Linux and its Basic Operations

What is Linux?

Just like Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Mac OS X, Linux is an operating system. An operating system is software that manages all of the hardware resources associated with your desktop or laptop. To put it simply – the operating system manages the communication between your software and your hardware. Without the operating system (often referred to as the “OS”), the software wouldn’t function.
But Linux also is different from other operating systems because Linux is open source software. The code used to create Linux is free and available to the public to view, edit, and—for users with the appropriate skills—to contribute to.

Working with Microsoft Windows Environment

The Windows environment is the onscreen work area provided by Windows, analogous to a physical desktop, and the operating system's core extension points.

Virtualization of OS

What is Virtualization?

Virtualization allows multiple operating system instances to run concurrently on a single computer;
it is a means of separating hardware from a single operating system. Each “guest” OS is managed by a Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM), also known as a hypervisor. Because the virtualization system sits between the guest and the hardware, it can control the guests’ use of CPU, memory, and storage, even allowing a guest OS to migrate from one machine to another.

DOS Operation

Before knowing the operations of DOS, we must know what DOS is. DOS stands for disk operating system. The term DOS can refer to any operating system, but it is most often used as a shorthand for MS-DOS (Microsoft disk operating system). Originally developed by Microsoft for IBM, MS-DOS was the standard operating system for IBM-compatible personal computers.

DOS uses a command line, or text-based interface, that allows the user to type commands. By typing simple instructions such as pwd (print working directory) and cd (change directory), the user can browse the files on the hard drive, open files, and run programs.

Ms-Dos Interface

Compiler, Interpreter, Linker and Loader

Regardless of what language you use, you eventually need to convert your program into a language that the computer can understand
Two ways for doing that: compile the program or interpret the program

Compiler 

A compiler is a computer program that translates a program in a source language into an equivalent program in a target language. 

OR

A program that translate a source (human-writable) program to an executable (machine-readable) program.

OS, Types of OS, Functions of OS and Utility Software

Operating System Concept

What is an operating system?
A number of definitions of operating system abound. A basic definition could be that it’s a program that lets you run other programs.The other programs are called applications or application programs. The application programs make use of the operating system by making requests for services through a defined application program interface (API). In addition, users can interact directly with the operating system through a user interface such as a command line or a graphical user interface (GUI).
An operating system is basically a intermediary agent between the user and the computer’s resources (CPU (process scheduling), memory (memory management), display, keyboard, mouse (device drivers), persistent storage (file systems), and the network). 

Computer Impacts and Applications

Everyone knows that this is the age of computer and vast majority of people are using computer. Development of science and technology has direct effect on our daily life as well as in our social life. Computer technology has made communication possible from one part of the world to the other in seconds. They can see the transactions in one part of the world while staying in the other part. Computer development is one of the greatest scientific achievements of the twentieth century.

Application of Computer

Types of Computer

Since the advent of the first computer different types and sizes of computers are offering different services. Computers can be as big as occupying a large building and as small as a laptop or a micro controller in mobile & embedded systems. Computer are classified in two categories which are Based on Technology and Based on Performance and Capacity.

Hardware and Software parts of a Computer

Before we talk about different types of computers, let's talk about two things all computers have in common: hardware and software.

Hardware Parts

Hardware is any part of your computer that has a physical structure, such as the keyboard or mouse. It also includes all of the computer's internal parts, which you can see in the image below.

Computer Overview

What is Computer?

A computer is an electronic device that manipulates information, or data. It has the ability to store, retrieve, and process data. You may already know that you can use a computer to type documents, send email, play games, and browse the Web. You can also use it to edit or create spreadsheets, presentations, and even videos.