Operating System Design

With the popularity of free software, computer “geeks” all over the world have begun to think about operating system design. Because the free that are currently online allow changes and redistribution, some enterprising individuals to begin thinking about designing their own operating system based on the freeware. So, how do you go about coming up with your own operating system design? First, you need to understand the components of an operating system.

Most operating system designs involve a software component called the kernel, which is responsible for hardware abstraction and resource management. The kernel is present at all times to all applications running on the system, and defines a special mechanism, known as a system call, by which applications can make requests of it. Most of the architectural decisions in operating system design concern exactly what role the kernel should play in the operating system architecture.

Modern processors include the capability to change privilege levels for different tasks. Lower privilege levels are denied the ability to directly access some or all hardware resources. This way, for example, applications cannot directly read from the hard drive. This is very important when the operating system must guarantee security, since an application that could read from the disk without the kernel becoming involved could bypass access control to files on that disk.

The kernel in the operating system is very important to the design of the operating system. Most utilize the monolithic kernel. In this design, the abstraction and resource management code of the operating system is all placed into the operating system kernel, which is mapped into each process.

There are a lot of other components that go into operating system design that you will have to think about if you want to undertake this type of project. While the kernel is certainly the most important component of an operating system, you will also have to address the following:

* System booting * Devices and device drivers * Processes * Memory management * File systems * Networks * User interface * Real time * Software compatibility * Fault tolerance

However, when designing an operating system, your most important task has to be security. You want to be sure that your operating system design is security. If you want your operating system design to take the world by storm, you must provide the people who will be using it a sense of security that will insure their system won’t be breached.

In this exciting technological time, it is possible to design your own operating system if you’re not happy with the choices you currently have. Just pay attention to the various components all must have and then use your imagination to design an operating system you can be proud of!

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