Operating Systems (OS) Assignment

This assignment focuses on Operating Systems (OS) and covers topics such as developing an OS for household appliances, the differences between Linux/Unix and Windows, how an OS controls computer hardware, the relevance of batch processing, and suitable OS for IoT devices. It also includes a section on OS administration using Command Line Interface (CLI).

Assignment I
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Section 1: Operating Systems (OS) (30
marks)
1. If you are to develop an Operating system for some of the house-hold appliances such
as Oven, Washing Machine, Refrigerator etc. then what innovative/new service would
you wish to include along with the existing OS features?
For house-hold appliances, in most cases each house-hold appliance uses a different
operating system from the other thus developing a new operating system for all items
would require developing an operating system that is able to integrate with the existing
appliance operating system. One of the most important features needed in easy
connectivity to make it easy for the appliances to communicate.
2. To what extent are the two OS's (Linux/Unix and Windows), are essentially the same,
and importantly different?
5+5 marks
Windows and Unix/Linux are the same in terms of provision of system operating
services like file system manipulation, error detection, I/O operations, program
execution and communications among other services. Both operating system provide
these services at operating system level [3].
They are essentially different on how they handle concurrent processing and that makes
them different.
3. Discuss in detail how an OS, along with its subsystem managers control the computer
hardware. 5
marks
The operating system is a collection of programs working together to act as the link
between the hardware and the user software. For the operating system to control any
hardware device, the drivers of that hardware device have to be loaded in the operating
system. Hardware drivers help the operating system to communicate with the hardware
device making it possible for user programs to use the hardware devices[1].
4. Is batch processing still relevant? Justify with examples 5
marks
To understand batch processing we need to understand a batch job. A batch job is a job
or task that runs without user interaction or can be scheduled to run if resources are
available [2]. Thus batch processing happens for those jobs that are executed with little
user interaction. An example of a batch job is a program reading a very large file and
then generating a report as output.

Batch jobs are still relevant because for example there are some server processes that
are supposed to run without user interaction when resources are available. For example
considering a server that is supposed to perform a full back up every day at from
midnight. This job can be created as a batch job so that when it reaches midnight the
server performs the backup if the resources are available without requiring any user
interaction.
5. Industry estimates predict there will be over 20 Billion Internet of Things (IoT) devices
shipping by the year 2020 (source: Gartner.com). Most IoT devices will involve some type
of network connectivity (e.g., WiFi, Bluetooth LE, Zigbee, 6LoWPAN, Ethernet), and many
also will include a Graphical User Interface (GUI). These devices usually also perform
some functions other than network communication and user interaction, such as data
acquisition (sensors), appliance control (home automation), and DSP (security systems).
Because of this processor load, all but the simplest IoT devices will require 32-bit
microprocessors/microcontrollers in order to provide the necessary address space and
processing power. There already is strong migration from 8-bit and 16-bit to 32-bit
microprocessors, due to requirements for enhanced device functionality as well as the
attractive cost/performance attributes of new 32-bit microprocessors. The predicted IoT
growth promises to sharply accelerate this migration! The migration to 32-bit processors
is clear, but what about the software side?
Research to identify a suitable OS for such IoT devices. Justify your answer with relevant
examples. 5
marks
The most suitable OS for such IOT devices is RIOT operating system. RIOT OS is an open
source OS that was designed specifically for IOT. It’s based on Linux and POSIX thus
developers who are familiar with any of the two can develop for RIOT. The reason why
it’s the most suitable is because it implements all relevant standards where by a singlde
coding can run on 8-bit platforms, 16-bit and 32 bit platforms.
Section 2: OS Administration using Command Line Interface (CLI) (15
marks)
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Refer to the man command to understand the syntax and parameters for the commands that
you would be using in this section.
- This section has queries that can be answered using basic Unix commands. You all have
to demonstrate the following Unix/Linux commands in the lab to your tutor before week
6 and paste the screen shots of the execution of all commands in the same word file
that has section 1 of the assignment.
Questions:
1. You would like to change your password. How do you do it? Change it to
mypssd. Logout, then log back in to make sure it worked. Change it back to
something only you know.
2. Assume you have lost track of where you are in the computer system directory. How
do you return to your home directory? Assuming you don’t remember the full
pathname of your home directory, how can you get there?
3. In your account, create a new directory, called temp.dir. Copy the two files
/etc/hosts and /etc/fstab into it as hosts and fstab respectively (Create them in case
they don’t exist).

4. From your home directory, create a second directory, called temp2.dir. Copy the
content of temp.dir into it.
5. Remove the entire temp.dir and temp2.dir. Report if you can remove them.
6. You have a file called list.names in your directory. How can you find out the last time
you wrote to that file?

7. Some files begin with a dot (.). These are called hidden files. How can you list them?
8. Create a file called myfile, with length zero.
9. Now rename myfile to hisfile.

10. Do a long listing of all files in the /bin directory and place it into file hisfile.

11. Who is logged on to the system at the moment?
12. My friend just created a file in his/her directory. Can I go and change permissions on
it? Why, or why not?
You cannot change permissions of the files unless you have root access. The reason
is because the file created by another person belongs to that person and only he can
change permissions.
13. I just created a new file in my directory, but I would like it to have rwx permissions
for me, and r permissions for everyone else. What command can I use to change
those permissions?

14. I have a file with permissions rwxrwxr-x. I want it to have rwxr-xr-x permissions.
Which two commands can be used to change the permissions on it?
15. Take the same file. I want to remove all execute permissions for everyone, except
myself. Again, which command can be used to achieve my goal?
References
[1]T. Bowerman, "Four Ways in Which an Operating System Controls the
Hardware of a Computer", Smallbusiness.chron.com. [Online]. Available:
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/four-ways-operating-system-controls-
hardware-computer-75028.html. [Accessed: 02- May- 2019].
[2]"IBM Knowledge Center", Ibm.com, 2010. [Online]. Available:
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/zosbasics/com.ibm.zos.zcon
cepts/zconc_whatisbatch.htm. [Accessed: 02- May- 2019].
[3J. Hass, "The Beginner's Guide to Operating Systems", Lifewire, 2019.
[Online]. Available: https://www.lifewire.com/operating-systems-unix-vs-
windows-2180225. [Accessed: 02- May- 2019].