ABSTRACT

This chapter describes the purpose of an operating system and the history of the Linux operating system. A computer system consists of various hardware and software resources. The primary purpose of an operating system is to facilitate easy, efficient, fair, orderly, and secure use of these resources. Software resources include applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, games, graphing tools, picture- and video-processing tools, and Internet-related tools such as Web browsers. The major operating system services therefore provide mechanisms for the following secure and efficient operations and processes: Execution of a program; Input and output operations performed by programs; Communication between processes; Error detection and reporting; Management of users and security. Operating systems can be categorized according to the number of users who can use the system at the same time and the number of processes that the system can run simultaneously. These criteria lead to three types of operating systems: Single-user, single-process system; Single-user, multiprocess system; Multiuser, multiprocess system.