EXPERIMENT NO-09

CASE STUDY OF LINUX

OPERATING SYSTEM
MADE BY-
ABHYA TRIPATHI-47
INDEX:
1. INTRODUCTION
2. HISTORY
3. BLOCK DIAGRAM
4. SERVICES
5. COMPONENTS
6. BASIC FEATURES
7. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
INTRODUCTION
Linux​ is a free and open source (FOSS) monolithic kernel
(which is evolving towards a modular kernel) originally
developed by Linus Torvalds and released under the GNU
Public License.
The Linux kernel was initially developed in 1991 on Linus
Torvald's 80386 computer, and the initial versions were
technically limited and only supported the i386 architecture.
With contributions from dozens of other FOSS programmers,
support for numerous features and architectures was added, .
Linus originally started the project as an updated replacement
for Minix, which was written by Andrew S. Tanenbaum to use
as an example for an operating system design and
implementation course. Many Linux distributions combine the
kernel with many of the GNU utilities.
HISTORY
The history of linux began in 1991 with the commencement of a
personal project by ​Finnish​ student ​Linus Torvalds​ to create a
new free operating system kernel. Since then, the
resulting ​Linux kernel​ has been marked by constant growth
throughout its history​.​ ​Mr. Trovalds was a student at the
University of Helsinki, Finland – The name Linux is derived
from “Linus” and “UNIX”. The Minix source code served as a
starting point. Torvalds sought advice from the community.
Developers continued to support the concept of a new, freely
available operating system.
BLOCK DIAGRAM OF OS

SERVICES
An Operating System provides services to both the users and to the
programs.
● It provides programs an environment to execute.
● It provides users the services to execute the programs in a
convenient manner.
Following are a few common services provided by an operating system
● Program execution - ​Operating systems handle many kinds of
activities from user programs to system programs like printer
spooler, name servers, file server, etc. Each of these activities is
encapsulated as a process. Some of the examples of program
execution and management are, ​Loads a program into memory,
Executes the program, Handles program's execution, Provides a
mechanism for process synchronization, Provides a mechanism for
process communication, Provides a mechanism for deadlock
handling.
● I/O operations - An Operating System manages the
communication between user and device drivers. I/O operation
means read or write operation with any file or any specific I/O
device. Operating system provides the access to the required I/O
device when required.
● File System manipulation - ​A file represents a collection of related
information. Computers can store files on the disk (secondary
storage), for long-term storage purpose. ​Following are the major
activities of an operating system with respect to file management
−Program needs to read a file or write a file. The operating system
gives the permission to the program for operation on file.
Permission varies from read-only, read-write, denied and so on.
Operating System provides an interface to the user to
create/delete files. Operating System provides an interface to the
user to create/delete directories. Operating System provides an
interface to create the backup of file system.
● Communication - The OS handles routing and connection
strategies, and the problems of contention and security. Following
are the major activities of an operating system with respect to
communication−Two processes often require data to be
transferred between them. Both the processes can be on one
computer or on different computers, but are connected through a
computer network.
● Error Detection - An error may occur in CPU, in I/O devices or in
the memory hardware. Following are the major activities of an
operating system with respect to error handling − The OS
constantly checks for possible errors. The OS takes an
appropriate action to ensure correct and consistent computing.
● Resource Allocation - In case of multi-user or multi-tasking
environment, resources such as main memory, CPU cycles and
files storage are to be allocated to each user or job. Following are
the major activities of an operating system with respect to
resource management −The OS manages all kinds of resources
using schedulers. CPU scheduling algorithms are used for better
utilization of CPU.
● Protection - ​Considering a computer system having multiple users
and concurrent execution of multiple processes, the various
processes must be protected from each other's activities.
Protection refers to a mechanism or a way to control the access of
 programs, processes, or users to the resources defined by a
computer system. Following are the major activities of an
operating system with respect to protection−The OS ensures that
all access to system resources is controlled. The OS ensures that
external I/O devices are protected from invalid access attempts.
The OS provides authentication features for each user by means
of passwords.

COMPONENTS OF LINUX SYSTEM

Linux Operating System has primarily three components
● Kernel​ − Kernel is the core part of Linux. It is responsible for all
major activities of this operating system. It consists of various
modules and it interacts directly with the underlying hardware.
Kernel provides the required abstraction to hide low level
hardware details to system or application programs.
● System Library​ − System libraries are special functions or
programs using which application programs or system utilities
accesses Kernel's features. These libraries implement most of the
functionalities of the operating system and do not requires kernel
module's code access rights.
● System Utility​ − System Utility programs are responsible to do
specialized, individual level tasks.

BASIC FEATURES
Following are some of the important features of Linux Operating
System.
● Portable​ − Portability means software can works on different
types of hardware in same way. Linux kernel and application
programs supports their installation on any kind of hardware
platform.
● Open Source​ − Linux source code is freely available and it is
community based development project. Multiple teams work in
collaboration to enhance the capability of Linux operating system
and it is continuously evolving.
● Multi-User​ − Linux is a multiuser system means multiple users
can access system resources like memory/ ram/ application
programs at same time.
 ● Multiprogramming​ − Linux is a multiprogramming system means
multiple applications can run at same time.
● Hierarchical File System​ − Linux provides a standard file
structure in which system files/ user files are arranged.
● Shell​ − Linux provides a special interpreter program which can be
used to execute commands of the operating system. It can be
used to do various types of operations, call application programs.
etc.
● Security​ − Linux provides user security using authentication
features like password protection/ controlled access to specific
files/ encryption of data.

ADVANTAGES
One of the most valued advantages of ​Linux​ over the other platforms lies
with the high security levels it ensures. Every ​Linux​ user is happy to
work in a virus-free environment and use the regular virus-prevention
time needed when working with other ​Operating Systems​ for other more
important tasks​. ​Thanks to its open-source distribution, ​>Linux​ is being
constantly developed and updated by the constantly​ ​expanding
community of programmers supporting it. Despite its dynamic nature, it
is totally complete in terms of functionality and interface. All those
ongoing development efforts are made with the sole purpose of keeping
the platform flexible and ever adaptable to the changeable 'climate' of
the WWW.

DISADVANTAGES

● Understanding-Becoming familiar with the ​Linux Operating

System​ requires patience as well as a strong learning curve. You
must have the desire to read and figure things out on your own,
rather than having everything done for you.
● Compatibility-Because of its free nature, ​Linux​ is sometimes
behind the curve when it comes to brand new hardware
compatibility. Though the kernel contributors and maintainers work
hard at keeping the kernel up to date, ​Linux​ does not have as
 much of a corporate backing as alternative ​Operating Systems​.
Sometimes you can find third party applications, sometimes you
can’t.
● Alternative Programs-Though ​Linux​ developers have done a great
job at creating alternatives to popular Windows applications, there
are still some applications that exist on Windows that have no
equivalent ​Linux Application​.