Operating systems

Operating systems

1. Managing resouces

   • Peripherals
     • A device that is attached to the computer
       • These devices require driver software- this maps an operating systems commands to the device commands
   • Printing
     • Print spooling
       • Spool a print job (put the job in a queue until the printer is ready)
   • Backing stores
     • Storage devices to backup important files
       • Os will regularly make backups in the best format
   • File compression
     • Stores data with the same information while taking up less storage space
   • Disk de-fragmentation
     • Re arranging file fragments on a physical disk surface- this improves load times
   • Memory(RAM)
     • RAM split into pages.
       • Presented to programs as if each page is the only one running, this prevents programming
   • Processes(Multi-tasking)
     • Where a processor appears to do two tasks simultaneously. It does this by running commands and filling in time gaps with commands from random processes.
   • Security
   • Managing processes

2. Operating systems used so code does not have to be written for every possible combination of hardware