Role of the Operating System (OS) in a computer system.
The Operating system has 6 Managing Roles: The Processor, RAM, Input/Output, Application, Authorization, File and Information Management. OS is responsible for allocating processor usage between programs. OS manages the memory space allocation to each application.OS allows unification and control of access of programs to material resources via driver. OS is responsible for smooth execution of applications by allocating the resources required for them to operate. OS is responsible for security relating to execution of programs by guaranteeing that the resources are used only by programs and users with the relevant authorizations. OS manages reading and writing in the file system and the user and application file access authorizations. OS provides a certain number of indicators that can be used to diagnose the correct operation of the machine.
The different computer architectures with respect to to the number of processors. Compare and contrast each architecture.
Quantum computer – harness the power of atoms and molecules to perform memory and processing tasks. Quantum computers have the potential to perform certain calculations significantly faster than any silicon-based computer.
Vector computers – A vector processor, or array processor, is a CPU design wherein the instruction set includes operations that can perform mathematical operations on multiple data elements simultaneously. Vector processors were common in the scientific computing area, where they formed the basis of most supercomputers through the 1980s and into the 1990s, but general increases in performance and processor design saw the near-disappearance of the vector processor as a general-purpose CPU. Modern video game consoles and consumer computer-graphics hardware rely heavily on vector processing in their architecture. In 2000, IBM, Toshiba and Sony collaborated to create the Cell processor, consisting of one scalar processor and eight vector processors, which found use in the Sony PlayStation 3 among other applications.
Numa computers – NUMA architectures logically follow in scaling from symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) architectures. Their commercial development came in work by Unisys, Hewlett-Packard, Silicon Graphics, Sequent Computer Systems and Data General during the 1990s. Techniques developed by these companies later featured in a variety of Unix-like operating systems, and somewhat in Windows NT. NUMA Computer Architecture is a computer memory design used in multiprocessors, where the memory access time depends on the memory location relative to a processor. Under NUMA, a processor can access its own local memory faster than non-local memory, that is, memory local to another processor or memory shared between processors.
Von Neumann computers – The von Neumann architecture is a design model for a stored-program digital computer that uses a processing unit and a single separate storage structure to hold both instructions and data. Such computers implement a universal Turing machine and have a sequential architecture.
The dual-mode operation of Operating systems and how it can be implemented.
Dual mode of operation is the distinction between execution of user mode and kernel mode (supervisor mode, system mode, and privileged mode). A mode bit is added to the hardware to indicate the current mode: Kernel(0) or user(1). Dual mode of operation provides us with more protection to the operating system. For example, if a kernel instruction is executed under user mode, the hardware does not execute it, although identifies it as an illegal execution and traps it to the operating system.
The core operating system services and give an example program or service in Windows XP.
Display Driver Models
Windows Display Driver Model
Windows XP Display Driver Model
User Plug and Play
Peer Name Resolution Protocol (PNRP) Client
Service Control Manager
Service Events Logging
Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program
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