Table of Contents
What was wrong with Unix?
The problem with the Unix approach is that every program that writes the file has to know about it. Thus, for example, if we want the file to carry type information inside it, every tool that touches it has to take care to either preserve the type field unaltered or interpret and then rewrite it.
What does a Unix?
UNIX is a multi-user operating system: that is a suite of programs which run a computer and allows interface to the hardware and software available. It allows many users to share a powerful machine and all the available resources, each user running their own processes simultaneously.
What is Unix and how does it work?
UNIX is a multi-user, multi-tasking operating system. Multiple users may have multiple tasks running simultaneously. This is very different from PC operating systems such as MS-DOS or MS-Windows (which allows multiple tasks to be carried out simultaneously but not multiple users).
What is the primary metaphor used by the UNIX kernel?
Shell is already a metaphor. “The analogy is with a nut – as in walnut – the important part of which is the kernel inside; the shell is merely the face that the nut presents to the outside world!”
Do one thing and do it well Unix?
“Unix was created to solve a few problems,” said Dr [Peter] Salus, “the most important of which was to have something that was much more compact than the operating systems that were current at that time which ran on the dinosaurs of the computer age.” The UNIX philosophy is “Do one thing, and do it well.” Rather than …
Is the kernel the only part of an operating system?
The kernel is the most fundamental part of an operating system. It can be thought of as the program which controls all other programs on the computer.
Is an operating system structure that can be broken into pieces that are smaller and more appropriate than those allowed by the original MS DOS and Unix systems?
With proper hardware support, operating systems can be broken into pieces that are smaller and more appropriate than those allowed by the original MS-DOS or UNIX systems. Implementers have more freedom in changing the inner workings of the system and in creating modular operating systems.