Systems Software

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Systems Software Flowchart

A flowchart of Systems Software

Systems Software

Operating Systems

iOS

MacOS

Windows

Raspberry Pi

Utility Programs

Anti-Virus Software

Formatter

Compressor

Device Drivers

Graphics Card Driver

Network Interface Card Driver

USB Device Drivers (IE, Mice, Keyboards)

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Operating Systems

Operating Systems

These provide interfaces between the user and the hardware - Thus a layer of interaction. The Medium.

They are said to provide "Virtual Machines" that hide the complexities of the hardware to the user.

An example of this is where a user saves a file to a disk. They don't know where on the disk it is, they don't need to, the OS deals with that.

Some OS

Windows XP, Vista, 95, 7, 8 ,10

Apple (iOS & Mac)

Linux & Unix

Android

Raspbian (Raspberry Pi)

Utility Software

Utility Software

Utility Software is created for one or two tasks.

Utility Software interacts with computer hardware.

Some Utility Software

Anti-Virus Software

Formatter

Compressor

Drivers

Drivers

A driver is software that controls hardware. It is a layer of communication between the user and the hardware (or sometimes software).

The keyboard I am using has a driver. The mouse I am using has a driver.

They, the software, control peripheral devices, the hardware.

They are also OS specific and are updated regularly by companies.

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Management

Processor Management

Processors have to divide time between operations.

To do this they give each operation a "Time Slice", an amount of time is allocated for it to be completed.

This makes it appear that the processor is multitasking.

If the processor did all of one task, all of the next, all of the next, it would appear to take longer to load resources but would not have issues when sharing them.

Instead, the processor allots small "Time Slices" to each one. Slices so small that, to us mere mortal humans, it appears that the processor is multitasking. This is how multiple tabs or windows can be kept open at once.

Resources (Time & memory) are being shared. Communist Robots.

Memory Management

The OS allocates memory between the different programs that are open at once.

The user does not need to know where memory data is/is being held. The OS deals with that.

Peripheral Management

The OS also manages the way in which hardware interacts with software.

A peripheral device, if you can't remember, is a device that is not directly connected to the CPU (IE, a mouse or even a hard disk drive).

This allows the user to disable devices or update drivers (or disable drivers).

See Windows Device Management

File Management

Much like with the rest of this, the user does not need to know where a file is stored on a disk for long-term storage. The OS, however, does.

Interaction

How the user interacts with the OS

The Command Line Interface (CLI) is text based. An example is DOS or Raspberry Pi's Raspbian.

The Graphical User Interface (GUI) is visual based, containing icons, menus and cursors and pointers. An example is Windows or Mac.

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DOS Commands (CMD)

A simulation of DOS can be opened in Windows. In the start menu, search for CMD or Command and open it.

For some people, this can be faster than a GUI, but for the majority of people it's a waste of time.

Commands (Not Case Sensitive)

dir - Lists all directories in your area.

dir/p - Lists all directories one page at a time.

cd - Change directory.

cd.. - Back one directory.

del - Delete.

chkdsk - Checks disk for errors (hard drive).

defrag - Defragments stuff (You have two fragments that belong together so you stick them together.

format - Clears hard drive for new OS.

[function]/? - Describes any function and its use.

DOS can be used to run programs, but only files with the extention .exe (executable) work. Graphical things such as .png files don't work, because DOS is text based.