System Utilities
Module G12c
Contents
Audience and Objectives
About this document...
Essentials of an Operating System
- Supervising operations
- Running programs
- Interpreting user commands
- Basic input and output
- On larger systems: maintaining user privacy
Services for Productivity
- Data copying between files, devices, and displays
- DOS: copy, diskcopy
- Windows 3.1: File Manager
- Mac, Windows 95, OS/2: drag files and folders to new locations
Providing Information
- DOS: time, date, prompt, dir, chkdsk, comp, ...
- Mac, Windows, OS/2: info on desktop, clock, calculator, printing
info, ...
- Providing control for display and (sometimes) printer
- DOS: mode
- OS/2, Windows, Mac: Control Panel (type of printer, colors,
beep sound ...)
Initializing Media - e.g. disk formatting
- DOS: format, diskcopy
- Windows 3.1: File Manager Disk menu option
- Mac, OS/2: "Initialize diskette" dialog box; Special...Erase
Language Translation as a Utility
Translate to computer's code from programming languages
- Machine code:
- Works like phone numbers - hard for people to use!
- Programming languages:
- A little more like human languages - easier for people.
- Needs to be translated... computer cannot understand programming
language directly.
Some Programming Languages:
- Assembler
- First language: very close to machine code
- FORTRAN
- First high-level language: science, engineering
- COBOL
- Common Business Oriented Language
- BASIC
- Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code
- Pascal
- Teaching, science, business
- Ada
- "Mission Critical" Department of Defense
- C
- Operating systems, fast programs
- C++
- Programs for modern Graphical User Interfaces
- ...and many others
-
Utilities on Multi-user Systems
Time-sharing computers and Local Area Networks
Determining file privacy
- Complete privacy
- Read-only
- Completely open
- Work-group vs. "World"
Electronic communication
- See who else is using the computer, "chat" with
them...
- ...or leave message in "mailbox" (like phone answering
machine)
- Can send messages to other users of that computer or network
- May be able to send using the "Internet" to most
other countries in the world
Further system information
- Who's doing what
- Is printer busy, and is my job being printed OK?
- Who logged in when
- What is a person's electronic address
User Interfaces
Interface: What is it?
- A way of getting information from one "system" to
another
- Systems: the Human vs. the Computer
- User interface: how you get the computer to do what you want
Batch interfaces
- The original interface was punched cards fed into the computer
- Variants: paper tape, magnetic tape, disk files
- All are a kind of character-based interface...
Character-based Interfaces
- You type a command
- The computer responds with an error message (or does what
you want)
- Advantages:
- Good for simple (not powerful) computers
- If you know them well, they can be very fast and flexible
- Disadvantages:
- If you don't know the commands and how to put them together,
they can be very confusing
- They tend to be inconsistent
Menu-based interfaces
- The computer gives you a list of options
- You select which you like (by number, by letter, or by pointer)
- Advantages:
- They give you a list of options
- They work relatively fast on less powerful computers
- Disadvantages:
- Often not as flexible as character-based interfaces
- Not as appealing as graphical interfaces
Graphical User Interfaces (GUI)
- The computer shows you pictures (icon) representing objects
or activities; or makes a menu available
- You direct and pointer to the icon or menu choice and perform
an action
- Advantages:
- Easy to learn
- Have visual appeal
- Are usually consistent from one program to another
- Disadvantages
- Require much more computing power
- Often not as flexible as character-based interfaces
Voice-Activated Interfaces
- Currently only available with other (character or graphical)
interfaces
- User speaks command words and phrases; computer attempts to
understand and carry out command
- Advantages:
- Leaves hands free
- Speech is the most natural command mode for (many) humans
- Disadvantages
- Require more computing power even than GUI
- Currently: Has to be trained to understand each individual
user's speech
- Currently: Each word must be articulated separately (you can't
just "speak a sentence")
Future Interface Possibilities
- Virtual Reality Interface
- 3-D simulated "world" surrounds the user
- Hand-held pointing devices, treadmills used to control and
move
- Direct Mind Control
- Simple case: you move the cursor by thinking (research now
using EEG at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh)
- Ultimate control: "think" what you want, and the
computer does it for you (Isaac Asimov and other science fiction
authors)
Audience:
This is for people who need to know what sorts of services
are provided by operating systems, and how they are controlled.
It is helpful to know what an operating system is, as well as
the basics of computers. Module G11c discusses
the basics of operating systems, as well as where to find information
about more basic topics.
Upon successful completion of module G12c, the student will
demonstrate understanding of:
Generally: The more common system utilities and interfaces
provided by operating systems, primarily on microcomputers, but
also on networks and timesharing systems.
Specifically:
- What is the central part of an operating system: supervision
of programs and users, interpreting commands, and basic I/O;
- What are the utilities: display control, printer control,
language translation, electronic mail, storage medium preparation,
data copying, providing system and device information;
- The major types of interfaces: character, graphical, voice,
and possible future modes
About this document...
Module G12c: System Utilities and Interfaces
- Author:
- Laurence
J. Krieg
- Institution:
- Department
of Computer Information Systems,
Washtenaw Community College
- Dates:
- Original: 29 Mar 1988
Revised: 7 Oct 1995
HTML version: 13 May 1996
- Copyright:
- Copyright © 1996, Laurence J. Krieg.
Instructors: You may point to this file in your Web-based materials.
Students: you may make a copy for your personal use.
All other uses: contact the author, Laurence
J. Krieg,
for permission.