The Operating System And Softwar History Of An Operating System

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OPERATING SYSTEM
What is an operating system?
An operating system (OS) is a collection of systems that make the computer’s hardware usable. It is basically the set of programs that controls a computer and acts as an intermediary between the user and the computer. In simpler terms, it is the set of software programs that enable the computer hardware to communicate with the computer software. Examples of operating systems include Ubuntu Linux, MS-Windows, OS/2, Mac OS, Google Android, MVS, VM etc.
Usually there are many programs running at the same time and all of them demanding the computer’s resources (I/O devices, communication devices, data, memory and storage). The responsibility of the operating system is to manage these resources and the programs that need them to such that all computer functions are carried out.
The OS …show more content…

The following is the history of the OS;
i. First generation (1945 - 1955): This is the period when the early computers did not yet use operating systems. The electronic devices used were vacuum tubes while plug boards were used as the OS. The electronic computers were so primitive that programs were entered one bit at a time on rows of mechanical switches. ii. Second generation (1955 - 1965): This is the era of the punch cards and later transistors. The first operating system was implemented in this time by the General Motors research lab for their IBM 701 computer. The type of OS used was batch system with the batch systems running one at a time. The users of batch operating system do not interact with the computer directly. Each user prepares his job on an off-line device like punch cards and submits it to the computer operator. To hasten processing, tasks with similar needs were batched together and run as a group. The systems were subsequently named single-stream batch processing

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