1. Introduction to Operating System:
An Operating System (OS) is the most important
system software. Examples of popular OS are MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows, Unix,
Linux, Google’s Android, iOS, Apple MacOS, etc.
It works as an interface between the user and the
computer hardware and controls the execution of all kinds of programs. It also
manages all the resources of computer systems like CPU, RAM, Disk, Network, and
I/O devices. It also controls the functionalities of various applications and
utility software (device drivers)
Objective of the Operating System:
i) An Operating System (OS) provides a user interface, through which users easily interact with the computer system. The interface is a software component whose main job is to take instructions and commands as input from the user and pass it to OS for processing.
ii) OS helps in the execution of application programs. It loads the programs into the memory and allocates for the CPU for execution. It also schedules the order of execution for the CPU.
Functions of Operating System:
There are many functions of OS, some of them is
furnished below:
i)
Process
Management
ii)
Memory
Management
iii)
Device
Management
iv)
File
Management
i) Process Management: The key function of OS is process management, as
we know a program is a set of processes. All these processes are managed by the
OS. CPU is an important part of the computer system; it cannot allot its precious
time to all processes at a single point in time therefore scheduling part of
any process is taken care of by OS. We can check the running process of a computer
system by pressing the Ctrl+Alt+Del key simultaneously.
In a nutshell, we can say that
process management deal with the management of various processes allocation of
resources exchange of data among themselves.
ii)
Memory
Management: After process
management, each process requires storage whether permanent or temporary. Due
to the limited storage capacity of primary or main memory, it is pertinent to
allocate & deallocate the memory space, this memory management is taken
care of by the operating system. The operating system performs this vital process
without affecting other processes which are already running and stored in the
memory system. Once the process is over OS frees the allocated storage space if
required for reutilization.
iii) File Management – As we have seen memory management deals with
the primary or main memory, likewise file management deals with the secondary
memory management. Various files are stored in the secondary storage of a
computer system. Secondary storage devices like Hard Drive, SDD (Solid State
Drive), flash drives, optical drives, etc., safety and security of the file is
also the key function and security of the file is also the key function of the
OS it protects those files from unauthorized user access.
iv) Device Management: I/O devices are the key to interacting with computer systems. Various hardware & I/O devices are connected to the computer. An operating system controls all the connected devices effectively & efficiently. OS is responsible to manage device communication via their respective drivers and keeps track of all devices whether it is properly connected or not. OS also designates programs for every I/O device for a certain time span all those things are managed by the controller of OS. Apart from that configuration of a particular connected device and security are also taken care of by OS.
Operating System user interface:
There are various OS user interfaces have been
used. Some of the frequently used interfaces are depicted below:
a) a) Command-line User
Interface
b) b) Graphical
User Interface
c) c) Touch-based
User Interface
d) d) Voice-based User Interface
e) e) Gesture-based
User Interface
a) a) Command Line
user interface: In the command
line user interface, users need to remember to command for interacting with the
operating system. Dedicated commands have been used for creating, deleting, and
updating the file. The keyboard is being used as an input device here. It is less
interactive and the user can run a single program at a time. Example of such kind
of user interface is MS-Dos and Unix.
a)
b) Graphical User
Interface (GUI): To resolve
the problem faced by the users in the command-line user interface, GUI-Graphical
User Interface was invented. Here, users use a mouse and keyboard as input devices
to feed the instruction. Here, the user gets visual options in the form of
drop-down menus, buttons, icons, dialog-box, etc.
Now,
users can able to examine the number of processes that have been running in the system.
Examples of GUI-based operating systems is Windows, Linux, Macintosh, etc.
a) c) Touch-based
User Interface: Touch input now becomes common to all users. Users are minimizing using input devices
like mouse and keyboard. This is just because of the emergence of touch input.
Users are feeding almost all the commands in the computer system from opening
to closing, from creating to deleting, and from browsing to editing/modifying a
particular program. Examples of such touch-based OS are iOS and Android.
Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 support touch-based interfaces on touchscreen
devices.
a) d) Voice-based
User Interface: With the
advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (MI) these
types of user interfaces emerge. For users who are not able to use the mouse,
keyboard, touchscreens, etc., or any other input devices for them voice-based
commands are being used. Such users can interact with the system using the voice-based user interface.
Examples of operating systems are iOS(Siri),
Android(Google Now or “OK Google”), Microsoft Windows 10 (Cortana), etc,.
a) g) Gesture-based
Interface: Here gesture means
waving, tilting, blinking of the eye, etc. Nowadays due to the emergence of technology
all such gestures are being captured by the computer system using the gesture-based
interface. Such applications are extensively being used in gaming technology,
medicine, etc,.
*
Content that has been published here is used for educational purposes and cited from the CBSE Class XI Computer Science textbook.
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