AS

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INTRODUCTION OF OPERATING SYSTEM:

● An operating system acts as an intermediary between the user of a computer and

computer hardware. The purpose of an operating system is to provide an environment in
which a user can execute programs conveniently and efficiently.
● An operating system is a software that manages computer hardware. The hardware
must provide appropriate mechanisms to ensure the correct operation of the computer
system and to prevent user programs from interfering with the proper operation of the
system.

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Operating System – Definition:

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● An operating system is a program that controls the execution of application programs
and acts as an interface between the user of a

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computer and the computer hardware.
● A more common definition is that the operating

on the computer (usually called the kernel),

with all else being application programs.
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system is the one program running at all times
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● An operating system is concerned with the
allocation of resources and services, such as
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memory, processors, devices, and information. The operating system correspondingly

includes programs to manage these resources, such as a traffic controller, a scheduler, a
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memory management module, I/O programs, and a file system.

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Why to Learn Operating System?

An Operating System (OS) is an interface between a computer user and computer hardware.
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An operating system is a software which performs all the basic tasks like file management,
memory management, process management, handling input and output, and controlling
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peripheral devices such as disk drives and printers.

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Some popular Operating Systems include Linux Operating System, Windows Operating System,
VMS, OS/400, AIX, z/OS, etc.

FUNCTIONS OF AN OPERATING SYSTEM:

● Memory Management
● Processor Management
BLDEA S.B.S. ARTS, COMMERCE AND SCIENCE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN BCA DEPT.Page 2
 ● Device Management
● File Management
● Security
● Control over system performance
● Job accounting
● Error detecting aids
● Coordination between other software and users

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Memory Management

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● Memory management refers to management of Primary Memory or Main Memory. Main

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memory is a large array of words or bytes where each word or byte has its own address.

● Main memory provides a fast storage that can be accessed directly by the CPU. For a

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program to be executed, it must in the main memory. An Operating System does the
following activities for memory management −

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● Keeps tracks of primary memory, i.e., what part of it are in use by whom, what part are
not in use.
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● In multiprogramming, the OS decides which process will get memory when and how
much.
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● Allocates the memory when a process requests it to do so.

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● De-allocates the memory when a process no longer needs it or has been terminated.
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Processor Management
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● In multiprogramming environment, the OS decides which process gets the processor when
and for how much time. This function is called process scheduling. An Operating System
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does the following activities for processor management −

● Keeps tracks of processor and status of process. The program responsible for this task is
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known as traffic controller.

● Allocates the processor (CPU) to a process.

● De-allocates processor when a process is no longer required.

BLDEA S.B.S. ARTS, COMMERCE AND SCIENCE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN BCA DEPT.Page 3
Device Management
An Operating System manages device communication via their respective drivers. It does the
following activities for device management −

● Keeps tracks of all devices. Program responsible for this task is known as the I/O
controller.

● Decides which process gets the device when and for how much time.

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● Allocates the device in the efficient way.

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● De-allocates devices.

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File Management

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A file system is normally organized into directories for easy navigation and usage. These
directories may contain files and other directions.

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An Operating System does the following activities for file management −

● Keeps track of information, location, uses, status etc. The collective facilities are often
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known as file system.
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● Decides who gets the resources.

● Allocates the resources.

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● De-allocates the resources.

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Other Important Activities

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Following are some of the important activities that an Operating System performs −
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● Security − By means of password and similar other techniques, it prevents

unauthorized access to programs and data.
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● Control over system performance − Recording delays between request for a service
and response from the system.

● Job accounting − Keeping track of time and resources used by various jobs and users.

● Error detecting aids − Production of dumps, traces, error messages, and other
debugging and error detecting aids.

BLDEA S.B.S. ARTS, COMMERCE AND SCIENCE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN BCA DEPT.Page 4
 ● Coordination between other softwares and users − Coordination and assignment of
compilers, interpreters, assemblers and other software to the various users of the
computer systems.

CLASSIFICATION OF OPERATING SYSTEMS:

Following are the popular types of OS (Operating System):

● Batch Operating System

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● Multitasking/Time Sharing OS
● Multiprocessing OS

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● Real Time OS
● Distributed OS

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● Network OS
●

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Mobile OS

Batch Operating System

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● Some computer processes are very lengthy and time-consuming. To speed the same
process, a job with a similar type of needs are batched together and run as a group.
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● The user of a batch operating system never directly interacts with the computer. In this
type of OS, every user prepares his or her job on an offline device like a punch card and
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submit it to the computer operator.

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ST.
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Advantages of Batch Operating System:

o It is very difficult to guess or know the time required for any job to complete.
Processors of the batch systems know how long the job would be when it is in queue
o Multiple users can share the batch systems
o The idle time for the batch system is very less
o It is easy to manage large work repeatedly in batch systems
Disadvantages of Batch Operating System:
o The computer operators should be well known with batch systems
BLDEA S.B.S. ARTS, COMMERCE AND SCIENCE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN BCA DEPT.Page 5
 o Batch systems are hard to debug
o It is sometimes costly
o The other jobs will have to wait for an unknown time if any job fails

Multi-Tasking/Time-sharing Operating systems

● Time-sharing operating system enables people located at a different terminal(shell) to
use a single computer system at the same time. The processor time (CPU) which is
shared among multiple users is termed as time sharing.

NI
AR
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Advantages of Time-Sharing OS:
o Each task gets an equal opportunity
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o Fewer chances of duplication of software
o CPU idle time can be reduced
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Disadvantages of Time-Sharing OS:

o Reliability problem
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o One must have to take care of the security and integrity of user programs and data
o Data communication problem
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Real time OS
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● A real time operating system time interval to process and respond to inputs is very small.
Examples: Military Software Systems, Space Software Systems are the Real time OS
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example.
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BLDEA S.B.S. ARTS, COMMERCE AND SCIENCE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN BCA DEPT.Page 6
 NI
AR
Advantages of RTOS:
o Maximum Consumption: Maximum utilization of devices and system, thus more
output from all the resources

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o Task Shifting: The time assigned for shifting tasks in these systems are very less. For

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example, in older systems, it takes about 10 microseconds in shifting one task to
another, and in the latest systems, it takes 3 microseconds.
o Focus on Application: Focus on running applications and less importance to
applications which are in the queue. JN
o Real-time operating system in the embedded system: Since the size of programs are
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small, RTOS can also be used in embedded systems like in transport and others.
o Error Free: These types of systems are error-free.
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o Memory Allocation: Memory allocation is best managed in these types of systems.

Disadvantages of RTOS:
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o Limited Tasks: Very few tasks run at the same time and their concentration is very less
on few applications to avoid errors.
o Use heavy system resources: Sometimes the system resources are not so good and
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they are expensive as well.

o Complex Algorithms: The algorithms are very complex and difficult for the designer
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to write on.
o Device driver and interrupt signals: It needs specific device drivers and interrupts
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signals to respond earliest to interrupts.

o Thread Priority: It is not good to set thread priority as these systems are very less
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prone to switching tasks.

Distributed Operating System

● Distributed systems use many processors located in different machines to provide very
fast computation to its users.

BLDEA S.B.S. ARTS, COMMERCE AND SCIENCE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN BCA DEPT.Page 7
 NI
AR
Advantages of Distributed Operating System:
o Failure of one will not affect the other network communication, as all systems are

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independent from each other
o Electronic mail increases the data exchange speed

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o Since resources are being shared, computation is highly fast and durable
o Load on host computer reduces

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o These systems are easily scalable as many systems can be easily added to the network
o Delay in data processing reduces
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Disadvantages of Distributed Operating System:
o Failure of the main network will stop the entire communication
o To establish distributed systems the language which is used are not well defined yet
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o These types of systems are not readily available as they are very expensive. Not only
that the underlying software is highly complex and not understood well yet
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Network Operating System

● Network Operating System runs on a server. It provides the capability to serve to
PR

manage data, user, groups, security, application, and other networking functions.
ST.
AS

BLDEA S.B.S. ARTS, COMMERCE AND SCIENCE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN BCA DEPT.Page 8
 Advantages of Network Operating System:
o Highly stable centralized servers
o Security concerns are handled through servers
o New technologies and hardware up-gradation are easily integrated into the system
o Server access is possible remotely from different locations and types of systems
Disadvantages of Network Operating System:

o Servers are costly

o User has to depend on a central location for most operations
o Maintenance and updates are required regularly

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Mobile OS

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● Mobile operating systems are those OS which is especially that are designed to power
smartphones, tablets, and wearables devices.

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● Some most famous mobile operating systems are Android and iOS, but others include
BlackBerry, Web, and watchOS.

SYSTEM PROGRAMS:
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The system program serves as a part of the operating system. It traditionally lies between the
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user interface and the system calls. The user view of the system is actually defined by system
programs and not system calls because that is what they interact with and system programs are
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closer to the user interface.

An image that describes system programs in the operating system hierarchy is as follows –
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ST.
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So here, the user can only view up-to-the System Programs he can’t see System Calls.
System Programs can be divided into these categories :

BLDEA S.B.S. ARTS, COMMERCE AND SCIENCE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN BCA DEPT.Page 9
1. File Management –

A file is a collection of specific information stored in the memory of a computer system. File
management is defined as the process of manipulating files in the computer system, its
management includes the process of creating, modifying and deleting files.
● It helps to create new files in the computer system and placing them at specific
locations.
● It helps in easily and quickly locating these files in the computer system.

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● It makes the process of sharing files among different users very easy and
user-friendly.

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● It helps to store files in separate folders known as directories.
● These directories help users to search files quickly or to manage files according to

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their types of uses.
● It helps users to modify the data of files or to modify the name of files in directories.

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2. Status Information –
JN
Information like date, time amount of available memory, or disk space is asked by some
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users. Others providing detailed performance, logging, and debugging information which is
more complex. All this information is formatted and displayed on output devices or printed.
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Terminal or other output devices or files or a window of GUI is used for showing the output
of programs.
.GU

3. File Modification –
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For modifying the contents of files we use this. For Files stored on disks or other storage
devices, we used different types of editors. For searching contents of files or perform
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transformations of files we use special commands.

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4. Programming-Language support –
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For common programming languages, we use Compilers, Assemblers, Debuggers, and

interpreters which are already provided to users. It provides all support to users. We can run
any programming language. All languages of importance are already provided.

5. Program Loading and Execution –

BLDEA S.B.S. ARTS, COMMERCE AND SCIENCE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN BCA DEPT.Page 10
 When the program is ready after Assembling and compilation, it must be loaded into
memory for execution. A loader is part of an operating system that is responsible for loading
programs and libraries. It is one of the essential stages for starting a program. Loaders,
relocatable loaders, linkage editors, and Overlay loaders are provided by the system.

6. Communications –

Virtual connections among processes, users, and computer systems are provided by

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programs. Users can send messages to another user on their screen, User can send e-mail,
browsing on web pages, remote login, the transformation of files from one user to another.

AR
APPLICATION PROGRAMS

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● These programs perform a particular function directly for the users. Some of the

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common application programs include Email, web browsers, gaming software, word
processors, graphics software, media player etc.

JN
● All of these programs provide an application to the end users, so they are known as
application programs. For example: a web browser is used to find information while a
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gaming software is used to play games.

● The requests for service and application communication systems used in an application
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by a programmer is known as an application program interface (API).

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UTILITIES:
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These software analyzes and maintain a computer. These software are focused on how OS
works on that basis it perform task to enable smooth functioning of computer. These software
PR

may come along with OS like windows defender, windows disk cleanup tool.
Antivirus, backup software, file manager, disk compression tool all are utility software.
ST.
AS

Some of the popular utility software are described below

Antivirus:
● It is used to protect a computer from the virus. It detects a virus and notify the user and
take action to secure the computer.
● The virus are kept in different location called vault where it has different file system due
to which virus effect it. User can itself instruct antivirus to delete malicious program, put

BLDEA S.B.S. ARTS, COMMERCE AND SCIENCE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN BCA DEPT.Page 11
 it in vault or even ignore it. These days most come in GUI form.

● The first antivirus program appeared in 1987 with the introduction of an antivirus
program from G Data Software for the Atari ST. Later in the same year, VirusScan was
introduced by John McAfee, which later became the McAfee antivirus program.
Examples: Windows Defender, AVG, AVAST, MCAFEE, etc.

File Management Tool:

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● The software is used to manage files stored in a file system. It can be used to create,

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group file. Like Windows File Explorer is a file management tool.
File system (like FAT32, NTFS) should not be confused with File management tool former
is a data structure used to store file in an OS while later is used to perform task on file

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stored in the file System.

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o Some examples of File management Tool are:
File Manager in Windows.
macOS Finder.
Directory Opus.
Dolphin in KDE.
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Compression Tool:

● These tool are used to reduce the size of a file based on the selected algorithm.
.GU

Most operating systems include tools for compressing and uncompressing files.Linux has
tools for both .tar.gz and .zip. Other compressed files, like .7z and .rar, require a
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third-party compression utility to be installed.

o Some Examples are:
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WinAce
WinZip
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WinRAR
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DISK MANAGEMENT TOOL:

● Disk Management is utility first introduced in Window XP as a replacement of the fdisk

command.It enables us to view or manage the disk drives installed in their computer and
the partition associated with those drives.
● Disk Management is used to manage the drives installed in a computer- like hard disk
drives, and flash drives. It can be used to partition drives, assign drive letters, and much
BLDEA S.B.S. ARTS, COMMERCE AND SCIENCE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN BCA DEPT.Page 12
 more.
Some Disk Management tools are:-
• Mini Tool Partition Wizard
• Paragon Partition Manager
• EaseUS Partition Master
• SMART Monitoring Tools

DISK CLEANUP TOOL :

● It is computer utility maintenance which is included in Microsoft Windows. It allows user

NI
to remove files that are no longer needed or that can be safely deleted. Removing
unnecessary files, including temporary files, can help to improve the functioning and

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increase the free space of the computer. Running Disk Cleanup at least once a month is
an excellent maintenance task.

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● Disk Cleanup tool can delete temporary internet files, old check disk files, compress old
files and offline webpages. Disk Cleanup also allows you to empty the Recycle Bin, delete

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temporary files, and delete Thumbnails.
Some Disk Cleanup software are:-
• Iolo System mechanic
• IObit Advanced systemCare
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• Piriform CCleaner
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DISK DEFRAGMENTER:
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● It is a utility in Microsoft Windows designed to increase access speed by rearranging file

stored on a disk to occupy contiguous storage locations, a technique is called
Defragmentation.
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● Defragmenting a disk minimizes head travel, which reduces the time it takes to read files
from and write files to the disk.
PR

● The defragmenter will search your hard drive partition and move data from one location
to other location, so that the files stored there are one contiguous piece, instead of
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being throughout multiple locations on the hard drive’s partition.

Some Disk Defragmenter are:-
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• Auslogics Disk Defrag

• MyDefrag
• Perfect disk
• Deflaggler

BLDEA S.B.S. ARTS, COMMERCE AND SCIENCE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN BCA DEPT.Page 13
THE UNIX OPERATING SYSTEM:
The Unix operating system is a set of programs that act as a link between the computer and the
user.

The computer programs that allocate the system resources and coordinate all the details of the
computer's internals is called the operating system or the kernel.

Users communicate with the kernel through a program known as the shell. The shell is a
command line interpreter; it translates commands entered by the user and converts them into
a language that is understood by the kernel.

NI
● Unix was originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees Ken Thompson,

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Dennis Ritchie, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna at Bell Labs.

● There are various Unix variants available in the market. Solaris Unix, AIX, HP Unix and

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BSD are a few examples. Linux is also a flavor of Unix which is freely available.

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● Several people can use a Unix computer at the same time; hence Unix is called a
multiuser system.

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● A user can also run multiple programs at the same time; hence Unix is a multitasking
environment.
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Unix Architecture
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Here is a basic block diagram of a Unix system –

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OF
PR
ST.
AS

BLDEA S.B.S. ARTS, COMMERCE AND SCIENCE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN BCA DEPT.Page 14
The main concept that unites all the versions of Unix is the following four basics −

● Kernel − The kernel is the heart of the operating system. It interacts with the hardware
and most of the tasks like memory management, task scheduling and file management.

● Shell − The shell is the utility that processes your requests. When you type in a
command at your terminal, the shell interprets the command and calls the program
that you want. The shell uses standard syntax for all commands. C Shell, Bourne Shell
and Korn Shell are the most famous shells which are available with most of the Unix
variants.

NI
● Commands and Utilities − There are various commands and utilities which you can
make use of in your day to day activities. cp, mv, cat and grep, etc. are few examples of

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commands and utilities. There are over 250 standard commands plus numerous others
provided through 3rd party software. All the commands come along with various

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options.

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● Files and Directories − All the data of Unix is organized into files. All files are then
organized into directories. These directories are further organized into a tree-like
structure called the filesystem.
JN
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BASIC UNIX COMMANDS:
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1. who : The ‘$ who’ command displays all the users who have logged into the system
currently.As shown above on my system I am the only user currently logged in.The thing
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tty2 is terminal line the user is using and the next line gives the current date and time
$ who
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Output: harssh tty2 2017-07-18 09:32 (:0)

2. pwd : The ‘$pwd’ command stands for ‘print working directory’ and as the name
PR

says,it displays the directory in which we are currently (directory is same as folder for
Windows OS users).
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In the output we are harssh directory(folder for Windows OS that are moving to
Linux),which is present inside the home directory
AS

$ pwd
Output: /home/harssh
3. mkdir : The ‘$ mkdir’ stands for ‘make directory’ and it creates a new directory.We
have used ‘$ cd’ (which is discussed below) to get into the newly created directory and
again on giving ‘$ pwd’ command,we are displayed with the new ‘newfolder’ directory.
$ mkdir newfolder
BLDEA S.B.S. ARTS, COMMERCE AND SCIENCE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN BCA DEPT.Page 15
 $ cd newfolder
$ pwd
Output: /home/harssh/newfolder

4. rmdir : The ‘$ rmdir’ command deletes any directory we want to delete and you can
remember it by its names ‘rmdir’ which stands for ‘remove directory’.
$ rmdir newfolder

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5. cd : The ‘$ cd’ command stands for ‘change directory’ and it changes your current

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directory to the ‘newfolder’ directory.You can understand this a double-clicking a folder
and then you do some stuff in that folder.

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$ cd newfolder (assuming that there is a directory named 'newfolder' on your system)

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6. ls : The ‘ls’ command simply displays the contents of a directory.
$ ls
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Output: Desktop Documents Downloads Music Pictures Public Scratch Templates Videos
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7. touch : The ‘$ touch’ command creates a file(not directory) and you can simple add an
extension such as .txt after it to make it a Text File.
$ touch example
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$ ls
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Output: Desktop Documents Downloads Music Pictures Public Scratch Templates Videos
example
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Note: It is important to note that according to the Unix File structure, Unix treats all the
ST.

stuff it has as a ‘file’, even the directories(folders) are also treated as a file.You will get to
know more about this as you will further use Linux/Unix based OS
AS

8. cp : This ‘$ cp ‘ command stands for ‘copy’ and it simply copy/paste the file wherever
you want to.In the above example, we are copying a file ‘file.txt’ from the directory
harssh to a new directory new.
$ cp /home/harssh/file.txt /home/harssh/new/

BLDEA S.B.S. ARTS, COMMERCE AND SCIENCE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN BCA DEPT.Page 16
 9. mv : The ‘$ mv’ command stands for ‘move’ and it simply move a file from a directory
to anothe directory.In the above example a file named ‘file.txt’ is being moved into a
new directory ‘new’
$ mv /home/harssh/file.txt /home/harssh/new

10. rm : The ‘$ rm ‘ command for remove and the ‘-r’ simply recursively deletes file. Try
‘$ rm filename.txt’ at your terminal

$ rm file.txt

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11. chmod : The ‘$ chmod’ command stands for change mode command.As there are

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many modes in Unix that can be used to manipulate files in the Unix
environment.Basically there are 3 modes that we can use with the ‘chmod’ command

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1. +w (stands for write and it changes file permissions to write)
2. +r (stands for read and it changes file permissions to read)

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3. +x (generally it is used to make a file executable)
$ chmod +w file.txt
$ chmod +r file.txt
$ chmod +x file.txt
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RA
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12. cal : The ‘$ cal’ means calendar and it simply display calendar on to your screen.
$ cal
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Output : July 2017

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
ST.

16 17 18 19 20 21 22
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23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31

13. file : The ‘$ file’ command displays the type of file.As I mentioned earlier Linux treats
everything as a file so on executing the command file on a directory(Downloads) it
displays directory as the output

BLDEA S.B.S. ARTS, COMMERCE AND SCIENCE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN BCA DEPT.Page 17
 $ ls
Output: Desktop Documents Downloads Music Pictures Public Scratch Templates Videos
$ file Downloads
Output: Downloads: directory

14. sort : As the name suggests the ‘$ sort’ sorts the contents of the file according to the
ASCII rules.

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$ sort file

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15. grep : grep is an acronym for ‘globally search a regular expression and print it’.The ‘$

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grep’ command searches the specified input fully(globally) for a match with the supplied
pattern and displays it.

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In the example, this would search for the word ‘picture’ in the file newsfile and if
found,the lines containing it would be displayed on the screen.
$ grep picture newsfile
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RA
16. man : The ‘$ man’ command stands for ‘manual’ and it can display the in-built
manual for most of the commands that we ever need.In the above example, we can read
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about the ‘$ pwd’ command.

$ man pwd
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17. lpr : The ‘$ lpr’ command send a file to the printer for printing.
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$ lpr new.txt
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18. passwd : The ‘$ passwd’ command simply changes the password of the user.In above
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case ‘harssh’ is the user.

$ passwd
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Output: Changing password for harssh.

(current) UNIX password:

19. clear : The ‘$ clear’ command is used to clean up the terminal so that you can type
with more accuracy
$ clear

BLDEA S.B.S. ARTS, COMMERCE AND SCIENCE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN BCA DEPT.Page 18
MICROKERNEL BASED OPERATING SYSTEM:
Kernel
A kernel is an important part of an OS that manages system resources. It also acts as a bridge
between the software and hardware of the computer. It is one of the first program which is
loaded on start-up after the bootloader. The Kernel is also responsible for offering secure access
to the machine’s hardware for various programs. It also decides when and how long a certain
application uses specific hardware.

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Microkernel

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Microkernel is a software or code which contains the

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required minimum amount of functions, data, and
features to implement an operating system. It

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provides a minimal number of mechanisms, which is
good enough to run the most basic functions of an
operating system. It allows other parts of the
operating system to be implemented as it does not
impose a lot of policies.
JN
RA
Microkernels and their user environments are usually
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implemented in the C++ or C programming languages with a little bit of assembly. However,
other implementation languages are possible with some high-level coding.
.GU

Kernel mode and User mode of CPU operation

The CPU can execute certain instructions only
OF

when it is in kernel mode. These instructions

are called privilege instruction. They allow the
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implementation of special operations whose

execution by the user program could interface
ST.

with the functioning of the operating system

or activity of another user program. For
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example, instruction for managing memory

protection.

● The operating system puts the CPU in kernel mode when it is executing in the kernel so, that
kernel can execute some special operation.
● The operating system puts the CPU in user mode when a user program is in execution so,
that the user program cannot interface with the operating system program.
BLDEA S.B.S. ARTS, COMMERCE AND SCIENCE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN BCA DEPT.Page 19
● User-level instruction does not require special privilege. Example are ADD,PUSH,etc.

● The concept of modes can be extended beyond two, requiring more than a single mode bit
CPUs that support virtualization use one of these extra bits to indicate when the virtual
machine manager, VMM, is in control of the system. The VMM has more privileges than
ordinary user programs, but not so many as the full kernel.
● System calls are typically implemented in the form of software interrupts, which causes the
hardware’s interrupt handler to transfer control over to an appropriate interrupt handler,
which is part of the operating system, switching the mode bit to kernel mode in the process.

NI
The interrupt handler checks exactly which interrupt was generated, checks additional

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parameters ( generally passed through registers ) if appropriate, and then calls the
appropriate kernel service routine to handle the service requested by the system call.

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● User programs’ attempts to execute illegal instructions ( privileged or non-existent
instructions ), or to access forbidden memory areas, also generate software interrupts,

.KU
which are trapped by the interrupt handler, and control is transferred to the OS, which
issues an appropriate error message, possibly dumps data to a log ( core ) file for later

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analysis, and then terminates the offending program.
What is Microkernel?
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A microkernel is one of the classifications of the
kernel. Being a kernel it manages all system
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resources. But in a microkernel, the user

services and kernel services are implemented in
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different address spaces. The user services are kept

in user address space, and kernel services are kept
under kernel address space, thus also reduces the
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size of kernel and size of an operating system as

well.
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ST.

It provides minimal services of process and memory management. The communication

between client program/application and services running in user address space is established
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through message passing, reducing the speed of execution microkernel.

The Operating System remains unaffected as user services and kernel services are isolated so if
any user service fails it does not affect kernel service. Thus it adds to one of the advantages of a
microkernel.

BLDEA S.B.S. ARTS, COMMERCE AND SCIENCE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN BCA DEPT.Page 20
It is easily extendable i.e. if any new services are to be added they are added to user address
space and hence require no modification in kernel space. It is also portable, secure, and
reliable.
Microkernel Architecture –

Since the kernel is the core part of the operating system, so it is meant for handling the most
important services only. Thus in this architecture, only the most important services are inside
the kernel and the rest of the OS services are present inside the system application program.
Thus users are able to interact with those not-so-important services within the system

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application. And the microkernel is solely responsible for the most important services of the
operating system they are named as follows:

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● Inter process-Communication

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● Memory Management
● CPU-Scheduling

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Advantages of Microkernel –

●
●
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The architecture of this kernel is small and isolated hence it can function better.
Expansion of the system is easier, it is simply added to the system application without
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disturbing the kernel.
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BOOTING :
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● The system. Hence it needs a special program, stored in ROM to do this job known as
the Bootstrap loader. Example: BIOS (boot input output system). A modern PC BIOS
(Basic Input/Output System) supports booting from various devices.Typically, the BIOS
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will allow the user to configure a boot order. If the boot order is set to:
● CD Drive
PR

● Hard Disk Drive

● Network
ST.

● Then the BIOS will try to boot from the CD drive first, and if that fails then it will try to
boot from the hard disk drive, and if that fails then it will try to boot from the network,
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and if that fails then it won’t boot at all.

● Booting is a startup sequence that starts the operating system of a computer when it is
turned on. A boot sequence is the initial set of operations that the computer performs
when it is switched on. Every
computer has a boot sequence.
Bootstrap loader locates the kernel,
loads it into main memory and

BLDEA S.B.S. ARTS, COMMERCE AND SCIENCE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN BCA DEPT.Page 21
 starts its execution.In some systems, a simple bootstrap loader fetches a more complex
boot program from disk, which in turn loads the kernel.

Dual Booting:

When two operating system are installed on the computer system then it is called dual booting.
In fact multiple operating systems can be installed on such a system. But how system knows
which operating system is to boot? A boot loader that understand multiple file systems and

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multiple operating system can occupy the boot space.Once loaded, it can boot one of the

AR
operating systems available on the disk.The disk can have multiple partitions, each containing a
different type of operating system. When a computer system turn on, a boot manager program
displays a menu, allowing user to choose the operating system to use.

LK
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RA
RU
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OF
PR
ST.
AS

BLDEA S.B.S. ARTS, COMMERCE AND SCIENCE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN BCA DEPT.Page 22