Operating System Study Cards

Enhance Your Learning with Operating System Flash Cards for quick understanding



Operating System

The software that manages computer hardware and software resources and provides common services for computer programs.

Kernel

The core component of an operating system that provides essential services for all other parts of the operating system.

Graphical User Interface (GUI)

A type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices using graphical icons and visual indicators.

Multi-tasking

The ability of an operating system to execute more than one task simultaneously.

Real-time Operating System (RTOS)

An operating system intended to serve real-time applications that process data as it comes in, typically without buffering delays.

Unix

A powerful, multi-user, and multitasking operating system originally developed in the 1960s and 1970s.

Windows

A popular operating system developed by Microsoft, known for its user-friendly interface and wide range of software compatibility.

Linux

An open-source operating system that is based on the Unix operating system and is widely used in server environments.

Mac OS

The operating system developed by Apple Inc. for its line of Macintosh computers.

Virtual Memory

A memory management technique that provides an idealized abstraction of the storage resources that are actually available on a given machine.

Device Drivers

A type of software that allows higher-level computer programs to communicate with a hardware device.

Interrupts

A signal to the processor emitted by hardware or software indicating an event that needs immediate attention.

Deadlock

A situation in which two or more competing actions are each waiting for the other to finish, preventing any of the actions from progressing.

File System

A method for storing and organizing computer files and the data they contain to make it easy to find and access them.

Command Line Interface (CLI)

A means of interacting with a computer program where the user issues commands to the program in the form of successive lines of text.

Network Operating System (NOS)

An operating system designed for the sole purpose of supporting workstations, database access, application sharing, and file and printer access sharing among multiple computers in a network.

Distributed Operating System

An operating system that runs on multiple computers and coordinates their activities to appear as a single system to the user.

Memory Protection

A way to control memory access rights on a computer, and is a part of most modern operating systems.

System Calls

A programmatic way in which a computer program requests a service from the kernel of the operating system it is executed on.

Shell

A user interface for access to an operating system's services.

Batch Processing

A technique in which an operating system collects programs and data together in a batch before processing starts.

Spooling

Simultaneous peripheral operations on-line, a technique for transferring data from a peripheral device to a computer's memory.

RAID

Redundant Array of Independent Disks, a data storage virtualization technology that combines multiple physical disk drive components into one or more logical units for the purposes of data redundancy, performance improvement, or both.

Boot Loader

A small program that manages the boot process of a computer, loading the operating system into the computer's memory.

Firmware

A specific class of computer software that provides low-level control for the device's specific hardware.

API

Application Programming Interface, a set of subroutine definitions, communication protocols, and tools for building software and applications.

Process Scheduling

The activity of the operating system that handles the execution of processes, allocating the CPU to processes and threads.

Page Fault

An interrupt to the software raised by the hardware when a program accesses a page that is not currently in memory.

System Software

Software that provides the interface between the hardware and the user, including the operating system and utility programs.

Utility Software

Software designed to help analyze, configure, optimize, or maintain a computer.

Embedded Operating System

An operating system for embedded computer systems, with limited hardware resources and no user interface.

Process Control Block

A data structure in the operating system kernel containing the information needed to manage a specific process.

Context Switch

The process of storing and restoring the state of a CPU so that multiple processes can share a single CPU.

System Administrator

A person who is responsible for the upkeep, configuration, and reliable operation of computer systems, especially multi-user computers, such as servers.

Device Manager

A Control Panel applet in Microsoft Windows operating systems that allows users to view and control the hardware attached to the computer.

Disk Partitioning

The act of dividing a hard disk drive into multiple logical storage units referred to as partitions.

System Restore

A feature in Microsoft Windows that allows the user to revert their computer's state to that of a previous point in time.

System Image

A copy of the entire contents of a storage device, such as a hard drive or solid-state drive, intended for backup purposes.

System Update

A software update for a computer's operating system and its software applications.

System Backup

The process of backing up data in case of a loss, such as data corruption or deletion.

System Recovery

The process of restoring a computer to a previous state after a system failure.