|
Introduction to Operating Systems
It is a common occurrence to find users who are not even aware of what
operating system they are running. On occasion, you may
also find an administrator who knows the name of the
operating system, but nothing about the inner workings of it. In many cases, they
have no time as they are often clerical workers or other personnel who were
reluctantly appointed to be the system administrator.
Being able to run or work on a Linux system does not mean you must understand
the intricate details of how it functions internally. However, there are some
operating system concepts that will help you to interact
better with the system. They will also serve as the foundation for many of the
issues we're going to cover in this section.
In this chapter we are going to go through the basic composition of an
operating system. First, we'll talk about what an operating
system is and why it is important. We are also going to
address how the different components work independently and
together.
My goal is not to make you an expert on operating system
concepts. Instead, I want to
provide you with a starting point from which we can go on to other topics. If you want to
go into more detail about operating systems,
I would suggest Modern Operating Systems by
Andrew Tanenbaum, published by Prentice Hall, and
Operating System Concepts by Silberschatz, Peterson,
and Galvin, published by Addison-Wesley.
Another is Inside Linux by Randolph Bentson,
which gives you a quick introduction to operating system
concepts from the perspective of Linux.
| 
Back to Top
