Basics of Operating Systems (IT2019-2) : Assignment II

Basics of Operating Systems (IT2019-2)
GIANG LE e1800927
Assignment II:
1. What is kernel?
The kernel is a computer program at the core of a computer's operating system with
complete control over everything in the system. It contains the components of the
operating system that will stay resident in memory
The kernel handles such tasks as:

 process management
 resource management
 memory management
 input/output operations
The kernel works as the interface between the users and application software, and the
hardware of the computer system.
2. What is system daemon?

System daemons is a computer program that runs as a background process, rather than
being under the direct control of an interactive user, does not need any user interaction
and run the entire time the kernel is running, like syslogd, which takes care of system
logging facility, and sshd, which is a daemon that serves incoming SSH connections.
3. When is the system fully booted?

The system is fully booted when the kernel and all of its system daemon are loaded into
memory and are fully running.
Read more: On UNIX, the first system process is init and it starts many other daemons.
Once this phase is complete, the system is fully booted, and the system waits for some
event to occur. (init is a part of kernel)
4. What is bootstrap? What is firmware? What is the function of firmware?

Bootstrap program, or firmware, is the first program that runs when a computer starts. The
program locates, loads and executing the computer’s operating system kernel. The
program is usually located in ROM (read-only memory) or EEPROM (electrically erasable
programmable read-only memory) or Flash memory (flash storage). It initializes all aspects
of the system, from CPU registers to device controllers to memory contents.
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5. What is interrupt? What happens during interrupt?
An interrupt is a signal sent to the processor that interrupts the current process. It may be
generated by a hardware device or a software program.
Hardware may trigger an interrupt at any time by sending a signal to the CPU, usually by
way of the system bus.
Software may trigger an interrupt by executing a special operation called a system call, also
called a monitor call.
When the CPU is interrupted, it stops what it is doing and immediately transfers execution
to a fixed location. The fixed location usually contains the starting address where the
service routine for the interrupt is located. When the interrupt service routine gets
executed and completed, the CPU resumes the interrupted computation.
Read more: Interrupts are an important part of a computer architecture. Each computer
design has its own interrupt mechanism, but several functions are common. The interrupt
must transfer control to the appropriate interrupt service routine. The straightforward
method for handling this transfer would be to invoke a generic routine to examine the
interrupt information. The routine, in turn, would call the interrupt-specific handler.
6. An environment variable is a variable which modifies the working environment when the
user interacts with the operating system. The environment variable is in use of all
processes under the operating system. How do you see the environment variables on
Windows and Linux operating systems?
 To see the environment variables on Windows
Through Control Panel:
Search “Advanced” in Control Panel, and click View advanced system settings to Open
System Properties dialog box. Advanced tab is automatically selected. And click
Environment Variables button to show what are available.
Through Command Prompt:

Use command “set”.
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 To see the environment variables on Linux
7. How do you check the value of PATH environment variable?

We use “Echo” to check the contents of a particular environment variable:
For example: echo %USERNAME%:
and “echo %PATH%”:
or to print every entries of PATH variable on a new line:”echo %PATH:;=&echo.%”
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8. Update .bash_profile and .bash_logout on shell.puv.fi to print your text when you login
and log out of the system.
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Basics of Operating Systems (IT2019-2)

The kernel handles such tasks as:

2. What is system daemon?

3. When is the system fully booted?

4. What is bootstrap? What is firmware? What is the function of firmware?

Through Command Prompt:

7. How do you check the value of PATH environment variable?

and “echo %PATH%”:

or to print every entries of PATH variable on a new line:”echo %PATH:;=&echo.%”

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