2. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.81 Volume 1

3. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.82 B. Functions of an Operating System  the system program that runs a computer system A. Definition of an Operating System (1) Providing a User Interface Hardware Operating system Application programming interface User interface ApplicationprogramApplicationprogram User  allow users to interact with the computer system

4. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.83 (a) Character-based User Interface (CUI) Types of Interface: C:\>C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D;MSCD000 /M:4 /S MSCDEX VERSION 2.25 Copyright (c) Microsoft corp. 1986- 1995. All rights reserved. Drive D: Driver MSCD000 unit 0 Cd:\C: C:\> C:\WINDOWS>exit ] ]the user has to enter commands through the keyboard

5. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.84 (b) Graphical User Interface (GUI) ] ]user has to click on icons, buttons and menus through the mouse

6. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.85 (2) Scheduling Jobs  control the order and time in which programs are run (3) Managing Multitasking  can keep several application programs open at the same time

7. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.86 (4) Manipulating Data  keep track of the data on the hard disk or secondary storage devices An application program needs to read or write data. The file system of the OS then accesses the physical location on the disk. Call the OS Return data

8. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.87 (5) Allocating Computing Resources  control peripheral devices by sending them commands (6) Providing Security  can provide password protection to keep unauthorized users out of the computer system

9. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.88 C. Common Operating Systems (1) Microsoft Windows  a 32-bit operating system (a) Windows 95  allow long file name  support Plug-and-Play (PnP)

10. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.89  an upgrade of Windows 95 (b) Windows 98  support Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI), Universal Serial Bus (USB) and Digital Versatile/Video Discs (DVDs)

11. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.810  an upgrade of Windows 98 (c) Windows Me (Millennium edition) (Millennium edition) Area New features System stability and error correction System restoration and file system protection. Multimedia workingAll sorts of neat little tools for creating, managing, storing and sharing music, digital photos and movie clips. Home networkingTools for setting up a mini home network through a few steps. Online experienceMajor improvements in surfing and communicating across the Internet.

12. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.811  built on the Windows NT kernel (d) Windows NT (New Technology)  give much better system stability, security and performance  There are two versions: (i)Windows NT Workstation (ii)Windows NT Server

13. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.812  a major upgrade from Windows NT 4 (e) Windows 2000  more stable than Windows NT  uses Active Directory system, which is a major redesign of the directory structure for companies  There are four versions: (i) Windows 2000 Professional (ii) Windows 2000 Server (iii) Windows 2000 Advanced Server (iv) Windows 2000 Datacenter Server

14. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.813 (f) Windows XP (eXPerience)  an upgraded client version of Windows 2000  allow different family members to use their own desktops and personal sets of files  There are two versions: (i) Home Edition version (ii)Professional version

15. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.814 (g) Windows CE (Consumer Electronics)  based on the Windows operating system  a 32-bit multitasking and multithreading operating system

16. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.815 (2) Unix  widely used as the master control program in workstations and especially servers  probability, low price and excellent performance  a popular choice among governments, academic institutions and companies

17. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.816 (3) Linux  provides Unix-like operation, stability and security  it can be downloaded from the Internet for free  suitable for all size of business

18. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.817 (4) Mac OS  an operating system for Macintosh computers from Apple  with powerful features such as protected memory, preemptive multitasking, advanced memory management and the SMP

19. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.818 (5) OS/2  an operating system for Intel x86 machines from Microsoft and IBM  Dual boot feature:boot either OS/2 or DOS  There are two version: OS/2 Warp Client, OS/2 Warp Server  Advantages: (i) Strong on the connectivity and the provision of robust virtual machines. (ii) Strong in the banking industry.

20. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.819 (6) BeOS  an operating system developed by Be (7) EPOC  a 32-bit operating system for Psion handheld devices from Symbian (8) Palm OS  an operating system for Palm handheld devices from Palm

21. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.820 E. Cross-platform Issues  some operating systems support cross-platform computing  allow software or hardware to run identically on different platforms  people can exchange information between different types of operating systems and computer models

22. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.821 F. Operating Modes Supported by Operating Systems  support two or more simultaneous computer users (1) Multi-user Modes  can execute two or more programs in a single CPU simultaneously (2) Multitasking Modes

23. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.822  respond to input data and transactions immediately (3) Batch Processing Modes  execute a queue of non-interactive jobs and return the results all at one time (4) Real Time Processing Modes  communicate with the computer users interactively (5) Interactive Processing Modes

24. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.823 State two common operating systems for home users and compare their advantages and disadvantages.

25. Excellence Publication Co. Ltd. Volume 1 2.824 Back