Lesson 2: Operating Systems
Warning
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What an Operating System is
Anatomy of an OS
- User Interface: What you interact with. Window Managers for instance.
- Application Layer: What developers use to make software run.
- Kernel: The Core of the OS. Makes communication between hardware and
applications sane.
- Hardware: What does the actual computations. The thing your keyboard is
plugged into.
Types of Operating Systems
Popular Operating Systems
- UNIX
- Linux
- MacOS / Darwin
- FreeBSD
- Windows
GNU/Linux
Welcome to the Family
Flavors of Linux
- Debian
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- RedHat
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- Gentoo
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Slackware
ArchLinux
Exercise: Pop Quiz
- What are some different types of Operating Systems?
- What constitutes a ‘Distribution’ of Linux?
- How is Linux different from Windows? OSX?
- How is Debian different from Gentoo?
Further Reading
- OSU Courses:
- CS 312: Linux System Administration
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- OSU Courses:
- CS 344: Operating Systems I
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- OSU Courses:
- CS 444: Operating Systems II
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- Free Online Resources:
OSDev.org is a wiki dedicated to helping people develop their own
operating systems. It’s a big leap from this lesson, but great if you’re
interested in learning the nitty-gritty.
Operating Systems Design and Implementation by Andrew S. Tanenbaum is a
classic in the world of OS Development. It’s also a big leap, but can
teach you more about how Operating Systems work than you ever thought there
was to know.
Next: Lesson 3: Docs & Communication