Introduction to How Operating Systems Work

If you have a computer, then you have heard about operating systems. Any desktop or
laptop PC that you buy normally comes pre-loaded with Windows XP. Macintosh computers
come pre-loaded with OS X. Many corporate servers use the Linux or UNIX operating
systems. The operating system (OS) is the first thing loaded onto the computer -- without the
operating system, a computer is useless.
More recently, operating systems have started to pop up in smaller computers as well. If you
like to tinker with electronic devices, you are probably pleased that operating systems can
now be found on many of the devices we use every day, from cell phones to wireless access
points. The computers used in these little devices have gotten so powerful that they can
now actually run an operating system and applications. The computer in a typical modern
cell phone is now more powerful than a desktop computer from 20 years ago, so this
progression makes sense and is a natural development. In any device that has an
operating system, there's usually a way to make changes to how the device works. This is
far from a happy accident; one of the reasons operating systems are made out of portable
code rather than permanent physical circuits is so that they can be changed or modified
without having to scrap the whole device.

Box shot reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation

©2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Microsoft XP operating system

For a desktop computer user, this means you can add a new security update, system patch,
new application or often even a new operating system entirely rather than junk your
computer and start again with a new one when you need to make a change. As long as you
understand how an operating system works and know how to get at it, you can in many
cases change some of the ways it behaves. And, it's as true of your cell phone as it is of your
computer.
The purpose of an operating system is to organize and control hardware and software so
that the device it lives in behaves in a flexible but predictable way. In this article, we'll tell you
what a piece of software must do to be called an operating system, show you how the
operating system in your desktop computer works and give you some examples of how to
take control of the other operating systems around you.
The Bare Bones
Not all computers have operating systems. The computer
that controls the microwave oven in your kitchen, for
example, doesn't need an operating system. It has one
set of tasks to perform, very straightforward input to
expect (a numbered keypad and a few pre-set buttons)
and simple, never-changing hardware to control. For a
computer like this, an operating system would be
unnecessary baggage, driving up the development and
manufacturing costs significantly and adding complexity
where none is required. Instead, the computer in a microwave oven simply runs a single
hard-wired program all the time.
For other devices, an operating system creates the ability to:
 serve a variety of purposes
 interact with users in more complicated ways
 keep up with needs that change over time
All desktop computers have operating systems. The most common are the Windows family
of operating systems developed by Microsoft, the Macintosh operating systems developed
by Apple and the UNIX family of operating systems (which have been developed by a whole
history of individuals, corporations and collaborators). There are hundreds of other operating
systems available for special-purpose applications, including specializations for mainframes,
robotics, manufacturing, real-time control systems and so on.
What Does It Do?

At the simplest level, an operating system does two things:

1. It manages the hardware and software resources of the system. In a desktop
computer, these resources include such things as the processor, memory, disk
space, etc. (On a cell phone, they include the keypad, the screen, the address
book, the phone dialer, the battery and the network connection.)
2. It provides a stable, consistent way for applications to deal with the hardware
without having to know all the details of the hardware.
The first task, managing the hardware and software resources, is very important, as various
programs and input methods compete for the attention of the central processing unit
(CPU) and demand memory, storage and input/output (I/O) bandwidth for their own
purposes. In this capacity, the operating system plays the role of the good parent, making
sure that each application gets the necessary resources while playing nicely with all the other
applications, as well as husbanding the limited capacity of the system to the greatest good of
all the users and applications.
The second task, providing a consistent application interface, is especially important if there
is to be more than one of a particular type of computer using the operating system, or if the
hardware making up the computer is ever open to change. A consistent application
program interface (API) allows a software developer to write an application on one
computer and have a high level of confidence that it will run on another computer of the
same type, even if the amount of memory or the quantity of storage is different on the two
machines.
Even if a particular computer is unique, an operating system can ensure that applications
continue to run when hardware upgrades and updates occur. This is because the operating
system and not the application is charged with managing the hardware and the distribution of
its resources. One of the challenges facing developers is keeping their operating systems
flexible enough to run hardware from the thousands of vendors manufacturing computer
equipment. Today's systems can accommodate thousands of different printers, disk drives
and special peripherals in any possible combination.
What Kinds Are There?

Within the broad family of operating systems, there are generally four types, categorized
based on the types of computers they control and the sort of applications they support. The
broad categories are:
 Real-time operating system (RTOS) - Real-time operating systems are used to
control machinery, scientific instruments and industrial systems. An RTOS typically
has very little user-interface capability, and no end-user utilities, since the system
will be a "sealed box" when delivered for use. A very important part of an RTOS is
managing the resources of the computer so that a particular operation executes in
precisely the same amount of time every time it occurs. In a complex machine,
having a part move more quickly just because system resources are available may
be just as catastrophic as having it not move at all because the system is busy.
 Single-user, single task - As the name implies, this operating system is
designed to manage the computer so that one user can effectively do one thing at
a time. The Palm OS for Palm handheld computers is a good example of a modern
single-user, single-task operating system.
 Single-user, multi-tasking - This is the type of operating system most people
use on their desktop and laptop computers today. Microsoft's Windows and Apple's
MacOS platforms are both examples of operating systems that will let a single user
have several programs in operation at the same time. For example, it's entirely
possible for a Windows user to be writing a note in a word processor while
downloading a file from the Internet while printing the text of an e-mail message.
 Multi-user - A multi-user operating system allows many different users to take
advantage of the computer's resources simultaneously. The operating system must
make sure that the requirements of the various users are balanced, and that each
of the programs they are using has sufficient and separate resources so that a
problem with one user doesn't affect the entire community of users. Unix, VMS and
mainframe operating systems, such as MVS, are examples of multi-user
operating systems.
 Photo courtesy Apple
Mac OS X Panther screen shot

It's important to differentiate here between multi-user operating systems and single-user
operating systems that support networking. Windows 2000 and Novell Netware can each
support hundreds or thousands of networked users, but the operating systems themselves
aren't true multi-user operating systems. The system administrator is the only "user" for
Windows 2000 or Netware. The network support and all of the remote user logins the
network enables are, in the overall plan of the operating system, a program being run by the
administrative user.
With the different types of operating systems in mind, it's time to look at the basic functions
provided by an operating system.
Wake-Up Call

When you turn on the power to a computer, the first program that runs is usually a set of
instructions kept in the computer's read-only memory (ROM). This code examines the
system hardware to make sure everything is functioning properly. This power-on self test
(POST) checks the CPU, memory, and basic input-output systems (BIOS) for errors and
stores the result in a special memory location. Once the POST has successfully completed,
the software loaded in ROM (sometimes called the BIOS or firmware) will begin to activate
the computer's disk drives. In most modern computers, when the computer activates the
hard disk drive, it finds the first piece of the operating system: the bootstrap loader.
The bootstrap loader is a small program that has a single function: It loads the operating
system into memory and allows it to begin operation. In the most basic form, the bootstrap
loader sets up the small driver programs that interface with and control the various hardware
subsystems of the computer. It sets up the divisions of memory that hold the operating
system, user information and applications. It establishes the data structures that will hold the
myriad signals, flags and semaphores that are used to communicate within and between the
subsystems and applications of the computer. Then it turns control of the computer over to
the operating system.
The operating system's tasks, in the most general sense, fall into six categories:
 Processor management
 Memory management
 Device management
 Storage management
 Application interface
 User interface
While there are some who argue that an operating system should do more than these six
tasks, and some operating-system vendors do build many more utility programs and auxiliary
functions into their operating systems, these six tasks define the core of nearly all operating
systems. Let's look at the tools the operating system uses to perform each of these
functions.
Processor Management

The heart of managing the processor comes down to two related issues:
 Ensuring that each process and application receives enough of the processor's
time to function properly.
 Using as many processor cycles for real work as is possible.
The basic unit of software that the operating system deals with in scheduling the work done
by the processor is either a process or a thread, depending on the operating system.
It's tempting to think of a process as an application, but that gives an incomplete picture of
how processes relate to the operating system and hardware. The application you see (word
processor or spreadsheet or game) is, indeed, a process, but that application may cause
several other processes to begin, for tasks like communications with other devices or other
computers. There are also numerous processes that run without giving you direct evidence
that they ever exist. For example, Windows XP and UNIX can have dozens of background
processes running to handle the network, memory management, disk management, virus
checking and so on.
A process, then, is software that performs some action and can be controlled -- by a user, by
other applications or by the operating system.
It is processes, rather than applications, that the operating system controls and schedules for
execution by the CPU. In a single-tasking system, the schedule is straightforward. The
operating system allows the application to begin running, suspending the execution only long
enough to deal with interrupts and user input.
Interrupts are special signals sent by hardware or software to the CPU. It's as if some part of
the computer suddenly raised its hand to ask for the CPU's attention in a lively meeting.
Sometimes the operating system will schedule the priority of processes so that interrupts are
masked -- that is, the operating system will ignore the interrupts from some sources so that
a particular job can be finished as quickly as possible. There are some interrupts (such as
those from error conditions or problems with memory) that are so important that they can't be
ignored. These non-maskable interrupts (NMIs) must be dealt with immediately, regardless
of the other tasks at hand.
While interrupts add some complication to the execution of processes in a single-tasking
system, the job of the operating system becomes much more complicated in a multi-tasking
system. Now, the operating system must arrange the execution of applications so that you
believe that there are several things happening at once. This is complicated because the
CPU can only do one thing at a time. In order to give the appearance of lots of things
happening at the same time, the operating system has to switch between different processes
thousands of times a second. Here's how it happens:
 A process occupies a certain amount of RAM. It also makes use of registers,
stacks and queues within the CPU and operating-system memory space.
 When two processes are multi-tasking, the operating system allots a certain
number of CPU execution cycles to one program.
 After that number of cycles, the operating system makes copies of all the
registers, stacks and queues used by the processes, and notes the point at which
the process paused in its execution.
 It then loads all the registers, stacks and queues used by the second process and
allows it a certain number of CPU cycles.
 When those are complete, it makes copies of all the registers, stacks and queues
used by the second program, and loads the first program.
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All of the information needed to keep track of a process when switching is kept in a data
package called a process control block. The process control block typically contains:
 An ID number that identifies the process
 Pointers to the locations in the program and its data where processing last
occurred
 Register contents
 States of various flags and switches
 Pointers to the upper and lower bounds of the memory required for the process
 A list of files opened by the process
 The priority of the process
 The status of all I/O devices needed by the process
Each process has a status associated with it. Many processes consume no CPU time until
they get some sort of input. For example, a process might be waiting on a keystroke from the
user. While it is waiting for the keystroke, it uses no CPU time. While it is waiting, it is
"suspended". When the keystroke arrives, the OS changes its status. When the status of
the process changes, from pending to active, for example, or from suspended to running, the
information in the process control block must be used like the data in any other program to
direct execution of the task-switching portion of the operating system.
This process swapping happens without direct user interference, and each process gets
enough CPU cycles to accomplish its task in a reasonable amount of time. Trouble can
come, though, if the user tries to have too many processes functioning at the same time. The
operating system itself requires some CPU cycles to perform the saving and swapping of all
the registers, queues and stacks of the application processes. If enough processes are
started, and if the operating system hasn't been carefully designed, the system can begin to
use the vast majority of its available CPU cycles to swap between processes rather than run
processes. When this happens, it's called thrashing, and it usually requires some sort of
direct user intervention to stop processes and bring order back to the system.
One way that operating-system designers reduce the chance of thrashing is by reducing the
need for new processes to perform various tasks. Some operating systems allow for a
"process-lite," called a thread, that can deal with all the CPU-intensive work of a normal
process, but generally does not deal with the various types of I/O and does not establish
structures requiring the extensive process control block of a regular process. A process may
start many threads or other processes, but a thread cannot start a process.
So far, all the scheduling we've discussed has concerned a single CPU. In a system with two
or more CPUs, the operating system must divide the workload among the CPUs, trying to
balance the demands of the required processes with the available cycles on the different
CPUs. Asymmetric operating systems use one CPU for their own needs and divide
application processes among the remaining CPUs. Symmetric operating systems divide
themselves among the various CPUs, balancing demand versus CPU availability even when
the operating system itself is all that's running.
Even if the operating system is the only software with execution needs, the CPU is not the
only resource to be scheduled. Memory management is the next crucial step in making sure
that all processes run smoothly.

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Memory Storage and Management

When an operating system manages the computer's memory, there are two broad tasks to
be accomplished:
1. Each process must have enough memory in which to execute, and it can neither
run into the memory space of another process nor be run into by another process.
2. The different types of memory in the system must be used properly so that each
process can run most effectively.
The first task requires the operating system to set up memory boundaries for types of
software and for individual applications.

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As an example, let's look at an imaginary small system with 1 megabyte (1,000 kilobytes) of
RAM. During the boot process, the operating system of our imaginary computer is designed
to go to the top of available memory and then "back up" far enough to meet the needs of the
operating system itself. Let's say that the operating system needs 300 kilobytes to run. Now,
the operating system goes to the bottom of the pool of RAM and starts building up with the
various driver software required to control the hardware subsystems of the computer. In our
imaginary computer, the drivers take up 200 kilobytes. So after getting the operating system
completely loaded, there are 500 kilobytes remaining for application processes.
When applications begin to be loaded into memory, they are loaded in block sizes
determined by the operating system. If the block size is 2 kilobytes, then every process that
is loaded will be given a chunk of memory that is a multiple of 2 kilobytes in size.
Applications will be loaded in these fixed block sizes, with the blocks starting and ending on
boundaries established by words of 4 or 8 bytes. These blocks and boundaries help to
ensure that applications won't be loaded on top of one another's space by a poorly
calculated bit or two. With that ensured, the larger question is what to do when the 500-
kilobyte application space is filled.
In most computers, it's possible to add memory beyond the original capacity. For example,
you might expand RAM from 1 to 2 megabytes. This works fine, but tends to be relatively
expensive. It also ignores a fundamental fact of computing -- most of the information that an
application stores in memory is not being used at any given moment. A processor can only
access memory one location at a time, so the vast majority of RAM is unused at any
moment. Since disk space is cheap compared to RAM, then moving information in RAM to
hard disk can greatly expand RAM space at no cost. This technique is called virtual
memory management.
Disk storage is only one of the memory types that must be managed by the operating
system, and is the slowest. Ranked in order of speed, the types of memory in a computer
system are:
 High-speed cache - This is fast, relatively small amounts of memory that are
available to the CPU through the fastest connections. Cache controllers predict
which pieces of data the CPU will need next and pull it from main memory into
high-speed cache to speed up system performance.
 Main memory - This is the RAM that you see measured in megabytes when you
buy a computer.
 Secondary memory - This is most often some sort of rotating magnetic storage
that keeps applications and data available to be used, and serves as virtual RAM
under the control of the operating system.
The operating system must balance the needs of the various processes with the availability
of the different types of memory, moving data in blocks (called pages) between available
memory as the schedule of processes dictates.
Device Management

The path between the operating system and virtually all hardware not on the computer's
motherboard goes through a special program called a driver. Much of a driver's function is to
be the translator between the electrical signals of the hardware subsystems and the high-
level programming languages of the operating system and application programs. Drivers
take data that the operating system has defined as a file and translate them into streams of
bits placed in specific locations on storage devices, or a series of laser pulses in a printer.
Because there are such wide differences in the hardware controlled through drivers, there
are differences in the way that the driver programs function, but most are run when the
device is required, and function much the same as any other process. The operating system
will frequently assign high-priority blocks to drivers so that the hardware resource can be
released and readied for further use as quickly as possible.
One reason that drivers are separate from the operating system is so that new functions can
be added to the driver -- and thus to the hardware subsystems -- without requiring the
operating system itself to be modified, recompiled and redistributed. Through the
development of new hardware device drivers, development often performed or paid for by
the manufacturer of the subsystems rather than the publisher of the operating system,
input/output capabilities of the overall system can be greatly enhanced.
Managing input and output is largely a matter of managing queues and buffers, special
storage facilities that take a stream of bits from a device, perhaps a keyboard or a serial port,
hold those bits, and release them to the CPU at a rate slow enough for the CPU to cope with.
This function is especially important when a number of processes are running and taking up
processor time. The operating system will instruct a buffer to continue taking input from the
device, but to stop sending data to the CPU while the process using the input is suspended.
Then, when the process needing input is made active once again, the operating system will
command the buffer to send data. This process allows a keyboard or a modem to deal with
external users or computers at a high speed even though there are times when the CPU
can't use input from those sources.
Managing all the resources of the computer system is a large part of the operating system's
function and, in the case of real-time operating systems, may be virtually all the functionality
required. For other operating systems, though, providing a relatively simple, consistent way
for applications and humans to use the power of the hardware is a crucial part of their reason
for existing.
Interface to the World

Application Interface
Just as drivers provide a way for applications to make use of hardware subsystems without
having to know every detail of the hardware's operation, application program interfaces
(APIs) let application programmers use functions of the computer and operating system
without having to directly keep track of all the details in the CPU's operation. Let's look at the
example of creating a hard disk file for holding data to see why this can be important.
A programmer writing an application to record data from a scientific instrument might want to
allow the scientist to specify the name of the file created. The operating system might
provide an API function named MakeFile for creating files. When writing the program, the
programmer would insert a line that looks like this:
MakeFile [1, %Name, 2]
In this example, the instruction tells the operating system to create a file that will allow
random access to its data (signified by the 1 -- the other option might be 0 for a serial file),
will have a name typed in by the user (%Name) and will be a size that varies depending on
how much data is stored in the file (signified by the 2 -- other options might be zero for a
fixed size, and 1 for a file that grows as data is added but does not shrink when data is
removed). Now, let's look at what the operating system does to turn the instruction into
action.
The operating system sends a query to the disk drive to get the location of the first available
free storage location.
With that information, the operating system creates an entry in the file system showing the
beginning and ending locations of the file, the name of the file, the file type, whether the file
has been archived, which users have permission to look at or modify the file, and the date
and time of the file's creation.
The operating system writes information at the beginning of the file that identifies the file,
sets up the type of access possible and includes other information that ties the file to the
application. In all of this information, the queries to the disk drive and addresses of the
beginning and ending point of the file are in formats heavily dependent on the manufacturer
and model of the disk drive.
Because the programmer has written the program to use the API for disk storage, the
programmer doesn't have to keep up with the instruction codes, data types and response
codes for every possible hard disk and tape drive. The operating system, connected to
drivers for the various hardware subsystems, deals with the changing details of the hardware
-- the programmer must simply write code for the API and trust the operating system to do
the rest.
APIs have become one of the most hotly contested areas of the computer industry in recent
years. Companies realize that programmers using their API will ultimately translate this into
the ability to control and profit from a particular part of the industry. This is one of the reasons
that so many companies have been willing to provide applications like readers or viewers to
the public at no charge. They know consumers will request that programs take advantage of
the free readers, and application companies will be ready to pay royalties to allow their
software to provide the functions requested by the consumers.
User Interface
Just as the API provides a consistent way for applications to use the resources of the
computer system, a user interface (UI) brings structure to the interaction between a user
and the computer. In the last decade, almost all development in user interfaces has been in
the area of the graphical user interface (GUI), with two models, Apple's Macintosh and
Microsoft's Windows, receiving most of the attention and gaining most of the market share.
The popular, open-source Linux operating system also supports a graphical user
interface.

Screen shot copyright © 2003 Red Hat, Inc. All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission from Red Hat, Inc.
Screen shot of Red Hat's Linux operating system

There are other user interfaces, some graphical and some not, for other operating systems.
Unix, for example, has user interfaces called shells that present a user interface more
flexible and powerful than the standard operating system text-based interface. Programs
such as the Korn Shell and the C Shell are text-based interfaces that add important utilities,
but their main purpose is to make it easier for the user to manipulate the functions of the
operating system. There are also graphical user interfaces, such as X-Windows and Gnome,
that make Unix and Linux more like Windows and Macintosh computers from the user's point
of view.
It's important to remember that in all of these examples, the user interface is a program or
set of programs that sits as a layer above the operating system itself. The same thing is true,
with somewhat different mechanisms, of both Windows and Macintosh operating systems.
The core operating-system functions -- the management of the computer system -- lie in the
kernel of the operating system. The display manager is separate, though it may be tied
tightly to the kernel beneath. The ties between the operating-system kernel and the user
interface, utilities and other software define many of the differences in operating systems
today, and will further define them in the future.
What's New

The Growing Importance of Networks

For desktop systems, access to a LAN or the Internet has become such an expected feature
that in many ways it's hard to discuss an operating system without making reference to its
connections to other computers and servers. Operating system developers have made the
Internet the standard method for delivering crucial operating system updates and bug fixes.
Although it is possible to receive these updates via CD, it is becoming increasingly less
common. In fact, some entire operating systems themselves are only available through
distribution over the Internet.
Further, a process called NetBooting has streamlined the capability to move the working
operating system of a standard consumer desktop computer - kernel, user interface and all -
off of the machine it controls. This was previously only possible for experienced power-users
on multi-user platforms like UNIX and with a suite of specialized applications. NetBooting
allows the operating system for one computer to be served over a network connection, by a
remote computer connected anywhere in the network. One NetBoot server can serve
operating systems to several dozen client computers simultaneously, and to the user sitting
in front of each client computer the experience is just like they are using their familiar
desktop operating system like Windows or MacOS.

Open Source
One question concerning the future of operating systems
revolves around the ability of a particular philosophy of
software distribution to create an operating system useable
by corporations and consumers together.
Linux, the operating system created and distributed
according to the principles of open source, has had a
significant impact on the operating system in general. Most
operating systems, drivers and utility programs are written
by commercial organizations that distribute executable
versions of their software -- versions that can't be studied
or altered. Open source requires the distribution of original
source materials that can be studied, altered and built
upon, with the results once again freely distributed. In the
desktop computer realm, this has led to the development
Logo courtesy Larry Ewing
Linux logo
and distribution of countless useful and cost-free applications like the image manipulation
program GIMP and the popular web server Apache. In the consumer device realm, the use
of Linux has paved the way for individual users to have greater control over how their
devices behave.

Getting at the OS
Many consumer devices like cell phones and routers deliberately hide access to the
operating system from the user, mostly to make sure that it's not inadvertently broken or
removed. In many cases, they leave open a "developer's mode" or "programmer's mode"
which allow changes to be made if you know how to find it. Often these systems may be
programmed in such a way that there are only a limited range of changes that can be made.
But some devices leave open both a mode of access and the means of making powerful
changes, especially those that use Linux. Here are a couple of examples:
 The TiVo DVR runs on a modified version of Linux. All of the modifications are
public knowledge, and can be downloaded here along with some special tools for
manipulating the code. Many enterprising TiVo users have done just that, adding
functionality to their systems, from increasing the storage capacity to getting to
UNIX shells to changing the mode from NTSC to PAL. Here's a FAQ on how to
hack your TiVo.

Photo courtesy Amazon.com

Philips HDR312 TiVo 30-Hour Digital Video Recorder and
Linksys EZXS55W EtherFast 10/100 5-Port Workgroup Switch
 Many home routers also run on Linux, including those made by Linksys. This
article from G4TechTV discusses how to hack your Linksys Router and take control
of the Linux inside.