EXPERIMENT No.

Title: Introduction of Operating System and Comparisons of DOS, UNIX and Linux
Operating System.

Objective: To study the Operating System and Comparisons of DOS, UNIX and Linux
Operating System.

Software Requirements: DOS, UNIX and Linux Operating System.

Hardware Requirements: IBM PC compatible, 80386 or higher processor, 8 MB RAM,

HD with enough space available to install the components required, a CD ROM disk drive.
Theory:
In computing, an operating system (OS) is the system software responsible for the direct control
and management of hardware and basic system operations, as well as running application
software such as word processing programs and web browsers

The Structure of DOS

The structure of Disk Operating System for IBM PC-compatible computers can be broken down
into four distinct components:
BIOS Module: The BIOS module includes the default resident drivers for:
Console display and keyboard (CON)
Line printer (PRN)
Auxiliary device (AUX)
Date and time (CLOCK)
Boot disk device (block device)
It also accomodates installable drivers (DEVICE=commands in CONFIG.SYS), such as:
MOUSE.SYS, ANSI.SYS , 386EMM.SYS , CLOCK.SYS, etc. Kernel , Command Processor ,
External Commands The primitive parts of the resident drivers are in the ROM BIOS while the
rest are in the IO.SYS (or IBMBIO.COM) system file.
The DOS Kernel : The DOS Kernel performs the following functions:
File and record management , Memory management , Character device input/output , Spawning
other programs , Access to real-time clock , The DOS kernel components are contained in the
MSDOS.SYS (or IBMDOS.COM) system file. Programs communicate with the kernel via
software interrupts.
The Command Processor :The command processor is also known as the shell, or the command
interpreter. The command processor is not the operating system, but rather a special class of
program running under control of MS-DOS - it is the user interface to DOS. The command
processor is responsible for parsing and carrying out user commands, including the loading and
execution of other programs from disk (external commands).
The command processor also includes the code for many of the most commonly-used DOS
commands, known as the internal commands. For more information about the internal
commands, see the DOS Internal Commands handout. Five standard handles defined by MS-
DOS for COMMAND.COM
Standard input CON
Standard output CON
Standard error CON s
Auxiliary AUX
List device PRN
The DOS External Commands :The external commands are known as disk bound commands.
They reside in individual files on disk and must be loaded into primary memory (RAM) before
they can be executed.
Windows 2000 architecture:
Kernel Mode
In this mode, the software is able to access the hardware and system data, as well as access all
other system resources. The kernel mode has the following components:
Executive. Contains components that implement memory management, process and thread
management, security, I/O, inter process communication, and other base operating system
services. For the most part, these components interact with one another in a modular, layered
fashion.
Micro kernel. The Micro kernel’s primary functions are to provide multiprocessor
synchronization, thread and interrupt scheduling and dispatching, and trap handling and
exception dispatching. During system startup, it extracts information from the Registry, such as
which device drivers to load and in what order.
Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL). The HAL is the code associated with Windows 2000 that
changes with the hardware the operating system is being run on. Thus, it becomes compatible
with multiple processor platforms. The HAL manipulates the hardware directly.
Device drivers. Device drivers send and receive load parameters and configuration data from the
Registry.
Windowing and graphics system. This system implements the graphical user interface (GUI).
User Mode
Software in the user mode cannot access hardware directly. The user mode-protected subsystem
has four primary responsibilities
Special system support processes, such as the logon process and the session manager.
Windows 2000 services that are server processes, such as the Event Log and Schedule services.
Environment subsystems that provide an operating system environment by exposing the native
operating system services to user applications. They include Win32, POSIX, and OS/2
subsystems. User applications—either Win32, Windows 3.1, MS-DOS, POSIX, or OS/2.
DOS / WINDOWS DIFFERENCES
The demise of DOS, to pinch a pithy line from the writings of Mark Twain, has been greatly
exaggerated. All of our programs work just fine on 32-bit bit Windows systems! They are not
bloated like Windows programs. They're really nice because they run very fast, do not write to
the registry, take only one click to remove, and useonlyKB'sofRAM.
The terminology, and the mechanics, surrounding it has changed, but DOS still exists on all
current Windows operatingting systems, even if it seems to be hidden on some. What used to be the
"MS-DOS
DOS Prompt" has become, onsomesystems,the"CommandPrompt."
Back when DOS was King, individual printer / add-onadd on vendors were responsible for making their
hardware work with DOS. Now, Now, things have changed. The Windows operating system bears the
brunt of responsibility. This is good - with the advent of "plug and play," things are better for
everyone.
Now, due to differences in how printers are "tied" to the operating system in DOS and an in
Windows, there are differences in how you print data files in a Windows system.
In a Windows system, if you wish to print (say) a SmithMatch data file named "TRL3" " to your
printer - do the following: Choose ""List File"" from the menu instead, and list the file TRL3 to
your screen. Then, using the icons at the top of the small DOS window that will open on your
screen, click "Mark," highlight only the data you want, then click "Copy Copy" to paste into the
Windows clipboard - now paste to print from there! Optionally,, you may press your
keyboard Alt - Print Screen'' buttons to copy the small DOS window to the clipboard. Now paste
to Wordpad, Word, or Paint to print. If you use 'Paint,'
' ' you can outline a desired portion of the
small DOS windowforprinting.Another option is to direct output to a data file, and print from
there.
At certain points within some of our programs, you'll be asked: "Print Logfile (Y/N)." If you
choose "Y"" the output data will be directed to a file named Logfile.txt within the \mwdataX sub-
directory, AND to the screen. From there you may right right-click, select Print to your personal or
network printer. Please delete the file after printing; it will re-create
re create when needed again.