Week 5: Operating Systems
An operating system is what needs to be installed/run on a computer to make it generally useful for an end user.
One thing that pretty much all operating systems need is a file system. This allows the OS to store and organize data on a storage medium. Even the most rudimentary file system has ways to identify the location of a file.
These days, there can be many types of files (images, videos, wireframe models, etc.) not just encoded text. File systems need a way to organize files into folders or directories to make it easier for the end user and for programs to find the files they need.
It is worth noting that in addition to Microsoft Windows, there are actually quite a few other operating systems out there. Windows is a DOS-based operating system, whereas modern Apple macOS (also iOS) and other BSD-based operating systems are directly descended from UNIX. (Originally, Apple Macintosh computers ran a completely unique operating system, but it ultimately proved too complicated to maintain.) Minix, GNU/Linux and GNU/Hurd are all families of UNIX-like operating systems as well, but less direct. Android is an interesting case because although it uses the Linux kernel, it's not really a GNU distribution for the most part. There are a plethora of GNU/Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, Debian, Drauger OS, Fedora/Red Hat, SUSE, Arch, and many others. There's also QNX, a real-time operating system, which is most notable for being a UNIX-like operating system that is used in cars and in the second generation touchscreen BlackBerry smartphones that could run Android software in addition to native software. Real-time operating systems are designed to respond in a certain time to an input, and are used in safety and reliability-critical applications such as cars and elevators, as well as sometimes for music production.
One thing that pretty much all operating systems need is a file system. This allows the OS to store and organize data on a storage medium. Even the most rudimentary file system has ways to identify the location of a file.
These days, there can be many types of files (images, videos, wireframe models, etc.) not just encoded text. File systems need a way to organize files into folders or directories to make it easier for the end user and for programs to find the files they need.
It is worth noting that in addition to Microsoft Windows, there are actually quite a few other operating systems out there. Windows is a DOS-based operating system, whereas modern Apple macOS (also iOS) and other BSD-based operating systems are directly descended from UNIX. (Originally, Apple Macintosh computers ran a completely unique operating system, but it ultimately proved too complicated to maintain.) Minix, GNU/Linux and GNU/Hurd are all families of UNIX-like operating systems as well, but less direct. Android is an interesting case because although it uses the Linux kernel, it's not really a GNU distribution for the most part. There are a plethora of GNU/Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, Debian, Drauger OS, Fedora/Red Hat, SUSE, Arch, and many others. There's also QNX, a real-time operating system, which is most notable for being a UNIX-like operating system that is used in cars and in the second generation touchscreen BlackBerry smartphones that could run Android software in addition to native software. Real-time operating systems are designed to respond in a certain time to an input, and are used in safety and reliability-critical applications such as cars and elevators, as well as sometimes for music production.
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