə/) is a line of operating systems

developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops,
laptops, Tablet PCs, and media center PCs. Prior to its announcement on July 22, 2005,
Windows Vista was known by its codename Longhorn.[3] Development was completed on
November 8, 2006; over the following three months it was released in stages to computer
hardware and software manufacturers, business customers, and retail channels. On January 30,
2007, it was released worldwide,[4] and was made available for purchase and download from
Microsoft's website.[5] The release of Windows Vista came more than five years after the
introduction of its predecessor, Windows XP, the longest time span between successive releases
of Microsoft Windows.

Windows Vista contains many changes and new features, including an updated graphical user
interface and visual style dubbed Windows Aero, improved searching features, new multimedia
creation tools such as Windows DVD Maker, and redesigned networking, audio, print, and
display sub-systems. Vista also aims to increase the level of communication between machines
on a home network, using peer-to-peer technology to simplify sharing files and digital media
between computers and devices. Windows Vista includes version 3.0 of the .NET Framework,
which aims to make it significantly easier for software developers to write applications than with
the traditional Windows API.

Quest5. Elaborate upon the need and working of the following networking devices:- router,
hub, bridge and switch?
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Router – A router is a device or a piece of software in a computer that forwards and routes data
packets along networks. A network router connects at least two networks, commonly two LANs
or WANs or a LAN and its ISP network. A router is often included as part of a network switch.
A router is located at any where one network meets another, including each point-of-presence on
the Internet. A router has two key jobs: The router ensures that information doesn't go where it's
not needed. This is crucial for keeping large volumes of data from clogging the network. The
router makes sure that information does make it to the intended destination. In performing these
two jobs, a router joins the two networks, passing information from one to the other and, in some
cases, performing translations of various protocols between the two networks. It also protects the
networks from one another, preventing the traffic on one from unnecessarily spilling over to the
other. This process is known as routing. Routing is a function associated with the Network layer
(layer 3) in the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. Routers use network layer protocol
headers, such as IP header where the source and destination addresses are included, and routing
tables to determine the best path to forward the packets. For the communication among routers
and decide the best route between any two hosts, routing protocols such as ICMP are used.

Actually, routers are specialized computers that send messages speeding to their destinations
along thousands of possible pathways. One of the tools a router uses to decide which path a
packet should go is a routing table. A routing table contains a collection of information,
including.

➢ Information on which connections lead to particular groups of addresses

➢ Priorities for connections to be used
➢ Rules for handling both routine and special cases of traffic

Hub -- Network hubs are used to connect multiple workstations for routing through a single link
to a server. In computer network systems, hubs, switches, repeaters, and routers are used when
creating a network. As is well-known in local area networks, computers may be connected to
each other to enable them to communicate by way of a hub. Data signals sent from a transmitting
component to a receiving component are transmitted to the hub and repeated at the hub for
transmission to the receiving component. The network hub enables multiple computers,
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workstations, or file servers to share resources in a variety of applications. The simplest form of
communications hub is what is known as a network repeater. Any communications sent by a
computer would therefore be received by the repeater. The repeater simply retransmits any
communication received on any port to all of the other ports, thereby enabling the
communication to be received by all the other computers connected to the repeater. A typical
network hub includes one or more devices for routing data transfers between a number of ports
in a workgroup. Each port may be assigned to one or more individual users or one or more
individual computers, workstations, or servers. Hubs typically have a limited number of input
ports, so the number of workstations that can be connected is limited as well. To increase the
number of ports available to a workgroup, multiple hubs may be connected. A network hub
includes several attachment slots to hold line cards. Each line card contains one or more network
devices attached to the hub. Internal data path resources within the hub are used to pass data
between the multiple line cards. Hub connections are typically achieved by uplink cables, such as
unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cables, shielded twisted pair (STP) cables, or fiber optic cabling.

Bridge -- A network bridge is a transmission device for carrying out bidirectional data
transmission across a plurality of networks connected via ports. The function of the bridge is to
monitor frames transferred over the LAN and to transfer them from one network to another on
the basis of the physical address of the data packets. Only frames having a destination address
indicating transmission to the side of the other network are able to cross the bridge. The bridge
thus acts as an insulator which reduces the load in other network portions. A LAN bridge
interconnects a LAN with one or more other LANs, through an interconnecting link or links, to
form a larger network in which messages can be sent from a device on one LAN to one or more
devices on another LAN. Each network bridge and router requires certain other peripheral
circuitry to support it such as LAN controllers, a CPU, a power supply, a network management
process, memory to store bridge source and destination address tables and various other things
like status registers etc. Typically, a network bridge is connected to a hub by a separate local area
network segment which itself requires two port interface circuits such as LAN controllers and
AUI's (generic network interfaces) with appropriate port drivers adapted for the specific media
used for the bridge-hub LAN segment.

Switch -- A network switch is a device that provides a switching function in a data

communications network. Data communication in a computer network involves the exchange of

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data between two or more entities interconnected by communication links and subnetworks. A
network switch is an intermediate station which interconnects the communication links and
subnetworks to enable transmission of data between the end stations. Switching involves
transferring information, such as digital data packets or frames, among entities of the network. A
switch functions as an interchange and provides path switching for data being transported over a
network. Typically, a switch supports one network protocol (e.g. Ethernet), meaning that the
switch manages data in a particular format. Switched local area networks use a network switch
for supplying data frames between network stations or other network nodes (such as routers or
gateways), where each network node is connected to the network switch by a media. A network
switch for routing packets between network buses includes a set of input switch ports for
receiving packets arriving on the network buses, a set of output switch ports for forwarding
packets outward on the network buses, and a switch fabric for routing packets between the input
and output switch ports. Each input switch port includes a memory for storing packets arriving
on a network until the switch fabric can forward them to an output switch port. The input port
may convert each packet arriving on a network bus to a sequence of cells of uniform size which
can be efficiently stored in uniformly-sized buffer memory storage locations until the input port
can forward them in proper sequential order through the switch fabric to one of the switch's
output ports. Each output switch port may also include a memory for storing packets it receives
via the switch fabric until the port can forward them outward on a network bus. Each output
switch port stores each cell sequence arriving from an input port in its own buffer memory. The
output port later reassembles them into the packet from which they were derived, then forwards
the packet outward on another network bus.

Reference:-

www.google.com.my

www.wikipedia.com

www.electronics-manufacturers.com

books.google.com.my/books
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searchnetworking.techtarget.com

http://searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com

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