What are Types of Operating System ?

 

Types of Operating System

 

 

Types of Operating System

 

Operating system can be classified on the basis of the type of user interface, number of users it supports and the number of tasks it can perform at a time.

 

Operating system on the basis of user interface

 

Command Line Interface (CLI) or Character User Interface (CUI), requires text command to interact with the computer. You type text command(s) in Command prompt (Command-line interpreter) or MS DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System). It has a black screen with white font color for the commands. All the tasks had to be performed using commands. There were no icons or graphical representation of commands. Hence the mouse was not used.

Now, CLI is replaced with Graphical User Interface (GUI).

 

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In 2018, Microsoft released the source code for MS-DOS 1.25 and 2.0. According to Microsoft the idea behind the release is for education and experimentation with historic operating systems. New programmers can gain an understanding of how low-level software worked both historic and current.

 

 

Graphical User Interface (GUI) is the most popular and widely used interface. This interface uses icons, menus and graphics representations to display information, unlike text-based interfaces. You can use pointing device such as a mouse pen or stylus and you can give commands on just a click Windows is the most common example of GUI. Other examples include Linux, Symbian, maCos.

 

Operating system on the basis of tasks supported at a time

 

vSingle-tasking OS

vMulti-tasking OS

vTime Sharing OS

vBatch Operating System Real-time OS

vDistributed OS

vNetwork OS

 

Single-tasking operating system

 

This operating system is designed to manage the computer so that one/single user can effectively do only one thing at a time. The MSDOS, Palm OS for Palm handheld computers are examples of single-user, single-task operating system.

 

Multi-tasking operating system

 

As the name implies, this operating system can run multiple process or tasks at the same time without interfering with other tasks. Microsoft's Windows and Apple's MacOS platforms are both examples of multi-tasking operating systems. You can write an e-mail message while downloading a file from the Internet and listening to songs and printing a document.

 

Time-sharing operating systems

 

This operating system let the people situated at a different terminal to use a single computer system at the same time. The processor time (CPU) is shared among multiple users and hence termed as time sharing. The idle CPU time is reduced to a great extent and provides a user a quick response.

 

Batch operating system

 

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.

 

The user of a batch operating system never directly interacts with the computer. In this type of user prepares his or her job on an offline device like punched the number of jobs on a punch card and submit it to the operator. The operator then executed the jobs. This OS was primarily used when computers were Number of jobs invented. The main disadvantage of processing in batches is that the CPU is idle for a longer time and priority jobs being still in queue.

 

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Number of jobs in group is called a batch.

 

Real-time operating system

 

A real time operating system is used for a real-time application that is for those applications where data processing should be done in the fixed and small quantum of time. An RTOS has a defined fixed time to complete a job. else the system might fail. It manages the resources of the computer efficiently without wastage of time and executes a particular task in precisely the same amount of time, every time it occurs. Examples of RtOS include, military , space, traffic, weapons software systems, to control machinery, scientific instruments or experiments and industrial systems.

 

There are two types of real-time operating system:

 

Soft real-time operating system: A process might not be executed in given timeline and can be crossed to execute the next process, without harming the system. For example, digital camera, mobile phones, virtual reality.

 

Hard real-time operating system: A process is executed in given timeline and it is not be crossed. Preemptive action time is almost less than few microseconds. For example, air traffic control, space control systems.

 

Distributed operating system

 

Distributed systems use multiple processors for multiple users at the same time to provide very fast computation to its users. The processor communicates with one another through various communication lines. For in

 

Network operating system

 

Network operating system runs on a server and provides the capability to serve to manage data, user, groups, security, application and other networking functions.

 

Operating system on the basis of number of users

 

Single-user operating system

 

This operating system supports only one user. It provides the facilities to be used on one computer and by only one user. A single user interacts with multiple programs at a time. In case another user wishes to use the same resources being used by, then he/she needs to wait until the current user frees the resources. Since a single user is using the operating system, it is usually not utilised to the fullest. For example, the home desktop system where you do not require user account and run as standalone systems. Windows X is an example of single-user operating system.

 

Multi-user operating system

 

In this type of operating system multiple users can access the computer at the same time. The advantage is that the different users can use or share the resources simultaneously. It maintains a database of known users and each user gets a terminal which in turn is connected with the main computer. Examples of multi-user operating system are Unix, Linux, Windows.

 

Snap

 

Snap is a quick way to resize open windows. Drag them to the edges of your screen. Depending on where you drag a window, you can make it expand vertically, take up the entire screen, or make them appear side-by-side with another window. Snap makes reading, organising and comparing windows simpler.

 

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