IT Fundamentals/Operating Systems

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IT Fundamentals

1. Hardware
2. Peripherals
3. Operating Systems
4. Virtualization
5. Installation and Configuration
6. Applications
7. File SystemsDatabases
8. File Management
9. Commands and Scripting
10. Networking
11. Internetworking
12. Security
13. Safety
14. Support
15. Mobile Devices

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An operating system (OS) is a collection of software that manages computer hardware
resources and provides common services for computer programs. The operating system is a vital
component of the system software in a computer system. Application programs usually require
an operating system to function.[1] This lesson covers desktop and mobile operating systems,
open-source software, and hardware compatibility.

Contents

 1Preparation
 2Objectives and Skills
 3Readings
 4Multimedia
 5Activities
 6Lesson Summary
 7Key Terms
 8Review Questions
 9Assessments
 10See Also
 11References

Preparation[edit]
Learners should already be familiar with Computer Software and Using an Operating System.

Objectives and Skills[edit]

Objectives and skills for the operating systems portion of IT Fundamentals certification include:[2]

 Compare and contrast common Operating Systems and their

functions and features
o Types
 Workstation
 Windows
 MacOS
 Linux
 Chrome OS
 Mobile
 Apple iOS
 Android
 Windows Phone
 Blackberry
 Open source vs. commercial
o Software compatibility for different OS types and versions
o Awareness of hardware compatibility for OS support
 32bit vs. 64bit operating systems
o Basic functions of an operating system
 Interface between user and machine
 Coordination of hardware components
 Provides environment for software to function
 Monitors system health and functionality
 Displays structure / directories for data management
Readings[edit]
1. Wikipedia: Operating system
2. Wikipedia: Mobile operating system
3. Wikipedia: Open-source software
4. Wikipedia: 64-bit computing

Multimedia[edit]
1. YouTube: IT Fundamentals - Software
2. YouTube: What is an Operating System
3. YouTube: Operating Systems 1
4. YouTube: Introduction to Operating Systems
5. YouTube: What is Open Source?
6. YouTube: What is Open Source Explained in LEGO
7. YouTube: 32-bit vs 64-bit Computers & Phones
8. YouTube: Diagnose Windows Problems Using the Event
Viewer

Activities[edit]
1. Determine whether your computer is running a 32 or 64-bit
operating system:
o Windows: Review Microsoft: Is my PC running the 32-bit
or 64-bit version of Windows?.
o OS X: Review Apple: Mac OS X: 64-bit kernel frequently
asked questions.
o Linux: Review How to Check Linux Kernel is 32 bit or 64
bit.
2. Use your system's monitoring utilities to review active
processes and resources in use:
o Windows: Review Wikipedia: Windows Task
Manager and Wikipedia: Resource Monitor and run both
utilities.
o OS X: Review Wikipedia: Activity Monitor and run the
utility.
o Linux: Review GNOME: System Monitor and run the
utility.
3. Review Wikipedia: Device Manager and Microsoft: Update a
driver for hardware that isn't working properly. Run Device
Manager on a Windows system Use Device Manager to
check for updated drivers for all display adapters, network
adapters, and sound controllers.
4. Review Wikipedia: Environment variable. Examine
environment variable settings on your system:
o Windows: Microsoft: Configuring System and User
Environment Variables.
o OS X: Apple: launchd.conf.
o Linux: Debian: Environment Variables.
5. Examine system health and recent events for your system:
 o Windows: Review Microsoft: How to Use Reliability
Monitor and Wikipedia: Event Viewer and run the
utilities.
o OS X: Review Wikipedia: Console (OS X) and run the
utility.
o Linux: Review RedHat: Viewing Log Files and run the
Log Viewer.
6. Test operating systems:
o All: OnWorks: Free Online Workstations
o Windows: MIT: Windows 10 Simulator
o OS X: alessioatzeni.com: Mac OSX Lion CSS3
o Linux: Download and install VNC Viewer and then test
different Linux distributions using distrotest.net. Popular
Linux desktop distributions include Ubuntu, Linux Mint,
and Fedora.

Lesson Summary[edit]
 An operating system is software that manages computer
hardware and software resources and provides common
services for computer programs.[3]
 The operating system provides an Interface between the user
and the system.[4]
 The operating system coordinates hardware components.[5]
 The operating system provides an environment for software
applications to function.[6]
 The operating system monitors system health and functionality.[7]
 The operating system provides a file structure for data
management.[8]
 Popular computer operating systems include Windows, OS X,
Linux, and Chrome OS.[9]
 A mobile operating system, also referred to as mobile OS, is an
operating system that operates a smartphone, tablet, PDA, or
other mobile device.[10]
 Popular mobile operating systems include Android, iOS and to a
lesser extent Windows Phone and Blackberry.[11]
 OS X, Linux, Android, Chrome OS and iOS are based on Unix.[12]
 Popular distributions of Linux include Red Hat, Debian, Ubuntu,
Linux Mint and Google's Android.[13]
 Open-source software is computer software with its source code
made available with a license in which the copyright holder
provides the rights to study, change and distribute the software
to anyone and for any purpose.[14]
 Proprietary software or closed source software is computer
software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright
holder with the intent that the licensee is given the right to use
the software only under certain conditions, and restricted from
other uses, such as modification, sharing, studying,
redistribution, or reverse engineering.[15]
 64-bit processors and operating systems support integer values
over 18 quintillion and memory addresses up to 16 EiB
(exbibytes), while 32-bit operating systems are limited to integer
 values over 2 billion and memory addresses up to 4 GiB
(gigabytes or gibibytes).[16]

Key Terms[edit]
32-bit
A computer architecture that supports at most 32-bit
integers, memory addresses, and other data units, limiting
integer values to -2,147,483,648 through 2,147,483,647 and
memory addresses to 4 GiB (gigabytes or gibibytes).[17]
64-bit
A computer architecture that supports at most 64-bit
integers, memory addresses, and other data units, limiting
integer values to over 18 quintillion and memory addresses
to 16 EiB (exbibytes).[18]
Android
A mobile operating system (OS) based on the Linux kernel
and currently developed by Google.[19]
Blackberry OS
A proprietary mobile operating system developed by
BlackBerry Ltd for its BlackBerry line of smartphone
handheld devices.[20]
Chrome OS
An operating system based on the Linux kernel and
designed by Google to work with web applications and
installed applications, initially designed as a pure web thin
client operating system.[21]
cross-platform
An attribute conferred to computer software or computing
methods and concepts that are implemented and inter-
operate on multiple computer platforms.[22]
device driver
A computer program that operates or controls a particular
type of device that is attached to a computer.[23]
distro (Linux distribution)
An operating system made as a collection of software based
around the Linux kernel and often around a package
management system, typically based on either Red Hat's
package manager (rpm and yum) or Debian's package
manager (dpkg and apt).[24][25][26][27]
embedded system
A computer system with a dedicated function within a larger
mechanical or electrical system, often with real-time
computing constraints.[28]
emulator
Hardware or software or both that duplicates (or emulates)
the functions of one computer system (the guest) in another
computer system (the host), different from the first one, so
that the emulated behavior closely resembles the behavior of
the real system (the guest).[29]
GUI (graphical user
interface)
A type of interface that allows users to interact with
electronic devices through graphical icons and visual
indicators such as secondary notation, as opposed to text-
based interfaces, typed command labels or text navigation.[30]
iOS
A mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc. and
distributed exclusively for Apple hardware, including iPods,
iPhones, and iPads.[31]
kernel
An operating system component that manages input/output
requests from software, and translates them into data
processing instructions for the central processing unit and
other electronic components of a computer.[32]
legacy
system
An old method, technology, computer system, or application
program, of, relating to, or being a previous or outdated
computer system.[33]
Linux
A Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the
model of free and open-source software development and
distribution.[34]
multit
askin
g
A method where multiple tasks, also known as processes,
are performed during the same period of time by executing
them concurrently rather than sequentially.[35]
o
p
e
n
s
o
ur
ce
A development model that promotes universal access via a
free license to a product's design, blueprint, or source code,
and universal redistribution of that design, blueprint or
source code, including subsequent improvements to it by
anyone.[36]
o
p
e
r
at
in
g
s
y
st
e
m
System software that manages computer hardware and
software resources and provides common services for
computer programs (Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and
Blackberry).[37]
OS X
A series of Unix-based graphical interface operating systems
developed and marketed by Apple Inc. designed to run on
Mac computers.[38]
package
manager
A collection of software tools that automates the process of
installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing software
packages for a computer's operating system in a consistent
manner.[39]
paging
A memory management scheme by which a computer stores
and retrieves data from the secondary storage for use in
main memory.[40]
protected mode
An operational mode of CPUs that allows system software to
use features such as virtual memory, paging and safe multi-
tasking designed to increase an operating system's control
over application software.[41]
Unix
A family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating
systems.[42]
virtual memory
A memory management technique that is implemented using
both hardware and software that maps memory addresses
used by a program, called virtual addresses, into physical
addresses in computer memory.[43]
Windows
A metafamily of graphical operating systems developed,
marketed, and sold by Microsoft.[44]
x64
The 64-bit version of the x86 instruction set, supporting 64-
bit addressing and processing, and fully backwards
compatible with 16-bit and 32-bit x86 code.[45]
x86
A family of backward compatible instruction set architectures
based on the Intel 8086 through 80486 CPUs supporting 16-
bit and 32-bit addressing and processing.[46][47]

Review Qu
Click on a ques

1. An operating
manages __
2. The operatin
3. The operatin
4. The operatin
5. The operatin
6. The operatin
7. Popular com
include ____
8. A mobile op
as mobile O
9. Popular mob
_____.
10. OS X, Linux
are based o
11. Popular dist
_____.
12. Open-source
13. Proprietary s
software is _
14. 64-bit proce
support ___
systems are

Assessmen
 Flashcards: 
Operating S
 Quiz: Quizle
Operating S

See Also[ed
 Computer S
 Using an Op

References
1. ↑ Wikipedia: O
2. ↑ CompTIA IT
Objectives (F
3. ↑ Wikipedia: O
4. ↑ CompTIA IT
Objectives (F
5. ↑ CompTIA IT
Objectives (F
6. ↑ CompTIA IT
Objectives (F
7. ↑ CompTIA IT
Objectives (F
8. ↑ CompTIA IT
Objectives (F
9. ↑ Wikipedia: O
10. ↑ Wikipedia: M
11. ↑ Wikipedia: O
12. ↑ Wikipedia: O
13. ↑ Wikipedia: O
14. ↑ Wikipedia: O
15. ↑ Wikipedia: P
16. ↑ Wikipedia: 6
17. ↑ Wikipedia: 3
18. ↑ Wikipedia: 6
19. ↑ Wikipedia: A
20. ↑ Wikipedia: B
21. ↑ Wikipedia: C
22. ↑ Wikipedia: C
23. ↑ Wikipedia: D
24. ↑ Wikipedia: L
25. ↑ Wikipedia: P
26. ↑ Wikipedia: R
27. ↑ Wikipedia: d
28. ↑ Wikipedia: E
29. ↑ Wikipedia: E
30. ↑ Wikipedia: G
31. ↑ Wikipedia: i
32. ↑ Wikipedia: K
33. ↑ Wikipedia: L
34. ↑ Wikipedia: L
35. ↑ Wikipedia: C
36. ↑ Wikipedia: O
37. ↑ Wikipedia: O
38. ↑ Wikipedia: O
39. ↑ Wikipedia: P
40. ↑ Wikipedia: P
41. ↑ Wikipedia: P
42. ↑ Wikipedia:U
43. ↑ Wikipedia: V
44. ↑ Wikipedia: M
45. ↑ Wikipedia: x
46. ↑ Wikipedia: x
47. ↑ Wikipedia: I
← Peripherals
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