Department of Computer Science

Department information

 

Operating Systems I S2005 / PART 1 (8.9-19.9)

Hardware and Operating System Overview

GOALS

• To understand the fundamental concepts of computer architecture, of operating system internals and of the execution of a program on CPU level.
• To understand the benefits and the requirements that arise from multiprogramming.

Key words: instruction cycle, interrupts, system call, hardware support, OS functions

TEXT IN COURSE BOOK

• Stallings chapter 1: Computer System Overview
  • 5.ed: sivut 8-50
  • 4.ed: sivut 7-52
  • (3.ed: sivut 1-44)
• Stallings chapters 2.1-2.4: Operating System Overview
  • 5.ed: sivut 51-81
  • 4.ed: sivut 53-83
  • (3.ed: sivut 45-74)

SLIDES and OTHER MATERIALS

Slides in Finnish only

• Luento 1: Johdanto ja kurssin rakenne 2s/A4, 6s/A4
• Luento 2: Tietokonelaitteiston kertaus 2s/A4, 6s/A4
• Luento 3: Käyttöjärjestelmien kehittyminen ja niiden historiaa 2s/A4, 6s/A4
• Luento 4: Käyttöjärjestelmien keskeiset osa-alueet 2s/A4, 6s/A4

See also Stallings's pages

Other materials: A.S. Tanenbaum: Modern Operating Systems. 2nd ed. 2001. Pages 1-70. Also in Dept. OF CS Library, 2nd floor.

STUDY TEAMS IN THE COURSE  (called also STUDY GROUPS)

Study teams are organised during the first meeting. Each team will have 4-5 participants, who will be working together during the whole course. The team chooses one of its members as a person in charge who is responsible for delivering the reports as well as taking care about the communication and timetables. The team is expected to work together when solving the tasks. The report can be hand written (but clear enough). It does not have to be essay, there can be also small number of lists. Do not forget to explain the details: who is doing (OS / HW), why and when, etc ...

The section report must be returned on paper latest on Monday 19.9. (before 12 o'clock). You can also leave the report to the teacher during the small group meeting.

The report must contain:

• Cover page, with participant names, number and teacher of the small group session
  
• The actual 'essay or report' of the section problem
  
• List of favorite evaluation questions and the reasoning for them
  
• Filled evaluation form
  

 

A - BEFORE FIRST MEETING - create your own mind map Every participant is expected to go through the material before the meeting and create a personal mind map about the terms and their connections. You can find more information about mind maps from the net. For example, the page How to do a Mind Map is useful.

B - TEAM TASK Each Team: Write a report that contains your group's answers to all of the following problem.  Organisation of the work in time 1. meeting: In a study group, study the exercises together. Think and discuss about what issues you already know, what items you need to find more information about, what information is needed, etc. You can consult the teacher of the small group session, but he will not solve the problems for you. He can gie you hints and show the right way for solveing the problem, if you are totally lost. Between the two meetings: You may need to discuss together between the meetings to write your report. These discussion you need to organise yourselves. You may wish to use personal meetings at Exactum or somewhere else, use e-mail, irc, webCT (if you want to use webCT, please contact Tiina Niklander). You are expected to write your report before the second meeting. 2. meeting: Study groups present their solutions and report contents to other groups during the meeting. After the 2. meeting: If you feel that you need to modify your report, you'll have two days after the meeting to finalise your report. For example, you may want to add/change/correct some items in your report based on the presentations during the meeting. Please notice, that you'll have ONLY two days for this. THE PROBLEM:  HOW DOES THE SYSTEM EXACUTE A PROGRAM? A user starts a new simple printing work by typing its name into the shell's command line or by clicking an icon in a windowing environment. What actually happens in the system, when it executes this small request.  Please go through all the details of the execution. Cover at least execution cycle, system calls and interrupts. Please make very clear what of the functionality is provided by the hardware and what part is handled by the operating system software. Please cover also such issues as: What needs to be changed, if there are multiple processes aroung? What about more prosessors? Why are these changes necessary? Figures and drawing can be used in the explanations, as well.

C - SELECT YOUR FAVOURITE REVIEW QUESTIONS Each team: List five review questions that you consider most relevant for this section, and explain why it is important to understand the answers. A good review question requires understandin a lot about the issue. A question that only asks about some very small details is not a very good review question. Did you find any special issues or did you have any troubles with this section? If there are areas that would need more detailed explanations, please give a hint. Hint: think about what kind of questios would you like to answer in the course exam

D - EVALUATION Each team: Please evaluate your teams work as well as your own work using the following pdf form (in Finnish). The form will be handed to the team in the small group session. The evaluation has two goals: (1) to collect information about the exercises and study groups, and (2) to help study groups to make their work even better. We appriciate short answers that give the essentials in a compact form. Please try to be open minded. Answer to each question and give also your reasonings.

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Page created 06.09.2002, Auvo Häkkinen