LU3 - System Software Flashcards
BIOS ( Basic Input Ouput System)
A low-level software that resides in non-volatile ROM chip on computers motherboard
- Activates POST(Power On Self Test)
- Request information from CMOS(Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semi-conductor)
- Locates the MBR (Master Boot Record)
Kernel
Core of computer’s operating system that remains in RAM
- Takes input/output requests and translates them into instructions which CPU can process
- Handles memory, keyboards, monitors, printers, speakers
CMOS (Complimentary Metal-oxide-semiconductor)
Is a battery packed, volatile memory that stores:
Hardware settings
- Types of hardware installed on computer such as Disk Drive
User Settings
- current data and time
UEFI Software (Unified Extended Firmware Interface)
Can boot from drives of 2.2 TB /larger
- Can run in 32-bit or 64-bit mode
- UEFI setup screens are a lot more friendly
- Supports secure boot
Interrupts
A running program that is made up of multiple instructions to perform the task/s for the purpose(s) of the program
- Signal sent to CPU from hardware or software indicating the need for CPU’s attention
Software Interrupts
Generated from programs
Hardware Interrupts
Signal is sent from device
Such as keyboard indicating that a key has been pressed, or a printer indicating it has run out of paper
IRQ (Interrupt Request Number)
Each device has its own unique IRQ which the CPU uses to identify which devices is interrupting it
IO Range
A buffer, a temporary storage area in RAM, used to speed up a slow input/output device
Speeds up reading from/write to significantly.
- By transferring the whole file instead of each line from file individually
Processing Techniques
Are designed to optimize the efficiency of a computer system
Multitasking
Technique used by operating system to appear to be using several program simultaneously
Several programs are stored in computers RAM and the CPU switches very short burst of processing time between running programs
Multi-threading
One program that has several different threads running at the same time
Virtual Memory
Extends the amount of date to be swapped between RAM and the hard disk
Uses both hardware and software to enable a computer to compensate for physical memory shortages
High-level languages
Coding languages
- where underlying workings of computer are hidden from programmer and are closer to human languages
(Python, JavaScript, Java)
These languages are utilized with the help of IDE’s
Low-Level Languages
Closer to machine language and generally refer to machine language or assembly language
(Binary and Hexa-Decimal)
Interpreters
Reads each program line, converts it to machine code and then executes it