IT-213 Operating System

ECS Linux-Mandriva Installation Process

2009-09-17T04:13:00.000-07:00

Below you will a very brief description of how to install the Linux-Mandriva 2007. You can borrow the six CDs or single DVD available in class. You can find more information at the Mandriva website: http://wwwnew.mandriva.com. I will assume that you wish to dual boot Linux with some version of Windows. You can find much more extensive instructions for installing Linux at:
Professor Norman Matloff's Beginner's Guide to Installing Linux : http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/~matloff/linux.html
I recommend you read and print out both this and Prof. Matloff's pages before starting.

IF YOU HAVE ANY CRITICAL FILES, BACK THEM UP BEFORE STARTING THIS PROCESS! CREATE AN EMERGENCY REPAIR DISK NOW!

There are three steps to installing Linux:

1. 1. Gathering network information.

2. 2. Set-up partitions on the disk drive to have room for Linux.

3. 3. Installing Linux

1. Gathering network information
Before starting to install Linux you must gather information about your current network settings. You can find these in the Network section of the Windows Control Panel. If you do not have DHCP, then you need to note your IP address. You should also note the subnet mask (usually 255.255.255.0), gateway address, primary DNS, and secondary DNS if there is one. If you are using encrypted wireless, then jot down the keys and/or pass phrase. You should also determine your graphics adapter and monitor model and current resolution settings.

2. Setting up partitions
Linux must be installed on partitions separate from all other operating systems. In Windows, each partition is given a drive letter. In Linux, all of the partitions on the first drive start with hda, and are numbered hda1, hda2, and so forth. The partitions on the second hard drive all start with hdb. Please note that the first drive may not be your C: drive in Windows. If you have multiple drives, you should note, based on its size, which is your C: drive. You will need this later to install the boot loader.

There are many ways to create the necessary space for Linux, but I will cover only the simplest. You will need clear out enough space in an existing partition so that it can be shrunk enough to make room for both Linux partitions. This may mean deleting files and/or moving files from one drive to another. Disk Cleanup can help you to choose the files to remove. When done, note how much space you need for your files on the drive. Once you are done cleaning up the disk, you should run the defragmenter tool to consolidate the files. Please note that Mandriva 2007 can shrink any file system, including the NTFS file system!

If you happen to have left some empty space on a hard disk, that you are not going to use for LINUX, then partition and format it now, before installing Linux. You should not use Windows/DOS tools to partition the Linux disk after Linux is installed--it can really screw things up.

2. Installing Linux
On most computers, you can bypass using an Install Boot floppy, by choosing to boot directly from the CDROM. To do this, you need to change the first device searched for booting in the BIOS. To access the BIOS settings, reboot the computer and hold down the indicated key, usually DEL. When the BIOS settings show up, look for a page that lists the order of boot search. You should find that the floppy is the first listed, followed by the hard drive. Change the first entry from floppy to CDROM. Then hit Escape, and choose to save the changes. Now when you reboot, the computer will start looking first in the CDROM. Note that after you have installed Linux, you should go through the same process to change the first device back to the floppy.

To install Linux, your computer must either boot to a specially created floppy or directly to the CD labeled Mandriva 2007 CD 1 or the Mandriva 2007 DVD.

1. Place CD 1, or the DVD in your CD drive and restart your computer.

2. Select “Installation” from the first menu.

3. Select “English (American)” as your language choice. (default)

4. Accept the license agreement.

5. Choose to install.

6. Set the Security to “Standard” so you can access your Windows partitions without being root

7. Assuming you don’t have enough free space, select “Use existing partitions” for Paritioning

8. Select the partition you wish to resize.

9. Slide the bar to determine the size of the old Windows partition. You can refer to your notes to determine the minimum you need for your Windows files. Remember you need to free up at least 5000 megabytes for Linux, but you should leave at least 500 megabytes free on the Windows partition to allow for future use.

10. Mandriva may ask you to reboot the computer. If so, then go through step 2 to 7, and then continue from here.

11. Select Auto allocate.

12. If everything pictured in the Partitioning charts makes sense, then select OK to write the partition table.

13. Mandriva may ask you to reboot again! If so, then go through steps 2 to 7, and then continue from here.

14. Mandrake will guess where root (/) will be mounted. Make sure the selected partition is the one you wanted.

15. Allow the partition to be formatted. (default)

16. The list of installation media found is correct so just click Next.

17. The default package selections are fine. However, if you have space on your hard disk, then feel free to select additional packages. As you select groups, the total size of the selections is updated at the bottom of the selection window. If you select packages from the right (server) column, then be warned that server components make your computer much more susceptible to attacks from hackers. Do not install server components unless you know what you are doing!

18. Just click “Install” on the Software Management Screen. The program will take about an hour to install, and will ask you to insert the other five CDs. If you are using a DVD, just press it back in when another CD is requested.

19. Set the root password; don’t leave it blank.

20. Add yourself as a user. I suggest you use your CSIF user name as your login name to make ssh and sftp a little easier.

21. After adding yourself, just press Next at the next Add user screen.

22. if there is only you, and your computer is in a safe place, you can agree to automatically log on one user.

23. Place LILO in the First sector of drive (MBR). (default)

24. If you are offered any proprietary drivers, then say Yes. (default)

25. If it finds your printer, then allow it to set it up automatically. (default)

Mandriva now provides a list of configurations that you will need to modify. You will need to configure the time zone to Los Angeles, but the other time defaults (hardware clock is not set to GMT) are fine. Configure the graphical interface. Make sure you test the configuration of your graphics adapter and monitor. You can use the information you gathered from your Windows network to configure the Network. If you have wireless, then select “wireless” from the list of adapters. The domain you choose for your host name is probably irrelevant—so make one up! Start the connection now to ensure it works. If you have a printer available to the computer but it was not detected earlier by Mandriva, then press the configure button next to printers, then Add a Printer, and then Auto-Detect. If Mandriva does not detect your printer, then uncheck Auto-Detect, click Next, and manually select its port, make, and model. Mandriva should be able to detect your printer, but you should check its efforts by printing a test page when prompted. If you wish to make your Windows OS the default, you will need to configure the bootloader. Upon entering the bootloader configuration area, click Next until you see a list of entries in the boot menu. Double click the "windows" entry, and then place an X in the Default checkbox.

After OKing the summary, don’t download updates. Remove the CD or DVD, and click the Reboot button. (You may wish to change your BIOS boot-up sequence back at this time.) When the system reboots, select the “linux” entry to start Mandriva for the first time.

If you are confronted with a command prompt instead of a GUI when Mandriva starts up, then login or su as root, and type XFdrake to open the graphics configuration tool. Play with the settings, and test until you get a good screen.

You may now want update the computer by Start icon -> System->Configuration->Packaging->Install, Remove & Update Software. After entering the root password, go to Software Management->”Look at available updates….” Then select a source URL (I use usc.edu), and wait for the list to download. You will see a Software Management window. You should download any Bugfix Updates, and Normal Updates.

Once you have installed all the updates, you should install the GUI debugger, ddd. Select “Select from where software packages are downloaded …”. Then select Add and then “Distribution sources.” Select a URL (I use ftp://ftp.ale.org). After the list of packages is downloaded, select “Look at installable software…” from the four Software Management choices. Type “ddd” in the search box, and then press Search. The rest of the process is straightforward.

Congratulations! Your done installing Linux!

KUBUNTU 7.10 Installation

2009-09-17T03:56:00.000-07:00

After installation please visit this page and fill in any information you have about the installation process. This will aid the developers in fixing any faults.

If you want to install LinuxMCE using the DVD, follow these steps.

Hardware notes

See this section for general hardware recommendations, and this advice for PC preparation.

LinuxMCE differs from other Home Theater PC systems in that some functions are performed by a Core PC and some functions are performed by a Media Director PC. A hybrid Core/Media Director PC does both.

For the central LinuxMCE Core server that will function on a home automation network, most recommended installations suggest 2 network interface cards (NICs). If you don't have a second NIC card already installed, it is easiest to do so before installing Kubuntu/LinuxMCE, since the second card will then be recognised and configured correctly during the initial installation. You won't have to fiddle with setting it up later. See this section for tips on setting up a nested LinuxMCE LAN within an existing home LAN.

(If you will have only a single PC acting as a hybrid Core/Media Director, 2 cards aren't strictly necessary, but putting them in at this stage will allow you to expand your network down the line.)

For a PC acting as a Media Director (either as a standalone or as a hybrid), an nVidia graphics card is strongly recommended so that you can display the User Interface in the highest resolution (UI2). If you don't have one installed, it is easiest to do so before starting software installation. It is probably best to stick with an nVidia card on the Core PC as well. Make sure the card is installed prior to software installation.

Check out this video and example installation of a complete installation that took this guy a few days and will likely take you a few weeks.

Kubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy)

Note:
LinuxMCE 0704 (beta) was used only with Kubuntu Desktop version 7.04 (Feisty). The current version is LinuxMCE 0710 and is meant to be used only with Kubuntu Desktop version 7.10 (Gutsy). A version compatible with Kubuntu version 8.10 is planned for the future.

Steps for installing Linux MCE on an Kubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) system :

Existing Kubuntu 7.10 installation

You can install LinuxMCE 0710 on a pre-existing installation of Kubuntu 7.10 using the 2 CD install method (but not the DVD method). To complete the installation you will need a Kubuntu Desktop 7.10 Live CD available, or at least a copy of the .iso file somewhere on your hard drive. (If you need to obtain one, see the next section for the download link. There are instructions if you want to burn a Live CD.)

The install process will partially overwrite your previous Kubuntu installation using configuration files from the Live CD which are known to be uniquely compatible with LinuxMCE. If you have previously modified your Kubuntu system (subsequent to its original installation), you may lose some of your configuration files because LinuxMCE modifies them to suit its own needs. Therefore, do not install LinuxMCE on a mission-critical PC if you don't want to risk this. (You should dedicate one PC to be a LinuxMCE core server, anyway.)

New installation

If you don't already have an Kubuntu system installed, follow these generic steps to install Kubuntu Desktop 7.10 from the Live CD:

Download the CD .iso image for Kubuntu desktop- either the 32-bit version or the 64-bit version, depending on your processor. Use the 32-bit version if in doubt. Note that LinuxMCE comes in both a 32-bit and a 64-bit version as well, so you must match. (If the above links are down, try this alternate site for the appropriate Kubuntu Desktop Live CD.)
If you don't know how to burn the .iso file to a bootable CD, then see these instructions.
Boot the Kubuntu Desktop 7.10 LiveCD.
Choose 'Start or install Kubuntu'.
When Kubuntu's desktop appears, click on 'Install'.
A short wizard will guide you. Select the language and press 'forward'.
Choose your timezone and press 'forward'.
Select the keyboard layout.
Choose desktop name, a user name and a password. LinuxMCE uses linuxmce for the user and password, so it is often convenient to use linuxmce as the initial user and password at this step, as well.
Select the partitioning options for your disk. If this is going to be a dedicated server, you can use the entire disk.
Ready to install.
Reboot the system and remove the Live CD.

LinuxMCE

Download LinuxMCE

From within the Kubuntu 7.10 desktop, open Konqueror or Firefox (the orange and blue icon at the top), and go to www.linuxmce.org. Select 'Download Instructions' to download the LinuxMCE CD images (.iso files) or the DVD .iso image onto your machine. You can also find the current version here.

There is a 32-bit version and a 64-bit version of LinuxMCE. If you are using a 64-bit Kubuntu 7.10 installation, download the corresponding LinuxMCE version.

You will be downloading two .iso files, each one corresponding to a CD image. The installer is able to use the .iso files directly from the hard drive, or you can burn them to a CD and then use them from the CD.

(Obviously, if you are downloading the .iso files on another computer, you will have to burn them onto CD to use them.)

To install using the .iso files on your hard drive directly, skip the next step.

Burn download to CDs and install from CDs

(If you plan to install directly from .iso files, skip this step and proceed to the next step.)

If you don't know how to burn an .iso file to a CD then see these instructions.

Burn the two CDs (assuming you are using this method).

You can then simply place CD 1 in the CD-ROM and the installer will autostart. You will then be prompted to put CD 2 in the drive, followed by the Kubuntu Desktop Live CD (see later sections).

The rest will take a lot of time but will essentially install automatically. Skip the next two steps and continue with the installation prompts.

Installing mce-installer from command prompt

(Skip the next two steps if you are installing from actual CDs.)

You can install the mce-installer from a command prompt without the need to burn the ISOs as follows:

cd /directory/where/the/downloaded/iso/files/are/
mkdir -pv mnt
sudo mount LinuxMCE_0704_CD1.iso mnt/ -o loop
sudo dpkg -i mnt/mce-installer_2.0.1-1_i386.deb
sudo umount mnt
rmdir -v mnt

If you are using the 64-bit version, use mce-installer_2.0.1-1_amd64.deb instead of mce-installer_2.0.1-1_i386.deb.

Installing mce-installer from the KDE Menu

Once you have downloaded the packages and installed the mce-installer onto your disk, run the mce-installer:

From Konqueror (or the Dolphin file manager), find and right-click on the mce-installer icon. Choose Kubuntu Package Menu --> Install Package.

(This step is done automatically if you are installing from a CD.)

Install LinuxMCE

The mce-installer places an "Install LinuxMCE" icon on your desktop. Click it to start the installation process. A window will appear saying that you will be notified when updates are available.

Choosing type of Core

Choose if you want a dedicated core or a hybrid. (In brief, a hybrid runs as both the Core and as a Media Director. As such, it needs more computing power. Click here to find out more differences between a core and a hybrid). Then click on the "Forward" button.

If you aren't going to set up an "internal" home automation LAN at this time, but only will use a single PC for all LinuxMCE functions, then make that single PC installation a hybrid.

However, if you will create an entire home automation network, it is better to use one PC as the dedicated core server (not a hybrid). It will run faster. You can leave it "headless" (no monitor, keyboard, mouse), and leave it always on. In such a situation, "dedicated Core" would be suitable. Nevertheless, it is possible after installation to choose whether to autostart the Core services by themselves, the Media Director services by themselves, or both together. Thus a "hybrid" installation can later used as a "dedicated Core," as a Media Director, or as both (a hybrid). There is little disadavantage, therefore, in choosing "hybrid" at this step. That is what many first time users choose.

Choosing Video Card

This step is displayed only when an nNvidia graphics card is detected by LinuxMCE. You will be asked if you want to use the proprietary nVidia driver (the only one that works well with LinuxMCE and nVidia cards), instead of the generic driver (which doesn't work as well). Generally you should use the proprietary driver. This step is here for legal reasons.

Network Configuration

The next screen will ask you whether you want to keep your current network configuration or whether you want to set your network options manually. The "current network configuration" is usually what the Kubuntu Live CD originally detected and setup automatically. Most commonly this configuration instructs the PC to ask for a dynamic IP from your home LAN router's DHCP service. This option is asking whether your LinuxMCE should continue to ask for a dynamic IP from your external LAN's router (using DHCP), or whether you wish to set a static IP address for your LinuxMCE PC. This setting applies only to the (first) NIC card that is connected to the "external" home LAN. Usually keeping the "current network configuration" is sufficient. Then press "Forward".

If you chose manual installation, you must now choose whether your PC will use a static IP within the external home LAN, or whether it will accept a dynamic IP assigned by the LAN router's DHCP. If you do not have a home LAN and router, but connect directly through a cable modem, you most likely use a (static) IP (that your cable company assigns you). Generally you have to know your IP address, the cable company's gateway IP, and the cable company's DNS server information (which your cable provider must provide to you). In contrast, most DSL providers use DHCP-assigned dynamic IPs, so if you connect directly through a DSL modem, you most likely use DHCP. You don't have to worry about the gateway and DNS server; DHCP usually discovers those for you automatically. (Obviously, if you bought a static IP service from a DSL or T1 provider, you would have to choose static and fill in the information, just as for a cable modem.)

If you don't know what the heck you have, use DHCP.

Choosing Mirror for Packages

You have to choose a mirror. Pick one geographically close to you. Downloads will be faster.

Choosing DHCP Server

You will be asked whether you want (the LinuxMCE core server) to Run a DHCP Server or not. The LinuxMCE core server will be the DHCP server for your "internal" home automation network in order to provide plug-and-play detection of network devices like IP Cameras and VOIP phones, and to provide network boot images to any other PC's in the internal home automation network that you might want to use as Media Directors.

Hopefully you took some advice and already installed a second NIC card. That second NIC card is used so that LinuxMCE can provide an "internal" DHCP network to the PCs (Media Directors), Orbiters, and devices within your automated home network. All ethernet connections from these devices (within the home automation network) must be connected to a switch (or a router with DHCP turned off) which is then in turn connected to this second NIC card. The LinuxMCE core server then performs the DHCP functions for the "internal" home automation network.

In essence, the "internal" home automation network is nested within your "external" home LAN. Some PCs can remain outside of the internal home automation network by being directly connected to the router, and therefore not connected to the LinuxMCE server. The first NIC card of the LinuxMCE server therefore communicates to the router of your external home LAN. The second NIC is connected to the internal home automation LAN. The LinuxMCE core server only acts as the DHCP server for the devices in the internal home automation LAN. Savvy?

Generally, you should answer yes to this question. The only time you would answer no is when you will have only one PC that will be a hybrid core server/media director and you do not plan to use any plug-n-play devices other than those connected directly to that single PC.

You will be then asked if you want to keep the default Internal Network address for the internal home automation LAN or if you want to change it. You might as well accept the default, unless you have some specific reason for specifying a unique IP range.

Then press 'Forward'.

Choosing Orbiter Interface

In the next window you need to choose what interface you want to use and you have to pick one of three possibilities. There are currently three options: UI1, UI2 with masking, and UI2 with alpha-blending. UI2 requires specific video cards (nVidia). It is best to choose UI1 for the initial installation if you don't have the appropriate nVidia card or if in doubt, as the interface can be changed later. This will reduce the possibility of video card related errors during installation. After installation, you can check to see if your video card can do masking and alpha-blending by following the instructions at Graphics Test.

Installing Additional Packages

On the next step you have to choose if you want to install lame and libdvdcss and if it is legal in your country to use them. In general you will want to install them both.

Choosing How to Primarily Use the Computer

You have to select how you plan to use your computer, either:

Primarily used as a PC -- you can start LinuxMCE manually when you need it, or

A dedicated LinuxMCE -- you can start Kubuntu when you need it.

For the dedicated core server, choose the second option. If you have a power outage, you can then set the computer to auto-reboot and restore your system without intervention. (If you are serious about home automation, it is best to have a dedicated core server, anyway.) It is possible to access the Kubuntu desktop from within LinuxMCE (see below).

If you choose the first option and have a power outage, then you will require a boot-up script, cron scheduling, or manual intervention in order to restart the LinuxMCE system.

If you are just experimenting with LinuxMCE and/or primarily use the PC as a Kubuntu desktop, the first option is suitable. Also, if you wish to directly install LinuxMCE directly on a PC that will be used as a Media Director, but intend to trade its function back and forth between that of a Kubuntu desktop and a Media Director, also choose the first option.

(Many PCs that will be used as Media Directors can simply be netbooted from the Core, however, so you do not really need to install LinuxMCE on them at all if you intend to netboot (which is generally easier).)

Installing LinuxMCE Discs

This step is very important. You have to insert the CD (or point to the location on the hard drive of the .iso file for the CD):

LinuxMCE CD 1

LinuxMCE CD 2

Kubuntu 7.10 Live CD

You can see the message about the Linux MCE system installation.

Installation can take a long time

Don't worry if the system seems to stop at points or report what seems like error messages.
This is normal since at places it will be testing drivers out, and is only there for the advanced Linux user.
You will get a dialog box if something really does go wrong. And, understand this may take a very long time
since it will in parallel be updating your Kubuntu system to the latest version. Just leave it for an hour
or two and come back later.

Installation Complete

After the installation is done you’ll receive a message from the installer that will tell you to restart the system

Next follow the QuickStart Guide to tell LinuxMCE about how you want to use it.

Additional Notes

If you specified that LinuxMCE should startup by default, then after rebooting you will see LinuxMCE (not the Kubuntu desktop). If you will use this computer as a Media PC only, you don't need to access the Kubuntu desktop for any further set up -- all setup is done from the from the LinuxMCE Admin Website or through the LinuxMCE Orbiter User Interface.

If you would like to use this PC as a Kubuntu PC from within LinuxMCE, however, a menu option on the on-screen Orbiter User Interface of a Media Director is provided to bring up the KDE (Kubuntu) desktop. (This may not work well if the Media Director has been netbooted.)

You can also press Ctrl+Alt+F2 from within LinuxMCE to bring up the KDE desktop (then login and type StartX).

If you specified that the Kubuntu desktop should be run by default, you can then start LinuxMCE manually from within the Kubuntu menu: Applications-->Sound & Video-->Start Media Center. (You can also click on the LinuxMCE icon on the Kubuntu desktop that was placed there during installation.

When LinuxMCE is running, you can toggle back and forth between them by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F7 for Kubuntu or Ctrl+Alt+F11 for LinuxMCE.

Sun Solaris Installation Process

2009-09-17T03:25:00.000-07:00

Table of Contents

Installation Assumptions

Check the Hardware Compatibility List

Basic System Requirements

Obtaining Media for the x86 Platform

Power Up and Media Boot

Installing the Solaris 10 OS

For More Information

Installation Assumptions

This guide makes several assumptions, including:

The system is an x86 system

The system is compatible with the Solaris 10 5/09 OS and is listed on the Solaris Hardware Compatibility List (HCL)

The system has a graphical interface

While this guide is most appropriate for a stand-alone system that doesn't connect to a network or connects to a network with automatic configuration, it can be used to install a system with a fixed IP address if the network configuration information is available.

If problems arise during the installation process that are not discussed in this guide, refer to the Solaris 10 OS Installation Guide: Basic Installations for more information. This guide is part of the Solaris 10 Release and Installation Collection located on the Sun Web site at http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/prod/solaris.10.

Check the Hardware Compatibility List

The first step before the installation process is to verify that the system to be installed is on the hardware compatibility list located at: http://www.blogger.com/bigadmin/hcl/.

Note: The term "x86" refers to the family of 32-bit x86-compatible architecture and 64-bit AMD64 and Intel 64.

Basic System Requirements

Verify the computer system meets the following requirements.

NOTE: The requirements below are recommended minimums.

While it is possible to install the Solaris OS on a system with less disk capacity and CPU speed, it is not recommended.

Minimum 1024 MB of physical RAM

Minimum 10 GB of available hard drive space

Minimum 400 MHz CPU speed

DVD or CD-ROM drive

Attached monitor or integrated display

For more information on Solaris System requirements, visit http://www.blogger.com/software/solaris/specs.jsp. For a catalog of the more than 5000 Solaris-ready applications and solutions, please visit http://www.blogger.com/bigadmin/apps/.

Obtaining Media for the x86 Platform

The Solaris 10 5/09 OS release is available via download from the Sun Web site.

Go to http://www.blogger.com/solaris/ and click on the Solaris logo if you want to obtain information about the Solaris 10 5/09 OS; if not, proceed to step 2.

Go to http://www.blogger.com/solaris/get.jsp to begin the download process.

Choose Solaris 10 on the list of available downloads.

Click on the appropriate media format (Solaris for x86 systems).

Answer the short questionnaire.

Read and accept the license agreement.

Download and burn the CDs or DVDs.

See the Solaris 10 Self Help FAQs located at http://www.blogger.com/solaris/self_help.jsp for additional guidance, instruction, and tips on downloading the Solaris 10 OS or burning installation CD and DVD media.

Power Up and Media Boot

If you don't want to substitute your current operating system and instead you want to run Solaris as a guest OS or Virtual Machine, please download and install xVM VirtualBox for free from http://www.virtualbox.org/.

The following procedure can be used to install Solaris 10 5/09 on a new or used system.

Power up the system and insert the first installation CD or DVD into the drive tray.

Restart the system.

If the system appears to be booting from the hard disk and the Solaris OS installer does not start, power cycle the system (power cycle is shutting down the power on the system and then restarting the system). As the system begins to boot, enter setup mode. Typically, the system displays a message indicating which key to press (such as "Enter F2 to enter setup", although the key to press varies by manufacturer; the ESC and F12 keys are other common options.) If you miss the message, simply restart the system a couple of times until you are able to view it.

Once in setup mode, specify the boot device for the system. This example specifies the CD or DVD drive as the boot device. To do so, find the list that describes boot order and re-order as needed to ensure the CD or DVD drive appears first on the list. The system should then boot from the CD or DVD drive to start the install process.

Installing the Solaris 10 5/09 Operating System

Identifying the Console

The next step in the installation process is to select the type of console for the hardware on which the Solaris OS is being installed. Use the arrow keys to select the version of the Solaris OS that matches the hardware configuration. For most x86 systems, use the default selection.

Press the ENTER key and boot the version of operating system selected. The highlighted entry boots in 60 seconds even if a key is not pressed.

Note: Prompts do not appear during the boot process. If a selection is not made, the screen times out and the system
automatically boots the Solaris OS.

Selecting the Type of Installation

After the ENTER key is pressed or the counter times out, a series of dots will run on the screen and you will see the basic
device configuration message along with a menu with six installation options.

Before this new counter times out, select option 3 to install Solaris 10 5/09 from the beginning using Solaris ZFS as the root file system. You can get more information on ZFS from http://www.blogger.com/software/solaris/zfs.jsp.

Note: If you don't want to use ZFS as your root filesystem, you can use option 1. Please refer to the previous version of this "How To Guide."

Once option 3 is selected, you'll see the following screen with some information regarding your hardware. Keep in mind that the hardware information displayed (such as "nge0") may differ from the exact data displayed below and that each step can take up to a couple of minutes to complete:

After a few seconds, you are presented with the keyboard layout configuration in case you don't have a standard keyboard or if you have a localized keyboard. If you have a US keyboard, press the [F2] key; if not, select the right language using the arrow keys to move up or down, make your selection with the [space bar] and then press [F2] to continue.

Immediately, you'll see the following message. Press ENTER to continue.

System Configuration

A series of screens guides you through the Solaris OS configuration process.

Note: The graphical screens require a mouse to be rolled over the window in order to answer questions posed throughout the configuration process.

After you press ENTER, the system configuration process will start through a series of windows. Please roll the mouse over the window, click the mouse, then press ENTER to continue.

Select a language for the system.

A new window, the Solaris Install Console, appears in the bottom-right corner. This window is used to display pertinent installation messages. Another window appears in which the Solaris OS installation questions should be answered. Press [F2] to continue.

The system identification process begins. Press [F2] to continue:.

The Network Connectivity window appears. Use the default answer, (unless you don't have a network) and press [F2] to continue.

The DHCP selection appears. For most cases, just select DHCP for your network configuration using the arrow keys and the space bar to make the selection and then press [F2] to continue.

The IPv6 window appears. Just use the default and press [F2] to continue.

The Confirmation window appears. If you agree with your selections, press [F2] to continue; if not, press [F4] and the process will go back to step 5.

The Security Policy window appears. Use the default for No Kerberos configuration, then press [F2] to continue.

For confirmation of your policy selection, press [F2] and continue to the next screen.

The Name Service window appears. Select NONE using the arrow keys and pressing the space bar to select, then press [F2] to continue.

For confirmation of your selection, press [F2] and continue to the next screen.

The NFSv4 domain name window appears. Let the system use the default option and press [F2] to continue.

For confirmation of your selection, press [F2] to continue to the next screen.

The Time Zone window appears. Next, set the time zone for the system. This example sets the Americas time zone. Use the arrow keys and the space bar to make the selection, then press [F2] to continue.

Time Zone cont'd. Set the United States Country & Region, then press [F2] to continue.

Time Zone cont'd. Set the Pacific Time, then press [F2] to continue.

Set current date and time. Use arrow keys and keyboard to change the proposed date and time, then press [F2] to continue.

To confirm your selection, press [F2] to continue.

The Root Password window appears. Set the root password. Note the password typed remains invisible. Re-enter the password in the second box and press [F2] to continue.

The Network Services window appears. Click [F2] to continue.

The Remote Services window appears. In this window, you can choose a "Secure by default" Solaris installation, but afterwards individual services should be enabled. If you are unsure of your type of installation, follow the default "Yes" to enable all remote services and press [F2] to continue.

The Install Progress window appears. Wait for a few minutes while Solaris installs on your system. After the installation is completed, the system will reboot automatically and will start the Solaris OS. Remember that in some cases, you will have to eject the media manually.

The Eject CD/DVD window appears. Use the default. Press [F2] to continue; the system will automatically eject the media after installation.

The Reboot After Installation window appears. Use the default, press [F2] to continue.

The Confirmation window appears; press [F2] to continue. In some cases, the system will not be able to eject the media after installation. Be sure to eject it manually to avoid starting the installation process again; if after the installation your system didn't eject the media and the install process started again, you can simply reboot your system. During the boot process, eject the media and the system will boot from the hard disk using the freshly installed Solaris 10 image.

The License window appears. Please read the Solaris License Agreement, and if you agree, press [F2] to continue.

The Geographic Regions window appears. To add support for other regions, select the desired region; if not, press [F2] to continue.

The System Locale window appears. Press [F2] to continue.

The Selection of Additional Products window appears. Press [F2] to continue.

The Root File System selection window appears. Select ZFS and press [F2] to continue.

The Software Selection window appears. Use the default and press [F2] to continue.

The Disk Selection window appears. Use the default and press [F2] to continue.

The ZFS Configuration window appears. Use the default and press [F2] to continue.

The Remote Mounts window appears. Use the default and press [F2] to continue.

The Profile window appears. On this window, you can see a technical description of how Solaris will be installed on your system. Press [F2] to continue.

The Install Progress window appears. Wait for a few minutes while Solaris installs on your system. After the installation is completed, the system will reboot automatically and will start the Solaris OS. Remember that in some cases, you will have to eject the media manually.

Now you have successfully installed Solaris 10 5/09 on your system. Login using the root user and the password you assigned on step 19.

Windows Xp Insatallion process

2009-09-17T03:04:00.001-07:00

This procedure demonstrates how to install Windows XP Professional. The procedure to install Windows XP home edition is very similar to the professional edition. Since Windows XP Pro is more advanced operating system, it will be used to demonstrate the installation procedure.

The best way install Windows XP is to do a clean install. It is not difficult to perform a clean installation. Before you perform the installation I recommend that you check Windows XP Compatibility List to ensure that your hardware is supported by XP. If your hardware is not on the compatibility list you can check your hardware manufactures website to download the drivers for Windows XP. Save all the necessary drivers onto floppy disks or CD before you start the installation.

All versions of Windows XP CD are bootable. In order to boot from CD/DVD-ROM you need to set the boot sequence. Look for the boot sequence under your BIOS setup and make sure that the first boot device is set to CD/DVD-ROM. You can then perform the following steps to install Windows XP:

Step 1 - Start your PC and place your Windows XP CD in your CD/DVD-ROM drive. Your PC should automatically detect the CD and you will get a message saying "Press any key to boot from CD". Soon as computer starts booting from the CD your will get the following screen:

Step 2 - At this stage it will ask you to press F6 if you want to install a third party Raid or SCSI driver. If you are using a an IDE Hard Drive then you do not need to press F6. If you are using a SCSI or SATA Hard drive then you must press F6 otherwise Windows will not detect your Hard Drive during the installation. Please make sure you have the Raid drivers on a floppy disk. Normally the drivers are supplied on a CD which you can copy to a floppy disk ready to be installed. If you are not sure how to do this then please read your motherboard manuals for more information.

Step 3 - Press S to Specify that you want to install additional device.

Step 4 - You will be asked to insert the floppy disk with the Raid or SCSI drivers. Press enter after you have inserted the disk.

Step 5 - You will see a list of Raid drivers for your HDD. Select the correct driver for your device and press enter.

Step 6 - You will then get a Windows XP Professional Setup screen. You have the option to do a new Windows install, Repair previous install or quit. Since we are doing a new install we just press Enter to continue.

Step 7 - You will be presented with the End User Licensing Agreement. Press F8 to accept and continue

Step 8 - This step is very important. Here we will create the partition where Windows will be installed. If you have a brand new unformatted drive you will get a screen similar to below. In our case the drive size is 8190MB. We can choose to install Windows in this drive without creating a partition, hence use the entire size of the drive. If you wish to do this you can just press enter and Windows will automatically partition and format the drive as one large drive.

However for this demonstration I will create two partition. The first partition will be 6000MB (C: drive) and second partition would be 2180MB (E: drive). By creating two partition we can have one which stores Windows and Applications and the other which stores our data. So in the future if anything goes wrong with our Windows install such as virus or spyware we can re-install Windows on C: drive and our data on E: drive will not be touched. Please note you can choose whatever size partition your like. For example if you have 500GB hard drive you can have two partition of 250GB each.

Press C to create a partition.

Step 8 - Windows will show the total size of the hard drive and ask you how much you want to allocate for the partition you are about to create. I will choose 6000MB. You will then get the screen below. Notice it shows C: Partition 1 followed by the size 6000 MB. This indicates the partition has been created. We still have an unpartitioned space of 2189MB. Next heighlight the unpartitioned space by pressing down the arrow key. Then press C to create another partition. You will see the total space available for the new partition. Just choose all the space left over, in our case 2180MB.

Step 9 - Now you will see both partition listed. Partition 1 (C: Drive) 6000MB and Partition 2 (E: Drive) 2180MB. You will also have 8MB of unpartitioned space. Don't worry about that. Just leave it how its is. Windows normally has some unpartitioned space. You might wonder what happened to D: drive. Windows has automatically allocated D: drive to CD/DVD-ROM.

Select Partition 1 (C: Drive) and press Enter.

Step 10 - Choose format the partition using NTFS file system.This is the recommended file system. If the hard drive has been formatted before then you can choose quick NTFS format. We chose NTFS because it offers many security features, supports larger drive size, and bigger size files.

Windows will now start formatting drive C: and start copying setup files as shown on the two images below :

Step 11 - After the setup has completed copying the files the computer will restart. Leave the XP CD in the drive but this time DO NOT press any key when the message "Press any key to boot from CD" is displayed. In few seconds setup will continue. Windows XP Setup wizard will guide you through the setup process of gathering information about your computer.

Step 12 - Choose your region and language.

Step 13 - Type in your name and organization.

Step 14. Enter your product key.

Step 15 - Name the computer, and enter an Administrator password. Don't forget to write down your Administrator password.

Step 16 - Enter the correct date, time and choose your time zone.

Step 17 - For the network setting choose typical and press next.

Step 18 - Choose workgroup or domain name. If you are not a member of a domain then leave the default settings and press next. Windows will restart again and adjust the display.

Step 3 - Press S to Specify that you want to install additional device.

Step 4 - You will be asked to insert the floppy disk with the Raid or SCSI drivers. Press enter after you have inserted the disk.

Step 5 - You will see a list of Raid drivers for your HDD. Select the correct driver for your device and press enter.

Next - How to install Windows XP Page 2

Step 7 - You will be presented with the End User Licensing Agreement. Press F8 to accept and continue

Press C to create a partition.

Select Partition 1 (C: Drive) and press Enter.

Windows will now start formatting drive C: and start copying setup files as shown on the two images below :

Step 12 - Choose your region and language.

Step 13 - Type in your name and organization.

Step 14. Enter your product key.

Step 15 - Name the computer, and enter an Administrator password. Don't forget to write down your Administrator password.

Step 16 - Enter the correct date, time and choose your time zone.

Step 17 - For the network setting choose typical and press next.

Step 18 - Choose workgroup or domain name. If you are not a member of a domain then leave the default settings and press next. Windows will restart again and adjust the display.

Next - How to install Windows XP Page 4

Step 19 - Finally Windows will start and present you with a Welcome screen. Click next to continue.

Step 20 - Choose 'help protect my PC by turning on automatic updates now' and press next.

Step 21 - Will this computer connect to the internet directly, or through a network? If you are connected to a router or LAN then choose: 'Yes, this computer will connect through a local area network or home network'. If you have dial up modem choose: 'No, this computer will connect directly to the internet'. Then click Next.

Step 22 - Ready to activate Windows? Choose yes if you wish to active Windows over the internet now. Choose no if you want to activate Windows at a later stage.

Step 23 - Add users that will sign on to this computer and click next.

Step 24 - You will get a Thank you screen to confirm setup is complete. Click finish.

Step 25. Log in, to your PC for the first time.

Step 26 - You now need to check the device manager to confirm that all the drivers has been loaded or if there are any conflicts. From the start menu select Start -> Settings -> Control Panel. Click on the System icon and then from the System Properties window select the Hardware tab, then click on Device Manager.

If there are any yellow exclamation mark "!" next to any of the listed device, it means that no drivers or incorrect drivers has been loaded for that device. In our case we have a Video Controller (VGA card) which has no drivers installed.

Your hardware should come with manufacturer supplied drivers. You need to install these drivers using the automatic setup program provided by the manufacturer or you need to manually install these drivers. If you do not have the drivers, check the manufacturers website to download them.

To install a driver manually use the following procedure:

(a) From the device manager double click on the device containing the exclamation mark.

(b) This would open a device properties window.

(c) Click on the Driver tab.

(d) Click Update Driver button. The Wizard for updating device driver pops up as shown below:

You now get two options. The first option provides an automatic search for the required driver. The second option allows you to specify the location of the driver. If you don't know the location of the driver choose the automatic search which would find the required driver from the manufacturer supplied CD or Floppy disk. Windows would install the required driver and may ask you to restart the system for the changes to take affect. Use this procedure to install drivers for all the devices that contain an exclamation mark. Windows is completely setup when there are no more exclamation marks in the device manager.

DEADLOCK DETECTION

2009-08-20T03:53:00.000-07:00

The system may enter a deadlock state

The system needs:

-an algorithm that periodically determines wheather a deadlock has occured in the system

-a procedure to recover from a deadlock

Two algorithms

1) one instance for resource type

2)multiple instance for resource type

DEADLOCK RECOVERY

2009-08-20T03:50:00.000-07:00

•Abort all deadlocked processes.
•Abort one process at a time until the deadlock cycle is eliminated.
•In which order should we choose to abort?

–Priority of the process.
–How long process has computed, and how much longer to completion.
–Resources the process has used.
–Resources process needs to complete.
–How many processes will need to be terminated.
–Is process interactive or batch?

•Selecting a victim – minimize cost
•Rollback – return to some safe state, restart process from that state
–Require the system to keep more information about the state of all the running processes
•Starvation – same process may always be picked as victim, include number of rollback in cost factor

DEADLOCK PREVENTION

2009-08-20T03:43:00.000-07:00

-Ensure that at least one of the necessary conditions cannot hold
-Prevent deadlocks by constraining how requests for resources can be made

•Mutual Exclusion – not required for sharable resources; must hold for non-sharable resources
•Hold and Wait – must guarantee that whenever a process requests a resource, it does not hold any other resources.
–Method 1: require each process to request and be allocated all its resources before it begins execution

–Method 2: allow a process to request resources only when the process has none
–Example: copy data from tape drive to disk file, sort disk file, print

–Disadvantage

•Low resource utilization

•Starvation possible

•No Preemption – if process A holding resources requests another resource that cannot be immediately allocated to it
–Method 1: All resources currently being held by A are preempted

•Preempted resources are added to A’s waiting resource list

A will be restarted only when it can regain its old resources, as well as the new ones that it is requesting.
–Method 2: Check the requested resources for following conditions

•If it is allocated to a process waiting for additional resources, preempt it from the waiting process and allocate it to A
•If it is held by a process not waiting, A must wait
–A’s resources may be preempted, but only if another process requests them

•Circular Wait – impose a total ordering of all resource types
–Example: F(tape drive) = 1, F(disk drive) = 5, F(Printer) = 12
•F is defined according to the normal order of resource usage
–Method 1: require that each process requests resources in an increasing order of enumeration
•OK if tape drive è disk drive è Printer
•Not OK if disk drive è tape drive è Printer
–Method 2: Whenever a process requests an instance of Rj, it has released any resources Ri such that F(Ri) > F(Rj)

METHODS for HANDLING DEADLOCKS

2009-08-20T03:41:00.000-07:00

•Use a protocol to prevent or avoid deadlocks, ensuring that the system will never enter a deadlock state
–Deadlock prevention
–Deadlock avoidance

•Allow the system to enter a deadlock state, detect it and then recover

•Ignore the problem and pretend that deadlocks never occur in the system
–Used by most operating systems, including UNIX
–The undetected deadlock will result in the deterioration of the system performance. Eventually, the system will stop functioning and will need to be restarted manually

DEADLOCK CHARACTERIZATION

2009-08-20T03:33:00.000-07:00

•Mutual exclusion: At least one resource must be held in a non-sharable mode

•Hold and wait: a process holding at least one resource is waiting to acquire additional resources held by others

•No preemption: a resource can be released only voluntarily by the process holding it, after it has completed its task

•Circular wait: there exists a set {P0, P1, …, P0} of waiting processes such that P0 is waiting for a resource that is held by P1, P1 is waiting for a resource that is held by P2, …, Pn–1 is waiting for a resource that is held by Pn, and Pn is waiting for a resource that is held by P0.

Multiprocessor Scheduling

2009-08-19T05:12:00.000-07:00

CPU scheduling more complex when multiple CPUs are available

Homogeneous processors within a multiprocessor

Load sharing

Asymmetric multiprocessing – only one processor accesses the system data structures, alleviating the need for data sharing

Real-Time Scheduling

2009-08-13T04:10:00.000-07:00

-Real-Time Scheduling (1) (2)

Real-time scheduling is becoming an increasingly important discipline, in which the scheduler is the most important component of a real-time system.In a real-time system, time is an essential role. Real-time computing may be defined as that typo of computing in which the correctness of the system depends not only on the logical result of he computation, but also on the time at which the results are produced. For example, the computer in a compact disc player gets the bits as they come off the drive and must convert them into music within a very tight interval. If the calculation takes too long, the music will sound peculiar.

Real-time tasks can be classified into two categories:

-hard real-time task: the task must meet its deadline; otherwise it will cause undesirable damage or a fatal error to the system.
-soft real-time task: there is an associated deadline that is desirable but not mandatory.

Another characteristic of real-time task is whether they are periodic or aperiodic. A periodic task is one that occurs at regular intervals, while an aperiodic task occurs unpredictably. If there are m periodic events and event i occurs with period Pi and requires Ci seconds of CPU time to handle each event, then the load can only be handled if

(1)
A real-time system that meets this criterion is said to be schedulable.

Real-time scheduling algorithm: (2)

In a real-time system, the various scheduling approaches depends on

1)whether the system performs schedulability analysis
2)if it does, whether it is done statically or dynamically
3)whether the result of the analysis itself produces a schedule or plan according to which tasks are dispatched at run time.

Based on these considerations, there can be these algorithms:

Static table-driven schedulingThis is applicable to tasks that are periodic. Input to the analysis consists of the periodic arrival time, execution time, periodic ending deadline, and relative priority of each task. The scheduler attempts to develop a schedule that enables it to meet the requirement of all periodic tasks. This is a predictable approach but inflexible because any change to any task requirement requires the scheduler be redone. One of the typical scheduling algorithms in this category is earliest-deadline-first.
Static priority-driven preemptive schedulingIt makes use of the priority-driven preemptive scheduling mechanism common to most non-real-time multiprogramming system. In real-time system, priority assignment is related to the time constraints associated with each task. One example of this approach is rate monotonic algorithm, which assigns static priorities to tasks based on the length of their periods.
Dynamic planning-based schedulingWith this approach, after one task arrives, but before its execution begins, an attempt is made to create a schedule that contains the previously scheduled tasks as well as the new arrival. If the new arrival can be scheduled in such a way that its deadlines are satisfied and that no currently scheduled task misses a deadline, then the schedule is revised to accommodate the new task.
Dynamic best effort scheduling-This is the approach used by many real-time systems that are currently commercially available. When a task arrives, the system assigns a priority based on the characteristics of the task. Some forms of the deadline scheduling, such a earliest-deadline scheduling, is typically used. Usually the tasks are aperiodic and so no static scheduling analysis is possible. With this type of scheduling, until a deadline arrives or until the task completes, we do not know whether a timing constraint will be met. This is the major disadvantage of this form of scheduling. The advantage of this approach is easy to implement

Thread Scheduling

2009-08-13T04:05:00.000-07:00

-Across platforms, thread scheduling1 tends to be based on at least the following criteria:
a priority, or in fact usually multiple "priority" settings that we'll discuss below; a quantum, or number of allocated timeslices of CPU, which essentially determines the amount of CPU time a thread is allotted before it is forced to yield the CPU to another thread of the same or lower priority (the system will keep track of the remaining quantum at any given time, plus its default quantum, which could depend on thread type and/or system configuration); a state, notably "runnable" vs "waiting"; metrics about the behaviour of threads, such as recent CPU usage or the time since it last ran (i.e. had a share of CPU), or the fact that it has "just received an event it was waiting for". Most systems use what we might dub priority-based round-robin scheduling to some extent. The general principles are:
a thread of higher priority (which is a function of base and local priorities) will preempt a thread of lower priority; otherwise, threads of equal priority will essentially take turns at getting an allocated slice or quantum of CPU; there are a few extra "tweaks" to make things work. StatesDepending on the system, there are various states that a thread can be in. Probably the two most interesting are:
runnable, which essentially means "ready to consume CPU"; being runnable is generally the minimum requirement for a thread to actually be scheduled on to a CPU; waiting, meaning that the thread currently cannot continue as it is waiting for a resource such as a lock or I/O, for memory to be paged in, for a signal from another thread, or simply for a period of time to elapse (sleep).

SUBSTANTIAL INFORMATION ABOUT THREADS (least atleast three OS)

2009-08-10T17:28:00.000-07:00

Windows Microsoft

A thread is the entity within a process that can be scheduled for execution. All threads of a process share its virtual address space and system resources. Each process is started with a single thread, but can create additional threads from any of its threads.

For more information, see the following topics:

* Creating Threads
* Thread Stack Size
* Thread Handles and Identifiers
* Suspending Thread Execution
* Synchronizing Execution of Multiple Threads
* Multiple Threads and GDI Objects
* Thread Local Storage
* Creating Windows in Threads
* Terminating a Thread
* Thread Security and Access Rights

CPU SCHEDULING ALGORITHMS

2009-08-10T17:17:00.000-07:00

SCHEDULING ALGORITHMS
1.First-come, first-served (FCFS) scheduling
2.Shortest-job first (SJF) scheduling
3.Priority scheduling
4.Round-robin scheduling
5.Multilevel queue scheduling
6.Multilevel feedback queue scheduling

First-come, First-served (FCFS) scheduling

-is the simplest scheduling algorithm, but it can cause short processes to wait for very long processes.

Shortest-job-first (SJF) scheduling

-is provably optimal, providing the shortest average waiting time. Implementing SJF scheduling is difficult because predicting the length of the next CPU burst is difficult. The SJF algorithm is a special case of the general

Priority-scheduling algorithm,

- which simply allocates the CPU to the highest-priority process. Both priority and SJF scheduling may suffer from starvation. Aging is a technique to prevent starvation.

Round-robin (RR) scheduling

- is more appropriate for a time-shared (interactive) system. RR scheduling allocates the CPU to the first process in the ready queue for q time units, where q is the time quantum. After q time units, if the process has not relinquished the CPU, it is preempted and the process is put at the tail of the ready queue. The major problem is the selection of the time quantum. If the quantum is too large, RR scheduling degenerates to FCFS scheduling; if the quantum is too small, scheduling overhead in the form of context-switch time becomes excessive.

The FCFS algorithm is nonpreemptive, the RR algorithm is preemptive. The SJF and priority algorithms may be either preemptive or nonpreemptive.

Multilevel queue algorithms

-allow different algorithms to be used for various classes of processes. The most common is a foreground interactive queue which uses RR scheduling, and a background batch queue, which uses FCFS scheduling.

Multilevel feedback queues

-allow processes to move from one queue to another.

Because such a wide variety of scheduling algorithms are available, we need methods to select among them. Analytic methods use mathematical analysis to determine the performance of an algorithm. Simulation methods determine performance by imitating the scheduling algorithm on a “representative” sample of processes, and computing the resulting performance.

Operating Systems supporting threads at the kernel level must schedule threads - not processes - for execution. This is the case with Solaris 2 and Windows 2000 where both systems schedule threads using preemptive priority based on scheduling algorithm including support for real-time threads. The Linux process scheduler also uses a priority-based algorithm with real-time supports as well. The scheduling algorithms for these three operating systems typically favor interactive over batch and CPU-bound processes.systems typically favor interactive over batch and CPU-bound processes.

TRHEADS

2009-07-30T03:16:00.000-07:00

-In computer science, a thread of execution results from a fork of a computer program into two or more concurrently running tasks. The implementation of threads and processes differs from one operating system to another, but in most cases, a thread is contained inside a process. Multiple threads can exist within the same process and share resources such as memory, while different processes do not share these resources.
On a single processor, multithreading generally occurs by time-division multiplexing (as in multitasking): the processor switches between different threads. This context switching generally happens frequently enough that the user perceives the threads or tasks as running at the same time. On a multiprocessor or multi-core system, the threads or tasks will generally run at the same time, with each processor or core running a particular thread or task. Support for threads in programming languages varies: a number of languages simply do not support having more than one execution context inside the same program executing at the same time. Examples of such languages include Python, and OCaml, because the parallel support of their runtime support is limited by the use of a central lock, called "Global Interpreter Lock" in Python, "master lock" in Ocaml. Other languages may be limited because they use threads that are user threads, which are not visible to the kernel, and thus cannot be scheduled to run concurrently. On the other hand, kernel threads, which are visible to the kernel, can run concurrently.
Many modern operating systems directly support both time-sliced and multiprocessor threading with a process scheduler. The kernel of an operating system allows programmers to manipulate threads via the system call interface. Some implementations are called a kernel thread, whereas a lightweight process (LWP) is a specific type of kernel thread that shares the same state and information.
Programs can have user-space threads when threading with timers, signals, or other methods to interrupt their own execution, performing a sort of ad-hoc time-slicing.

-single threaded process

-multi threaded process

-Benefits of Multi-threaded Programming

-Responsiveness

-Resource Sharing

-Economy

-Utilization of MP Architechtures

User Thread

-Thread management done by user-level threads library

(e.g.):

1. POSIX Pthreads

2. Mach C-threads

3.Solaris threads

Kernel Thread

- Supported by Kernel

(e.g.):

1.Windows 95/98/NT/2000

2.Solaris

3.Tru64 UNIX

4.BeOS

5.Linux

Thread Library

Multithreading models

1)Many-to-one Model

-Many user-level threads mapped to single kernel thread.

-Used on systems that do not supported kernel threads.

2)One-to-One Model

-Each user-level thread maps to kernel thread.

(e.g.):

-Windows 95/98/NT/2000

-OS/2

3)Many-to-Many Model

-Allows many user level threads to be mapped to many kernel threads.

-Allows the operating system to create a sufficient number of kernel threads.

-Solaris 2

-Windows NT/2000 with the ThreadFiber package.

Producer-Consumer Example

2009-07-30T03:13:00.000-07:00

One process generates data – the producer

• The other process uses it – the consumer

• If directly connected – time coordination

How would they coordinate the time ?

BUFFERING

2009-07-30T02:47:00.000-07:00

-The mechanism that buffers messages (a.k.a. queue)

may have the following properties

zero capacity-queue has lenght 0, no messages can be out standing on link, sender blocks for message exchange.

bounded capacity-queue has length N, N message can be in queue at any point in time, sender blocks if queue at any point in tme, sender blocks if queue is full, otherwise it may continue to execute.

unbounded capacity- queue has infinite length, sender never blocks

INTERPROCESS COMMUNICATION

2009-07-30T02:08:00.000-07:00

*-*Inter-process communication (IPC) is a set of techniques for the exchange of data among multiple threads in one or more processes. Processes may be running on one or more computers connected by a network. IPC techniques are divided into methods for message passing, synchronization, shared memory, and remote procedure calls (RPC). The method of IPC used may vary based on the bandwidth and latency of communication between the threads, and the type of data being communicated.

There are several reasons for providing an environment that allows process cooperation:
-Information sharing

-Computation speedup

-Modularity

- Convenience

1)Direct Communication

sender/reciever refer to each other, as seen before

properties of communication link

-link is associated with exactly two processes

-exactly one link for every pair of processes

communication is symmetric (above) or asymmetric

2)Indirect Communication

3)Synchronization-message passing maybe blocking or non-blocking (synchronous or asynchronous)

blocking send-sender bloked until message is recieve by receiver (orby mailbox)

Non-blocking send-sending process resumes operation right after sending.

blocking receive-reiever blocks until message is available.

nonblocking receive-receiver retrieves a vald message or returns an error code.

5)INTERPROCESS COMMUNICATION

2009-07-16T03:39:00.001-07:00

For Communication and Synchronization

-Share memory

-OS provide IPC

Message system

-No need for shared available

-Two operations:

1.send (message)-message fixed or variable

2.recieve message

if P and Q wish to communicate, they need to:

-establish a communication link betweeen them

-exchange message via send/ recieve

Implemention of communication Link

-physical(e.g. , shared memory, hardware bus)

-logical(e.g. , logical properties)

4)COOPERATING PROCESSES

2009-07-16T03:21:00.000-07:00

Advantages of process cooperation

-Information sharing

-Comunication speed-up

-Modularity

-Convinience

Independent process connot affect/be affected by the execution of another process, cooperating once can.

Issue

-Communication

-avoid processes getting into each other's ways

-Ensure proper sequencing when there are dependencies

Common Paradigm:producer costumer

-unbounded-buffer - no practical consumer

-bounded buffer-assumes fixed buffer size

3)OPERATION PROCESS

2009-07-16T02:11:00.001-07:00

a)Process Creation

-Parent process create children processes, which, in turn create other processes, forming a tree of processes.

Resource sharing

Parent and children share all resources.

Children share subset of parent’s resources.

Parent and child share no resources.

Execution

Parent and children execute concurrently.

Parent waits until children terminate.

Address space

Child duplicate of parent.

Child has a program loaded into it.

UNIX examples

fork system call creates new process

exec system call used after a fork to replace the process’ memory space with a new program.

b)Process Termination

Process executes last statement and asks the operating system to decide it (exit).

Output data from child to parent (via wait).

Process resources are deallocated by operating system.

Parent may terminate execution of children processes (abort).

Child has exceeded allocated resources.

Task assigned to child is no longer required.

-Parent is exiting.

Operating system does not allow child to continue if its parent terminates.

Cascading termination.

2)PROCESS SCHEDULING

2009-07-16T02:04:00.000-07:00

a)Scheduling Queues

-Scheduling is a key concept in computer multitasking and multiprocessing operating system design, and in real-time operating system design. In modern operating systems, there are typically many more processes running than there are CPUs available to run them. Scheduling refers to the way processes are assigned to run on the available CPUs. This assignment is carried out by software known as a scheduler.

Job queue – set of all processes in the system.

Ready queue – set of all processes residing in main memory, ready and waiting to execute.

Device queues – set of processes waiting for an I/O device.

Process migration between the various queues.

b)Schedulers

Long-term scheduler (or job scheduler) – selects which processes should be brought into the ready queue.

Short-term scheduler (or CPU scheduler) – selects which process should be executed next and allocates CPU.

Short-term scheduler is invoked very frequently (milliseconds) Þ (must be fast).

Long-term scheduler is invoked very infrequently (seconds, minutes) Þ (may be slow).

The long-term scheduler controls the degree of multiprogramming.

Processes can be described as either:

I/O-bound process – spends more time doing I/O than computations, many short CPU bursts.

CPU-bound process – spends more time doing computations; few very long CPU bursts.

c)Context Switch

When CPU switches to another process, the system must save the state of the old process and load the saved state for the new process.

Context-switch time is overhead; the system does no useful work while switching.

Time dependent on hardware support.

2nd Trinal

2009-07-16T01:43:00.000-07:00

1.The Concept of Process

An operating system executes a variety of programs:

Batch system – jobs

Time-shared systems – user programs or tasks .

Textbook uses the terms job and process almost interchangeably.

Process – a program in execution; process execution must progress in sequential fashion.

A process includes:

program counter - is a processor register that indicates where the computer is in its instruction sequence. Depending on the details of the particular computer, the program counter holds either the address of the instruction being executed, or the address of the next instruction to be executed.

stack -abstract data type and data structure based on the principle of Last In First Out (LIFO)

data section -This low-level code is used, among other things, to initialize and test the system hardware prior to booting the OS

a)Process State- As a process executes, it changes state

new: The process is being created.

running: Instructions are being executed.

waiting: The process is waiting for some event to occur.

ready: The process is waiting to be assigned to a process.

terminated: The process has finished execution

b)Process Control Block

- Information associated with each process.

Process state - The status of a process as running, ready, blocked, etc.

Program counter- is a processor register that indicates where the computer is in its instruction sequence. Depending on the details of the particular computer, the program counter holds either the address of the instruction being executed, or the address of the next instruction to be executed.

CPU registers -In computer architecture, a processor register is a small amount of storage available on the CPU whose contents can be accessed more quickly than storage available elsewhere

CPU scheduling information

Memory-management information -a multiprogramming operating system kernel must be responsible for managing all system memory which is currently in use by programs. This ensures that a program does not interfere with memory already used by another program. Since programs time share, each program must have independent access to memory.

Accounting information -An accounting information system (AIS) is the system of records a business keeps to maintain its accounting system. This includes the purchase, sales, and other financial processes of the business. The purpose of an AIS is to accumulate data and provide decision makers (investors, creditors, and managers) with information.

I/O status information

c)Threads

In computer science, a thread of execution results from a fork of a computer program into two or more concurrently running tasks. The implementation of threads and processes differs from one operating system to another, but in most cases, a thread is contained inside a process. Multiple threads can exist within the same process and share resources such as memory, while different processes do not share these resources.

On a single processor, multithreading generally occurs by time-division multiplexing (as in multitasking): the processor switches between different threads. This context switching generally happens frequently enough that the user perceives the threads or tasks as running at the same time. On a multiprocessor or multi-core system, the threads or tasks will generally run at the same time, with each processor or core running a particular thread or task. Support for threads in programming languages varies: a number of languages simply do not support having more than one execution context inside the same program executing at the same time. Examples of such languages include Python, and OCaml, because the parallel support of their runtime support is limited by the use of a central lock, called "Global Interpreter Lock" in Python, "master lock" in Ocaml. Other languages may be limited because they use threads that are user threads, which are not visible to the kernel, and thus cannot be scheduled to run concurrently. On the other hand, kernel threads, which are visible to the kernel, can run concurrently.

Many modern operating systems directly support both time-sliced and multiprocessor threading with a process scheduler. The kernel of an operating system allows programmers to manipulate threads via the system call interface. Some implementations are called a kernel thread, whereas a lightweight process (LWP) is a specific type of kernel thread that shares the same state and information.
Programs can have user-space threads when threading with timers, signals, or other methods to interrupt their own execution, performing a sort of ad-hoc time-slicing.

OPERATING SYSTEM SERVICES

2009-07-02T03:16:00.000-07:00

Program execution – system capability to load a program into memory and to run it.

I/O operations – since user programs cannot execute I/O operations directly, the operating system must provide some means to perform I/O.

File-system manipulation – program capability to read, write, create, and delete files.

Communications – exchange of information between processes executing either on the same computer or on different systems tied together by a network. Implemented via shared memory or message passing.

Error detection – ensure correct computing by detecting errors in the CPU and memory hardware, in I/O devices, or in user programs.

CHAPTER 3: OPERATING STRUCTURES

2009-07-02T03:10:00.000-07:00

SYTEM COMPONENTS

Operating Systems Process Management
-A process is a program in execution. A process needs certain resources, including CPU time, memory, files, and I/O devices, to accomplish its task.
-The operating system is responsible for the following activities in connection with process management.
1.Process creation and deletion.
2.Process suspension and resumption.
3.Provision of mechanisms for:
-process synchronization
-process communication

Main Memory Mangement-
-Memory is a large array of words or bytes, each with its own address. It is a repository of quickly accessible data shared by the CPU and I/O devices.
-Main memory is a volatile storage device. It loses its contents in the case of system failure.
-The operating system is responsible for the following activities in connections with memory management:
1.Keep track of which parts of memory are currently being used and by whom.
2.Decide which processes to load when memory space becomes available.
3.Allocate and deallocate memory space as needed.

File Management-
-A file is a collection of related information defined by its creator. Commonly, files represent programs (both source and object forms) and data.
-The operating system is responsible for the following activities in connections with file management:
1.File creation and deletion.
2.Directory creation and deletion.
3.Support of primitives for manipulating files and directories.
4.Mapping files onto secondary storage.
5.File backup on stable (nonvolatile) storage media.

I/O System Management-
-The I/O system consists of:
a)A buffer-caching system .
b)A general device-driver interface .
c)Drivers for specific hardware devices .

Secondary Storage Management
-Since main memory (primary storage) is volatile and too small to accommodate all data and programs permanently, the computer system must provide secondary storage to back up main memory.
-Most modern computer systems use disks as the principle on-line storage medium, for both programs and data.
-The operating system is responsible for the following activities in connection with disk management:
1.Free space management
2.Storage allocation
3.Disk scheduling

Protetion System
-Protection refers to a mechanism for controlling access by programs, processes, or users to both system and user resources.
-The protection mechanism must:
1.distinguish between authorized and unauthorized usage.
2.specify the controls to be imposed.
3.provide a means of enforcement.

Command-Interpreter System
-Many commands are given to the operating system by control statements which deal with:
a)process creation and management
b)I/O handling
c)secondary-storage management
d)main-memory management
e)file-system access
f)protection
g)networking

Storage Stucture

2009-06-25T02:28:00.000-07:00

Main Memory--Computer data storage, often called storage or memory, refers to computer components, devices, and recording media that retain digital data used for computing for some interval of time. Computer data storage provides one of the core functions of the modern computer, that of information retention. It is one of the fundamental components of all modern computers, and coupled with a central processing unit (CPU, a processor), implements the basic computer model used since the 1940s.In contemporary usage, memory usually refers to a form of semiconductor storage known as random access memory (RAM) and sometimes other forms of fast but temporary storage. Similarly, storage today more commonly refers to mass storage - optical discs, forms of magnetic storage like hard disks, and other types slower than RAM, but of a more permanent nature. Historically, memory and storage were respectively called primary storage and secondary storage.

Magnetic Disk-Magnetic Disk-Magnetic storage and magnetic recording are terms from engineering referring to the storage of data on a magnetized medium. Magnetic storage uses different patterns of magnetization in a magnetizable material to store data and is a form of non-volatile memory. The information is accessed using one or more read/write heads. As of 2009, magnetic storage media, primarily hard disks, are widely used to store computer data as well as audio and video signals. In the field of computing, the term magnetic storage is preferred and in the field of audio and video production, the term magnetic recording is more commonly used. The distinction is less technical and more a matter of preference10.Storage Hierarchy-The hierarchical arrangement of storage in current computer architectures is called the memory hierarchy. It is designed to take advantage of memory locality in computer programs. Each level of the hierarchy has the properties of higher bandwidth, smaller size, and lower latency than lower levels.

Moving Head Disk Mechanism-

Magnetic Tapes-Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic recording generally consisting of a thin magnetizable coating on a long and narrow strip of plastic. Nearly all recording tape is of this type, whether used for recording audio or video or for computer data storage. It was originally developed in Germany, based on the concept of magnetic wire recording. Devices that record and playback audio and video using magnetic tape are generally called tape recorders and v ideo tape recorders respectively. A device that stores computer data on magnetic tape can be called a tape drive, a tape unit, or a streamer.

Storage Hierarchy

2009-06-25T02:18:00.000-07:00

Caching-In computer science, a cache (pronounced /kæʃ/) is a collection of data duplicating original values stored elsewhere or computed earlier, where the original data is expensive to fetch (owing to longer access time) or to compute, compared to the cost of reading the cache. In other words, a cache is a temporary storage area where frequently accessed data can be stored for rapid access. Once the data is stored in the cache, it can be used in the future by accessing the cached copy rather than re-fetching or recomputing the original data.
A cache has proven to be extremely effective in many areas of computing because access patterns in typical computer applications have locality of reference. There are several kinds of locality, but this article primarily deals with data that are accessed close together in time (temporal locality). The data might or might not be located physically close to each other (spatial locality).

Coherency-In computing, cache coherence (also cache coherency) refers to the integrity of data stored in local caches of a shared resource. Cache coherence is a special case of memory coherence.
When clients in a system maintain caches of a common memory resource, problems may arise with inconsistent data. This is particularly true of CPUs in a multiprocessing system. Referring to the "Multiple Caches of Shared Resource" figure, if the top client has a copy of a memory block from a previous read and the bottom client changes that memory block, the top client could be left with an invalid cache of memory without any notification of the change. Cache coherence is intended to manage such conflicts and maintain consistency between cache and memory.

Consistency- in theory is one that does not contain a contradiction. The lack of contradiction can be defined in either semantic or syntactic terms. The semantic definition states that a theory is consistent if it has a model; this is the sense used in traditional Aristotelian logic, although in contemporary mathematical logic the term satisfiable is used instead. The syntactic definition states that a theory is consistent if there is no formula P such that both P and its negation are provable from the axioms of the theory under its associated deductive system.
If these semantic and syntactic definitions are equivalent for a particular logic, the logic is complete. The completeness of sentential calculus was proved by Paul Bernays in 1918 and Emil Post in 1921, while the completeness of predicate calculus was proved by Kurt Gödel in 1930. Stronger logics, such as second-order logic, are not complete.

9.Magnetic Disk

2009-06-23T04:12:00.000-07:00

-9.Magnetic Disk-Magnetic storage and magnetic recording are terms from engineering referring to the storage of data on a magnetized medium. Magnetic storage uses different patterns of magnetization in a magnetizable material to store data and is a form of non-volatile memory. The information is accessed using one or more read/write heads. As of 2009, magnetic storage media, primarily hard disks, are widely used to store computer data as well as audio and video signals. In the field of computing, the term magnetic storage is preferred and in the field of audio and video production, the term magnetic recording is more commonly used. The distinction is less technical and more a matter of preference10.Storage Hierarchy-The hierarchical arrangement of storage in current computer architectures is called the memory hierarchy. It is designed to take advantage of memory locality in computer programs. Each level of the hierarchy has the properties of higher bandwidth, smaller size, and lower latency than lower levels.

8. Main Memory.

2009-06-23T04:11:00.001-07:00

-Computer data storage, often called storage or memory, refers to computer components, devices, and recording media that retain digital data used for computing for some interval of time. Computer data storage provides one of the core functions of the modern computer, that of information retention. It is one of the fundamental components of all modern computers, and coupled with a central processing unit (CPU, a processor), implements the basic computer model used since the 1940s.
In contemporary usage, memory usually refers to a form of semiconductor storage known as random access memory (RAM) and sometimes other forms of fast but temporary storage. Similarly, storage today more commonly refers to mass storage - optical discs, forms of magnetic storage like hard disks, and other types slower than RAM, but of a more permanent nature. Historically, memory and storage were respectively called primary storage and secondary storage.

7.Difference of RAM and DRAM.

2009-06-23T04:10:00.001-07:00

-Random-access memory (usually known by its acronym, RAM) is a form of computer data storage. Today, it takes the form of integrated circuits that allow stored data to be accessed in any order (i.e., at random). The word random thus refers to the fact that any piece of data can be returned in a constant time, regardless of its physical location and whether or not it is related to the previous piece of data.[1]
By contrast, storage devices such as tapes, magnetic discs and optical discs rely on the physical movement of the recording medium or a reading head. In these devices, the movement takes longer than data transfer, and the retrieval time varies based on the physical location of the next item.
The word RAM is often associated with volatile types of memory (such as DRAM memory modules), where the information is lost after the power is switched off. Many other types of memory are RAM, too, including most types of ROM and flash memory called NOR-Flash.

Dynamic random access memory (DRAM) is a type of random access memory that stores each bit of data in a separate capacitor within an integrated circuit. Since real capacitors leak charge, the information eventually fades unless the capacitor charge is refreshed periodically. Because of this refresh requirement, it is a dynamic memory as opposed to SRAM and other static memory.
The advantage of DRAM is its structural simplicity: only one transistor and a capacitor are required per bit, compared to four transistors in SRAM. This allows DRAM to reach very high density. Unlike Flash memory, it is volatile memory (cf. non-volatile memory), since it loses its data when the power supply is removed

6.Direct Memory Access.(DMA)

2009-06-23T04:08:00.002-07:00

-Direct memory access (DMA) is a feature of modern computers and microprocessors that allows certain hardware subsystems within the computer to access system memory for reading and/or writing independently of the central processing unit. Many hardware systems use DMA including disk drive controllers, graphics cards, network cards and sound cards. DMA is also used for intra-chip data transfer in multi-core processors, especially in multiprocessor system-on-chips, where its processing element is equipped with a local memory (often called scratchpad memory) and DMA is used for transferring data between the local memory and the main memory. Computers that have DMA channels can transfer data to and from devices with much less CPU overhead than computers without a DMA channel. Similarly a processing element inside a multi-core processor can transfer data to and from its local memory without occupying its processor time and allowing computation and data transfer concurrency.

4.User Node.

2009-06-23T04:07:00.001-07:00

-User-mode Linux (UML) enables multiple virtual Linux systems (known as guests) to run as an application within a normal Linux system (known as the host). As each guest is just a normal application running as a process in user space, this approach provides the user with a way of running multiple virtual Linux machines on a single piece of hardware, offering excellent security and safety without affecting the host environment's configuration or stability.

3.Monitor Mode.

2009-06-23T04:06:00.000-07:00

-Monitor mode, or RFMON (Radio Frequency Monitor) mode, allows a computer with a wireless network interface card (NIC) to monitor all traffic received from the wireless network. Unlike promiscuous mode, which is also used for packet sniffing, monitor mode allows packets to be captured without having to associate with an access point or ad-hoc network first. Monitor mode only applies to wireless networks, while promiscuous mode can be used on both wired and wireless networks. Monitor mode is one of the six modes that 802.11 wireless cards can operate in: Master (acting as an access point), Managed (client, also known as station), Ad-hoc, Mesh, Repeater, and Monitor mode.

2. Difference of Interrupt and Trap and thier Use.

2009-06-23T04:05:00.000-07:00

-In computing, an interrupt is an asynchronous signal indicating the need for attention or a synchronous event in software indicating the need for a change in execution.
A hardware interrupt causes the processor to save its state of execution via a context switch, and begin execution of an interrupt handler.
Software interrupts are usually implemented as instructions in the instruction set, which cause a context switch to an interrupt handler similar to a hardware interrupt.
Interrupts are a commonly used technique for computer multitasking, especially in real-time computing. Such a system is said to be interrupt-driven.[1]

-In computing and operating systems, a trap is a type of synchronous interrupt typically caused by an exceptional condition (e.g. division by zero or invalid memory access) in a user process. A trap usually results in a switch to kernel mode, wherein the operating system performs some action before returning control to the originating process. In some usages, the term trap refers specifically to an interrupt intended to initiate a context switch to a monitor program or debugger.[1]

1. Bootstrap Program.

2009-06-23T04:04:00.001-07:00

-1.bootstrap program-In computing, bootstrapping (from an old expression "to pull oneself up by one's bootstraps") is a technique by which a simple computer program activates a more complicated system of programs. In the start up process of a computer system, a small program such as BIOS, initializes and tests that hardware, peripherals and external memory devices are connected, then loads a program from one of them and passes control to it, thus allowing loading of larger programs, such as an operating system.

10. Storage hierarchy.

2009-06-23T03:52:00.000-07:00

-10.Storage Hierarchy-The hierarchical arrangement of storage in current computer architectures is called the memory hierarchy. It is designed to take advantage of memory locality in computer programs. Each level of the hierarchy has the properties of higher bandwidth, smaller size, and lower latency than lower levels.
Most modern CPUs are so fast that for most program workloads, the locality of reference of memory accesses and the efficiency of the caching and memory transfer between different levels of the hierarchy are the practical limitation on processing speed. As a result, the CPU spends much of its time idling, waiting for memory I/O to complete. This is sometimes called the space cost, as a larger memory object is more likely to overflow a small/fast level and require use of a larger/slower level.

1. What is the difference of OS in terms of user's view and system's view?

2009-06-18T03:07:00.001-07:00

-In user's view, Operating system is designed mostly for ease of use, with some attention to performance and none to resource utilization. While in system's view, operating system is serve as resource allocator.

2. Explain the Goals of Operating System?

2009-06-18T03:05:00.000-07:00

-The Goals of OS is to give a pleasant and user interface, to give a satisfuction to the user, nice to operate, and conviniet to use.

3. What's the difference between Batch systems, Multiprogrammed systems, and Time-sharing systems?

2009-06-18T03:04:00.000-07:00

-A batch system is one in which jobs are bundled together with the instructions necessary to allow them to be processed without intervention

As machines with more and more memory became available, it was possible to extend the idea of multiprogramming (or multiprocessing) as used in spooling batch systems to create systems that would load several jobs into memory at once and cycle through them in some order, working on each one for a specified period of time

The first involved timesharing or timeslicing. The idea of multiprogramming was extended to allow for multiple terminals to be connected to the computer, with each in-use terminal being associated with one or more jobs on the computer. The operating system is responsible for switching between the jobs, now often called processes, in such a way that favored user interaction. If the context-switches occurred quickly enough, the user had the impression that he or she had direct access to the computer.

4. Advanteges of Parallel systems.

2009-06-18T03:03:00.002-07:00

-The advanteges of parallel system is, it has one or more processor and the other one is, if one processor is not functioning, there is a back up. because it has one or more processor.

5. Differentiate Symmetric Multiprocessing and Asymmetric Multiprocessing.

2009-06-18T03:03:00.001-07:00

-symmetric multiprocessing or SMP involves a multiprocessor computer-architecture where two or more identical processors can connect to a single shared main memory
or example: the one is the Master and one is the slave. while the asymmetric processing is varies greatly from the standard processing model that we see in personal computers today. like there's no master or slave, fair.

6. Differentiate Client-server systems and Peer-to-Peer systems.

2009-06-18T03:02:00.001-07:00

-The difference between the two is the client server is existing if there is a server and Client-server computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or work loads between service providers (servers) and service requesters while the peer-to-preer server can be a client or server
at the same time.

Client-server systems.

Peer-to-peer systems.

7. Differentiate the Design issues of OS between a stand alone PC and a Workstation

2009-06-18T03:01:00.000-07:00

-The Stand alone PC is just like your own PC, it doesn't connect with the other PC's,
while the Workstation connected PC is compose of one or two PC's but attached by two or more monitors.

8. Define the essential properties of the following types of OS.

2009-06-18T02:59:00.000-07:00

a. Batch- are set up so they can be run to completion without human interaction, so all input data is preselected through scripts or command-line parameters. This is in contrast to "online" or interactive programs which prompt the user for such input. A program takes a set of data files as input, process the data, and produces a set of output data files. This operating environment is termed as "batch processing" because the input data are collected into batches on files and are processed in batches by the program.

b. Time Sharing- is sharing a computing resource among many users by multitasking. Its introduction in the 1960s, and emergence as the prominent model of computing in the 1970s, represents a major historical shift in the history of computing. By allowing a large number of users to interact simultaneously on a single computer, time-sharing dramatically lowered the cost of providing computing, while at the same time making the computing experience much more interactive

c. Real Time-In computer science, real-time computing (RTC) is the study of hardware and software systems that are subject to a "real-time constraint"—i.e., operational deadlines from event to system response. By contrast, a non-real-time system is one for which there is no deadline, even if fast response or high performance is desired or preferred. The needs of real-time software are often addressed in the context of real-time operating systems, and synchronous programming languages, which provide frameworks on which to build real-time application software

d. Network- networked systems consist of multiple computers that are networked together, usually with a common operating system and shared resources. Users, however, are aware of the different computers that make up the system.

e. Distributed-Distributed computing deals with hardware and software systems containing more than one processing element or storage element, concurrent processes, or multiple programs, running under a loosely or tightly controlled regime.

f. Handheld-Handheld is common names for mobile devices such as Hand-held camera,
Hand-held computer, Handheld computing ,Handheld (gaming),Handheld electronic game

IT-213 Operating Systems.

2009-06-18T01:46:00.000-07:00

1. What is the difference of OS in terms of user's view and system's view?

-

2. Explain the Goals of Operating System?

-The Goals of OS is to give a pleasant and user interface, to give a satisfuction to the user, to have a

3. What's the difference between Batch systems, Multiprogrammed systems, and
Time-Sharing systems?
-

4. Advanteges of Parallel systems.

-The advanteges of parallel system is, it has one or more processor and the other one is, if one processor is not functioning, there is a back up. because it has one or more processor.

5. Differentiate Symmetric Multiprocessing and Asymmetric Multiprocessing.

-symmetric multiprocessing or SMP involves a multiprocessor computer-architecture where two or more identical processors can connect to a single shared main memory
or example: the one is the Master and one is the slave. while the asymmetric processing is varies greatly from the standard processing model that we see in personal computers today. like there's no master or slave, fair.

6. Differentiate Client-server systems and Peer-to-Peer systems.

-The difference between the two is the client server is existing if there is a server and Client-server computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or work loads between service providers (servers) and service requesters while the peer-to-preer server can be a client or server
at the same time.

7. Differentiate the Design issues of OS between a stand alone PC and a Workstation
connected to a Network.
-The Stand alone PC is just like your own PC, it doesn't connect with the other PC's,
while the Workstation connected PC is compose of one or two PC's but attached by two or more monitors.

8. Define the essential properties of the following types of OS.

a. Batch- are set up so they can be run to completion without human interaction, so all input data is preselected through scripts or command-line parameters. This is in contrast to "online" or interactive programs which prompt the user for such input. A program takes a set of data files as input, process the data, and produces a set of output data files. This operating environment is termed as "batch processing" because the input data are collected into batches on files and are processed in batches by the program.

b. Time Sharing- is sharing a computing resource among many users by multitasking. Its introduction in the 1960s, and emergence as the prominent model of computing in the 1970s, represents a major historical shift in the history of computing. By allowing a large number of users to interact simultaneously on a single computer, time-sharing dramatically lowered the cost of providing computing, while at the same time making the computing experience much more interactive

c. Real Time-In computer science, real-time computing (RTC) is the study of hardware and software systems that are subject to a "real-time constraint"—i.e., operational deadlines from event to system response. By contrast, a non-real-time system is one for which there is no deadline, even if fast response or high performance is desired or preferred. The needs of real-time software are often addressed in the context of real-time operating systems, and synchronous programming languages, which provide frameworks on which to build real-time application software

d. Network-

e. Distributed-Distributed computing deals with hardware and software systems containing more than one processing element or storage element, concurrent processes, or multiple programs, running under a loosely or tightly controlled regime.

f. Handheld-Handheld is common names for mobile devices such as Hand-held camera,
Hand-held computer, Handheld computing ,Handheld (gaming),Handheld electronic game

WEW!!^^,

2009-03-19T02:07:00.000-07:00

Bkasyon na?!

quiz#1 IT123

2009-02-25T01:46:00.000-08:00

1. What is the reason for technicians to wear special wrist grounding straps?
-In order for us to avoid groundings while we are performing a task or we are handling a electronic device.
An antistatic wrist strap, ESD wrist strap, or ground bracelet is an antistatic device used to prevent electrostatic discharge (ESD) by safely grounding a person working on electronic equipment. It consists of a stretchy band of fabric with fine conductive fibers woven into it

source-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antistatic_wrist_strap

2. After installing a new computer component why is it important to obtain the most current driver for it?
- Because it is possible that your computer will not function properly if we use different drivers that are not compatible with our OS as well as our Hardware, we must choose the right thing for us to be satisfied.

source-none

3. What are the steps required to install a peripheral device?

-A peripheral is a device attached to a host computer behind the chipset whose primary functionality is dependent upon the host, and can therefore be considered as expanding the hosts capabilities, while not forming part of the system's core architecture.

- Steps to install a peripheral device.

Adding a new peripheral device that is not-pluggable usually involves the following:

1.Shutting down the system
2.Connecting the device to the system
3.Rebooting the system

Use How to Add a Peripheral Device to add the following devices that are not hot-pluggable to a system:
1.CD-ROM

2.Secondary disk drive

3.Tape drive

4.SBUS card
In some cases, you might have to add a third-party device driver to support the new device.
For information on hot-plugging devices, see Chapter 6, Dynamically Configuring Devices (Tasks).

How to Add a Peripheral Device
1.Become superuser.

2.(Optional) If you need to add a device driver to support the device, complete the procedure
How to Add a Device Driver.

3.Create the /reconfigure file.

4.The /reconfigure file causes the Solaris software to check for the presence of any newly installed devices the next time you turn on or boot your system.
Shut down the system.

-i0
Brings the system to the 0 init state, which is the appropriate state for turning the system power off for adding and removing devices.
-g30
Shuts the system down in 30 seconds. The default is 60 seconds.

-y

Continues the system shutdown without user intervention. Otherwise, you are prompted to continue the shutdown process.
5.Select one of the following to turn off power to the system after it is shut down:
For SPARC platforms, it is safe to turn off power if the ok prompt is displayed.
For x86 platforms, it is safe to turn off power if the type any key to continue prompt is displayed.

6.Turn off power to all peripheral devices.

7.For the location of power switches on any peripheral devices, refer to the hardware installation guides that accompany your peripheral devices.

8.Install the peripheral device, making sure that the device you are adding has a different target number than the other devices on the system.
Often, a small switch is located at the back of the disk for selecting the target number.
Refer to the hardware installation guide that accompanies the peripheral device for information on installing and connecting the device.
Turn on the power to the system.
The system boots to multiuser mode, and the login prompt is displayed.
9.Verify that the peripheral device has been added by attempting to access the device.
For information on accessing the device, see Accessing Devices.

source-http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/817-5093/devconfig-6?a=view

4. If a newly installed peripheral device does not function properly what steps can be taken to correct the problem?
- Check if the product or the hardware you bought has no defect or company defects.
You should also check for driver updates for all your peripheral devices. If you're up to date, and you started having issues around the time you last updated a driver, try backing down to a lower version.
source-http://www.bautforum.com/archive/index.php/t-62740.html

5. Explain the technique used to help protect data on a hard drive when doing a clean install?

-One of the techniques available to help protect data is to divide the hard driveinto multiple partitions. With a clean install, many technicians prefer to create one partition for data and a separate partition for the OS. This enables an OS to beupgraded without the risk of losing data. It also simplifies backup and recovery ofdata files.

6. Explain what a software patch is.
-A patch is a small piece of software designed to update or fix problems with a computer program or its supporting data.

1231234

2009-01-30T01:52:00.000-08:00

Step 3 - Press S to Specify that you want to install additional device.

Step 4 - You will be asked to insert the floppy disk with the Raid or SCSI drivers. Press enter after you have inserted the disk.

Step 5 - You will see a list of Raid drivers for your HDD. Select the correct driver for your device and press enter.

Step 7 - You will be presented with the End User Licensing Agreement. Press F8 to accept and continue

Press C to create a partition.

Select Partition 1 (C: Drive) and press Enter.

Windows will now start formatting drive C: and start copying setup files as shown on the two images below :

Step 12 - Choose your region and language.

Step 13 - Type in your name and organization.

Step 14. Enter your product key.

Step 15 - Name the computer, and enter an Administrator password. Don't forget to write down your Administrator password.

Step 16 - Enter the correct date, time and choose your time zone.

Step 17 - For the network setting choose typical and press next.

Step 18 - Choose workgroup or domain name. If you are not a member of a domain then leave the default settings and press next. Windows will restart again and adjust the display.

Step 3 - Press S to Specify that you want to install additional device.

Step 4 - You will be asked to insert the floppy disk with the Raid or SCSI drivers. Press enter after you have inserted the disk.

Step 5 - You will see a list of Raid drivers for your HDD. Select the correct driver for your device and press enter.

Next - How to install Windows XP Page 2

Step 7 - You will be presented with the End User Licensing Agreement. Press F8 to accept and continue

Press C to create a partition.

Select Partition 1 (C: Drive) and press Enter.

Windows will now start formatting drive C: and start copying setup files as shown on the two images below :

Step 12 - Choose your region and language.

Step 13 - Type in your name and organization.

Step 14. Enter your product key.

Step 15 - Name the computer, and enter an Administrator password. Don't forget to write down your Administrator password.

Step 16 - Enter the correct date, time and choose your time zone.

Step 17 - For the network setting choose typical and press next.

Step 18 - Choose workgroup or domain name. If you are not a member of a domain then leave the default settings and press next. Windows will restart again and adjust the display.

Next - How to install Windows XP Page 4

Step 19 - Finally Windows will start and present you with a Welcome screen. Click next to continue.

Step 20 - Choose 'help protect my PC by turning on automatic updates now' and press next.

Step 22 - Ready to activate Windows? Choose yes if you wish to active Windows over the internet now. Choose no if you want to activate Windows at a later stage.

Step 23 - Add users that will sign on to this computer and click next.

Step 24 - You will get a Thank you screen to confirm setup is complete. Click finish.

Step 25. Log in, to your PC for the first time.

To install a driver manually use the following procedure:

(a) From the device manager double click on the device containing the exclamation mark.

(b) This would open a device properties window.

(c) Click on the Driver tab.

(d) Click Update Driver button. The Wizard for updating device driver pops up as shown below:

Return to Home Page

2. FDISK

2009-01-30T00:01:00.000-08:00

Using "fdisk" does not have to be a difficult chore. If you know what to expect, it is a rather easy task.Note: If you are "clean" installing Windows 2000, XP Home or XP Pro, and do not wish to multi-boot your system, you do not have to run fdisk before hand as, during the install process, options for creating partitions are built in.WARNING: Using fdisk to "resize" or recreate a partition will effectively destroy what ever information you have on your hard drive. Do not use fdisk if you wish to save any information that it may contain.

1.Image 1.1: (4KB .gif)1) Boot using a Floppy: (Image 1.1)I use a Windows Me created boot floppy to run fdisk because:It contains the "latest" fdisk utility The boot floppy has built in CD ROM support

I always start with CD ROM support, so I picked option 2.

2) Virus Warning: (Image 1.2)
If no partitions are detected, such as a new hard drive, the Windows Me boot disk is rather helpful in telling you this fact. At this point, do not be alarmed at the "virus warning" statement, as it is generic.
At the "command prompt," in this example, A:, type "fdisk" without the quotes.

3) Large Disk Support: (Image 1.3)
Unless you have a need, ensure that you enable "Large Disk Support."
Why would you "not" want this? If you have any requirements for DOS, Win3.1, Win95, or WinNT to access the partitions, you may not be able to if the partitions are greater than 2.1 GB.
I selected "Y" for yes.

4) Main Menu: (Image 1.4)
The main menu offers few, but powerful options.
If you have a new drive or one that has previous partitions already deleted, you may jump to that section, below, but it would be a good idea to look over this process, just in case you will need to perform it.
Here, I selected "3" to "Delete partition or Logical DOS Drive."
You may also select "4" to display current partition information.

5) Extended Space: (Image 1.5)
If you have more than one partition already defined, you will need to delete the ones

located in the "Extended" space.

Select "3" to do just that.

6) Choose Partition to Delete: (Image 1.6)
Here, you may choose which, if any, partitions you need to delete. If you want to resize your "Primary" partition, you will need to delete all existing partitions, redefine the Primary partition, then recreate (described below) the Extended partition section.
I chose to delete the partition (drive) marked as "E:" here. Choose what is best for your setup.

7) Are you sure? (Image 1.7)
A prompt will appear to ensure that you know what you are doing. You must type the "Volume" name of the partition, hit enter, then choose "Y" to continue with the delete.
Delete as many as you desire. After clearing out the Extended partition, you may delete the primary partition from the main menu and resize it as necessary.

8) Create Primary Partition: (Image 1.8)
Here, we need to create the Primary partition by selecting "1" from the main fdisk menu.

9) Create Primary DOS Partition: (Image 1.9)
If no partitions have been defined, select "1" to create Primary DOS Partition.
If you have already created a Primary Partition, skip the next few steps.

10) Scan Hard Drive: (Image 1.10)
The hard disk will now be scanned searching for problems.
Take note: This process may take a some time, a very long time on "large" drives.

11) All available space? (Image 1.11)
If you wish to create the Primary partition using all available space, select "Y" at the prompt. Otherwise, choose "N" to define something smaller.

12) Scan Hard Drive: (Image 1.12)
Again, the drives integrity is scanned.
No one ever accused fdisk of being a "speedy" solution

13) Enter Size in MB: (Image 1.13)
Enter in the amount of space, in MegaBytes, that you wish to use for your Primary partition.

14) Updated partition information: (Image 1.14)
After choosing an amount, the partition information is displayed. Here, I choose "1000 MB" for my Primary partition.
Hit "ESC" to continue with fdisk.

15) Make active partition: (Image 1.15)
A warning will appear under the main menu explaining the importance of an "active" partition. Really, this is no longer required, but for compatibility's sake, I choose to make a partition active, anyway.
Select "2" to set the active partition.

16) Choose active partition: (Image 1.16)
Setting the active partition is as easy as choosing the number next to "C:." In this example, it is "1."

17) Create Extended DOS Partition: (Image 1.17)
You now can create the "extended partition" portion of the hard drive. It is subject to debate whether this step is required, but, once again, for compatibility purposes, I choose to do so.
Select "2" to Create the Extended DOS Partition.

18) Choose space allocated: (Image 1.18)
Choose how much space the Extended partition is allowed to use.
Under usual circumstances, choose all. Your requirements may vary, but I have yet to find a reason "not" to choose all of the remaining space.

19) Updated partition information: (Image 1.19)
The partition information will be displayed, including your previous "Primary" and now your "Extended" partition information.
Hit "ESC" to continue.

20) Scan Hard Drive: (Image 1.20)
Once again, the drive will be verified.

21) Enter Size in MB: (Image 1.21)
Choose the amount of each additional partition, up to the maximum size.
Here, I chose 2000 MB.

22) Updated partition information: (Image 1.22)
The Partition information is displayed, as well as drive integrity confirmed.
At this point, you may continue defining partitions, or exit out and define them using the setup program of a "newer" OS, like Linux, Win2k, or XP. Again, Win9x/Me does not have the option of partition creation during setup

23) Additional Partitions: (Image 1.23)
Here, I defined 3 additional partitions, not including the Primary one, taking up all of the available space.
Hit "ESC" to continue.

24) Reboot System: (Image 1.24)
You are prompted with a "restart" message.
This is a vital step. Ensure that you do restart the computer before continuing with the installation of any OS. I even power down the computer, but that is not necessary.

2009-01-29T00:56:00.000-08:00

5.2.2 NOS Certifications and Jobs

Network Operating System(s) covered:

1.Ideal entry into application development or software project management using Java technology.
Demonstrate fundamental proficiency in the Java programming language
Demonstrate advanced proficiency in the Java programming language

Certification(s) Title:

Sun Certified Java Associate
Sun Certified Java Programmer
Sun Certified Java Developer
Courses/Training required for Certification:
Practical Java knowledge.
JAVA Programming and Certification courses overview
Introduction to Java Programming
Object-Oriented Programming in Java
Java Generics and non-generic collections
Enhanced for Loop in Java programming
Autoboxing and AutoUnboxing in Java Programming
Java Class Design
Advanced Class Features in Java Programming
Typesafe Enums
Varargs
Java Static Import
Metadata (Annotations)
Formatted Input/Output
Concurrency Features

2.2.2 Diagnostic Software
1. Hardrive Manufacturers
Seagate
Western Digital
2. Diagnostic Software
Manufacturer: Western Digital
Software Name: Data Lifeguard
File Name: WinDLG.zip
File Size: 4.25 MB
Version: Version 1.09b
Publish Date: March, 2007
Description: This is a Windows version of the Data Lifeguard Diagnostics utility. The utility can perform drive identification, diagnostics, and repairs on a Western Digital FireWire, EIDE, or USB drive. In addition, it can provide you with the drive's serial and model numbers.

"Screen shots of the ff. OS"

2009-01-28T02:59:00.001-08:00

1.1 Windows XP

Windows XP The Windows eXPerience operating system is available as home and professional edition and are similar suitable for the use on standalone computers. The home edition is suitable for user which worked with Windows 9x/ME till now and don't need special network or security features in theire environment. If the user have used Windows NT/2000 private, in business or both, the Professional Edition is not only with a view of the administration optimally. Microsoft already encloses 10,000 drivers on the installation media of Windows XP, about the Windows update further more 2,000 drivers are available.
The Professional Edition of Windows XP has more network features than the Home Edition. An update of Windows 9 x/ME is possible, with Windows NT/2000 only the Professional Edition can be used for update. Optional FAT32 and NTFS are available as a file system for the installation partition.
Windows XP (Windows version 5.1) becomes a predecessor of Windows 9x/ME as well as Windows NT/2000 and is available for 32-bits CPUs in the following versions:
- Embedded - Home Edition (1 CPU) for private user (Oct. 2001) - Professional Edition (2 CPU) for business user (Oct. 2001) - Media Center (1 CPU) especially for multimedia devices (Nov. 2002) - Tablet PC Edition especially for Tablet PCs (Nov. 2002) - Server Edition (4 CPU) - Advanced Server (8 CPU), also 64-bit Intel CPUs - Microsoft Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs (July 2007)
A 64-bit version of Windows XP was announced officially of Microsoft in April 2003. The RC2 was available in February 2005. Windows XP Professional x64 was published in April 2005. At most 16 gbyte RAM are utilizably with that, the virtual address range enlarges to 16 tbyte.
Same will be the product activation at all versions, which is needed at every new installation or extensive upgrade of the PC devices. Company customers can use an so-called Corporated version by a special licensing option without this product activation.
As the most visual innovation the revised Windows interface with the new design is well done, the design called Luna (as of beta 2428) can display window elements in high colour. The return to the interface as of Windows 2000 is further possible. The representation and organisation of the central registry is quit the same as used in Windows 2000.

1.2 Windows VISTA

Microsoft published the new product name Vista for this new Windows Version on an event in the USA/Atlanta on 21-07-2005. This Windows Version was known under the development name Longhorn before. The installation of Vista is based on WIM (Windows Imaging format), a file-based Image Format. It compresses the contained files and can be used for the installation on several platforms from the same Image. The image on the DVD contains a pre-installation of the system directories of Windows in the Windows Imaging (.WIM) file and adapts to the hardware configuration. With the User State Migration Toolkit the user defined settings can be imported of Windows 2000 and Windows XP. An advantage of WIM images is the easy integration of new drivers and updates, the LZX compression provides the smallest file size and XPress compression the fastest compression. The installation DVD of Windows Vista already contains about 16,000 drivers, the Windows update offers further 14,000 drivers for supported hardware. There is no licence key during the Windows Vista installation necessary, in this case it start with a 30 days trial license. After this time period the activation of the operating system is inevitably with the Internet Explorer, after the start-up Windows opens only this window for activation. Windows Vista contains DRM technology for the playback of protected multimedia files.

1.3 Windows 2000

Microsoft released this new Windows version 5.0, Build 2195 in February 2000. It is the desktop operating system of the new Windows 2000 platform for x86 architecture and be completed by the versions Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server. As a minimum requierement for the installation a Pentium processor, 32 mbyte main memory and 650 mbyte of free hard disk storage are needed. Microsoft had planned to develop also a operating system version for the Alpha architecture, the plans were stopped after an announcement of Compaq. Compaq restricted the support to Windows NT 4.0 with service pack 6 and not higher at 1999-08-25. Microsoft stopped the development plans for the Windows 2000 32- bit of Alpha version after that. Windows 2000 unites defined roughly the user-friendliness, pug & play and USB device support of Windows 98 and the safety and stability of the Windows NT family. The update to this new operating system is possible from Windows 95, 98 and Windows NT 3.51, 4.0. It is a multitasking, multiprocessing operating system and supports up to 2 processors of the x86 32- bit and 64 bit architecture with SMP. Threads or processes can choose between the available processors. Beside the complete revision new features and many improvements are integrated. The result is high compatibility, simplified administration, increased hardware support with over 7,000 devices, file administration and extended security functions. Applications for Windows 9x are only supported restrictedly. The installation is possible from CD-ROM or over the network from a file server. The virtual addressable storage is 4 gbyte and is managed by the Virtual Memory manager (VMM). VMM assigns the addressable storage on the actually available physical memory and the memory page file (pagefile.sys) on hard disk.

1.4 Windows Linux
Red Hat Linux 9.0.93 beta, codenamed "Severn", was released today. Read more for a quick commentary and six screenshots of the release.Installation hasn't changed much, it is now more refined, and the last bit about configuring graphical/text mode booting and X configuration is now completely gone. Red Hat Linux beta has successfully probed my E-540 Sony 21" monitor and my Matrox card, but for safety reasons, defaulted it in 1024x768 res instead of 1600x1200@85Hz (monitor's recommended). All hardware is working correctly, it even found my USB Creative WebCam Pro for use with GnomeMeeting.
After you install the 3 CDs and you do the first booting, right after the kernel is loaded, you are greeted with a graphical booting procedure. It is plain, but it works... I have to note here that while Red Hat successfully told LILO to load an SMP kernel for my dual Celeron system, it would stop loading the OS right after initializing the swap. Reseting the machine and booting with the non-SMP kernel, worked fine.
There is a first-time wizard, where you can create new users, subscribe to Red Hat Network etc. After that, Gnome is loaded and it looks pretty much, exactly the same as in Red Hat Linux 9. There are of course some new packages, like Evolution 1.4.3, Mozilla 1.4, but a lot of other packages are still not updated, e.g. OOo, the core Gnome itself (2.2.0 the About box says), but they should be before the release.
There are updates on many preference panels, and a few news ones too. There is new panel for graphics display (and even a per-user resolution panel --no need to be root to change your res), an updated package manager panel, updated hardware list panel etc.
There are still a few bugs around, which is normal, as this is a beta. Most noteworthy are Mozilla's fonts which are now bolding on many web pages where it shouldn't (including osnews' and parts of slashdot's), the Theme Manager has a problem when displaying the little theme thumbnails when changing themes, notification area is completely buggered up on my fresh installation. I am sure these small problems will be fixed before the final version though.
I hope some packages will be added till then, like the Vera fonts (which exists on Rawhide, but not on Severn). Another addition I would like to see is BlueFish 1.0, Gnumeric 2.x and AbiWord 2.0. At least two of these packages should be releasing their final versions before the release of Severn itself in October.
Please note that the screenshots below are showing the Gnome desktop using the high quality Vera TTF fonts, which I installed afterwards. The default Red Hat installation is still using the Sans fonts as in its previous versions.

SOFTWARE

2009-01-16T00:08:00.000-08:00

1. LATEST OPERATING SYSTEM FROM MICROSOFT

Windows 7 (formerly codenamed Blackcomb and Vienna) is the next release of Microsoft Windows, an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, Tablet PCs, and media center PCs.^[1]

Microsoft stated in 2007 that it is planning Windows 7 development for a three-year time frame starting after the release of its predecessor, Windows Vista, but that the final release date will be determined by product quality.^[2]

Unlike its predecessor, Windows 7 is intended to be an incremental upgrade with the goal of being fully compatible with existing device drivers, applications, and hardware.^[3] Presentations given by the company in 2008 have focused on multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows Shell with a new taskbar, a home networking system called HomeGroup,^[4] and performance improvements. Some applications that have been included with prior releases of Microsoft Windows, most notably Windows Mail, Windows Calendar,^{[citation needed]} Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Photo Gallery, are no longer included with the operating system; they are instead offered separately (free of charge) as part of the Windows Live Essentials suite.^[5]

DEVELOPMENT

Originally, a version of Windows codenamed Blackcomb was planned as the successor to Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Major features were planned for Blackcomb, including an emphasis on searching and querying data and an advanced storage system named Win FS to enable such scenarios. Later, Blackcomb was delayed and an interim, minor release, codenamed "Longhorn" was announced for 2003.^[6] By the middle of 2003, however, Longhorn had acquired some of the features originally intended for Blackcomb. After three major viruses exploited flaws in Windows operating systems within a short time period in 2003, Microsoft changed its development priorities, putting some of Longhorn's major development work on hold in order to develop new service packs for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Development of Longhorn was also "reset" in September 2004.

Blackcomb was renamed Vienna in early 2006,^[7] and again to Windows 7 in 2007.^[2] In 2008, it was announced that Windows 7 would also be the official name of the operating system.^[8]^[9]

Bill Gates, in an interview with Newswee k, suggested that the next version of Windows would "be more user-centric."^[10] Gates later said that Windows 7 will also focus on performance improvements;^[11] Steven Sinofsky later expanded on this point, explaining in the Engineering Windows 7 blog that the company was using a variety of new tracing tools to measure the performance of many areas of the operating system on an ongoing basis, to help locate inefficient code paths and to help prevent performance regressions.^[12]

LATEST OPERATING SYSTEM F ROM SUN MICROSYSTEMS

SOLARIS 10 and SunOS 5.10

includes "x64" or x86-64 (AMD64/Intel 64) support, DTrace (Dynamic Tracing), Solaris Containers, Service Management Facility (SMF) which replaces init.d scripts, NFSv4. Least privilege security model. Support for sun4m and UltraSPARC I processors removed. Support for EISA-based PCs removed. Adds Java Desktop System (based on GNOME) as default desktop. ^[26]

Solaris 10 1/06 added the GRUB bootloader for x86 systems, iSCSI Initiator support and fcinfo command-line tool.
Solaris 10 6/06 added the ZFS filesystem.
Solaris 10 11/06 added Solaris Trusted Extensions and Logical Domains.
Solaris 10 8/07 added Samba Active Directory support,^[27] IP Instances (part of the OpenSolaris Network Virtualization and Resource Control project), iSCSI Target support and Solaris Containers for Linux Applications (based on branded zones), enhanced version of the Resource Capping Daemon (rcapd).
Solaris 10 5/08 added CPU capping for Solaris Containers, performance improvements, SpeedStep support for Intel processors and PowerNow! support for AMD processors ^[28] ^[29]
Solaris 10 10/08 added boot from ZFS and can use ZFS as its root file system. Solaris 10 10/08 also includes virtualization enhancements including the ability for a Solaris Container to automatically update its environment when moved from one system to another, Logical Domains support for dynamically reconfigurable disk and network I/O, and paravirtualization support when Solaris 10 is used as a guest OS in Xen-based environments such as Sun xVM Server.

LATEST OPERATING SYSTEM FROM LINUX

Mandriva is proud to present its latest distribution: Mandriva Linux 2009. This new version has been designed to meet the expectations of our users and offers an ever more efficient solution to their needs.

Mandriva Linux 2009 goes further in its innovations and offers a thoroughly modern and cutting-edge graphical environment: KDE 4.1. Personalizable, modular, scalable, and full of visual effects that enhance the environment, KDE's new version is usable everywhere, from the oldest hardware to the newest.

Mandriva’s team has gone to great lengths to integrate this new environment in a way that ensures everyone can jump right in to using it, with a customized graphical theme, careful choice of the most powerful applications, and a default configuration tuned to your system's particular hardware.

Beyond the features that contributed to the success of Mandriva Linux 2008 and Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring, Mandriva Linux 2009 integrates the latest innovations, from office applications to the latest virtualization technologies. Mandriva Linux 2009 gives you not only the most advanced and
easy-to-use Linux operating system on the market but also the latest software demanded by the community.

Changes include:

An updated set of commercial applications in the Powerpack edition: Fluendo audio and video codecs, advanced touching-up of digital images with LightZone, virtualisation with VmWare, and Google applications;

Complete overhaul of the graphic installer;

Simplification and improved reliability of application installations and updates: notification of new distribution versions via Mandriva Online, and automatic configuration of official repositories;

Latest versions of leading open source applications: integration of KDE 4.1, GNOME 2.24, OpenOffice.org 3, Firefox 3;

Faster boot time;

Improved parental control utility, now with time-based restrictions;

Installer now capable of detecting low-resource systems or netbooks, and installing an appropriate environment (GNOME is default for netbooks);

Detection and optional automatic removal of packages known as orphans (packages previously installed which are no longer required) to optimize free space and future updates;

Constantly improving hardware support (kernel 2.6.27) with particular attention paid to netbooks.

Easy, 100% graphical synchronization with mobile devices: Windows Mobile 2002 and 2003 as well as Windows Mobile 5 and 6, all Blackberry devices, and many Nokia devices.

Mandriva Linux 2009 is available in three editions: Powerpack (the commercial edition, including exclusive commercial software, support, and services), One (a live CD which can also be installed to the system permanently) and Free (an edition which contains only free / open source software).

II. WINDOWS XP INSTALLATION PROCEDURES

Step 1 - Start your PC and place your Windows XP CD in your CD/DVD-ROM drive. Your PC should automatically detect the CD and you will get a message saying "Press any key to boot from CD".

Step 2 - At this stage it will ask you to press F6 if you want to install a third party Raid or SCSI driver. If you are using a an IDE Hard Drive then you do not need to press F6. If you are using a SCSI or SATA Hard drive then you must press F6 otherwise Windows will not detect your Hard Drive during the installation. Please make sure you have the Raid drivers on a floppy disk. Normally the drivers are supplied on a CD which you can copy to a floppy disk ready to be installed. If you are not sure how to do this then please read your motherboard manuals for more information.

Step 3 - Press S to Specify that you want to install additional device.

Step 4 - You will be asked to insert the floppy disk with the Raid or SCSI drivers. Press enter after you have inserted the disk.

Step 5 - You will see a list of Raid drivers for your HDD. Select the correct driver for your device and press enter.

Step 6 - You will then get a Windows XP Professional Setup screen. You have the option to do a new Windows install, Repair previous install or quit. Since we are doing a new install we just press Enter to continue.

Step 7 - You will be presented with the End User Licensing Agreement. Press F8 to accept and continue

Step 8 - This step is very important. Here we will create the partition where Windows will be installed. If you have a brand new unformatted drive you will get a screen similar to below. In our case the drive size is 8190MB. We can choose to install Windows in this drive without creating a partition, hence use the entire size of the drive. If you wish to do this you can just press enter and Windows will automatically partition and format the drive as one large drive.

However for this demonstration I will create two partition. The first partition will be 6000MB (C: drive) and second partition would be 2180MB (E: drive). By creating two partition we can have one which stores Windows and Applications and the other which stores our data. So in the future if anything goes wrong with our Windows install such as virus or spyware we can re-install Windows on C: drive and our data on E: drive will not be touched. Please note you can choose whatever size partition your like. For example if you have 500GB hard drive you can have two partition of 250GB each.
Press C to create a partition.

Step 9 - Windows will show the total size of the hard drive and ask you how much you want to allocate for the partition you are about to create. I will choose 6000MB. You will then get the screen below. Notice it shows C: Partition 1 followed by the size 6000 MB. This indicates the partition has been created. We still have an unpartitioned space of 2189MB. Next heighlight the unpartitioned space by pressing down the arrow key. Then press C to create another partition. You will see the total space available for the new partition. Just choose all the space left over, in our case 2180MB.

Step 10 - Now you will see both partition listed. Partition 1 (C: Drive) 6000MB and Partition 2 (E: Drive) 2180MB. You will also have 8MB of unpartitioned space. Don't worry about that. Just leave it how its is. Windows normally has some unpartitioned space. You might wonder what happened to D: drive. Windows has automatically allocated D: drive to CD/DVD-ROM.
Select Partition 1 (C: Drive) and press Enter.

Step 11 - Choose format the partition using NTFS file system.This is the recommended file system. If the hard drive has been formatted before then you can choose quick NTFS format. We chose NTFS because it offers many security features, supports larger drive size, and bigger size files.

Step 12 - After the setup has completed copying the files the computer will restart. Leave the XP CD in the drive but this time DO NOT press any key when the message "Press any key to boot from CD" is displayed. In few seconds setup will continue. Windows XP Setup wizard will guide you through the setup process of gathering information about your computer.

Step 13 - Choose your region and language.

Step 14 - Type in your name and organization.

Step 15. Enter your product key.

Step 16 - Name the computer, and enter an Administrator password. Don't forget to write down your Administrator password.

Step 17 - Enter the correct date, time and choose your time zone.

Step 18 - For the network setting choose typical and press next.

Step 19 - Choose workgroup or domain name. If you are not a member of a domain then leave the default settings and press next. Windows will restart again and adjust the display.

Step 20 - Finally Windows will start and present you with a Welcome screen. Click next to continue.

Step 21 - Choose 'help protect my PC by turning on automatic updates now' and press next.

Step 22 - Will this computer connect to the internet directly, or through a network? If you are connected to a router or LAN then choose: 'Yes, this computer will connect through a local area network or home network'. If you have dial up modem choose: 'No, this computer will connect directly to the internet'. Then click Next.

Step 23 - Ready to activate Windows? Choose yes if you wish to active Windows over the internet now. Choose no if you want to activate Windows at a later stage.

Step 24 - Add users that will sign on to this computer and click next.

Step 25 - You will get a Thank you screen to confirm setup is complete. Click finish.

Step 26. Log in, to your PC for the first time.

Step 27 - You now need to check the device manager to confirm that all the drivers has been loaded or if there are any conflicts. From the start menu select Start -> Settings -> Control Panel. Click on the System icon and then from the System Properties window select the Hardware tab, then click on Device Manager.

If there are any yellow exclamation mark "!" next to any of the listed device, it means that no drivers or incorrect drivers has been loaded for that device. In our case we have a Video Controller (VGA card) which has no drivers installed.

Your hardware should come with manufacturer supplied drivers. You need to install these drivers using the automatic setup program provided by the manufacturer or you need to manually install these drivers. If you do not have the drivers, check the manufacturers website to download them.

To install a driver manually use the following procedure:

(a) From the device manager double click on the device containing the exclamation mark.

(b) This would open a device properties window.

(c) Click on the Driver tab.

(d) Click Update Driver button.

You now get two options. The first option provides an automatic search for the required driver. The second option allows you to specify the location of the driver. If you don't know the location of the driver choose the automatic search which would find the required driver from the manufacturer supplied CD or Floppy disk. Windows would install the required driver and may ask you to restart the system for the changes to take affect. Use this procedure to install drivers for all the devices that contain an exclamation mark. Windows is completely setup when there are no more exclamation marks in the device manager.

1.4 Latest Expansion Slots

2009-01-16T00:05:00.000-08:00

BLADECENTER HS20 FC EXPANSION CARD

Manufacturer: IBM

Part Number: 48P7061

Specifications: Data transfer rate: 2.12 Gbps ; Connectivity technology: Wired See full specs

1.1 Latest processor for Desktop Computers

2009-01-14T03:18:00.001-08:00

Extreme Gaming with the Intel® Core™ i7 Processor Extreme Edition
For Desktops
The ultimate immersive gaming experience Conquer the world of extreme gaming with the highest performing desktop processor on the planet: the Intel® Core™ i7 processor Extreme Edition.‡1 With intelligent multi-core technology that kicks into overdrive as your activity becomes more intense, it delivers breakthrough performance in gaming. Plus, multitask demanding applications up to 25% faster‡2 and unleash amazing power for digital media crea.

1.2 Latest processor for Server

2009-01-14T02:44:00.000-08:00

This industry's first quad-core processor for mainstream servers provides breakthrough performance and capabilities for the ultimate in powerful, dense and energy efficient servers. With the Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor you get breakthrough performance - up to 50% greater than the industry-leading Dual-Core Intel Xeon processor in the same power envelope.

1.3 Latest Processors for Notebooks/Laptops

2009-01-14T01:48:00.000-08:00

The Intel® Atom™ processor is Intel's smallest processor, built with the world's smallest transistors and manufactured on Intel's industry-leading 45nm Hi-k Metal Gate technology. The Intel Atom processor was purpose-built for simple, affordable, netbooks and nettops.
Intel Atom processor-based netbooks and nettops offer both an easy-to-use mobile device with simple interfaces and targeted performance for a good online experience. They are rugged and compact in design, and offer the freedom and flexibility of wireless connectivity¹.
Great for Internet, these devices are an affordable option for education, photo and video viewing, social networking, voice over IP, e-mail, messaging, browsing, and numerous other Internet activities and basic applications.

Personal computer

2008-11-17T03:30:00.000-08:00

A personal computer (PC) is any computer whose original sales price, size, and capabilities make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator.

Today a PC may be a desktop computer, a laptop computer or a tablet computer. The most common operating systems are Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, while the most common microprocessors are x86-compatible CPUs, ARM architecture CPUs and PowerPC CPUs. Software applications for personal computers include word processing, spreadsheets, databases, games, and a myriad of personal productivity and special-purpose software. Modern personal computers often have high-speed or dial-up connections to the Internet, allowing access to the World Wide Web and a wide range of other resources.

A PC may be a home computer, or may be found in an office, often connected to a local area network. The distinguishing characteristics are that the computer is primarily used, interactively, by one person at a time. This is in contrast to the batch processing or time-sharing models which allowed large expensive systems to be used by many people, usually at the same time, or large data processing systems which required a full-time staff to operate efficiently.

While early PC owners usually had to write their own programs to do anything useful with the machines, today's users have access to a wide range of commercial and non-commercial software which is easily installed.

The Hard disk

2008-11-17T03:20:00.000-08:00

A hard disk drive (HDD), commonly referred to as a hard drive, hard disk, or fixed disk drive,^[1] is a non-volatile storage device which stores digitally encoded data on rapidly rotating platters with magnetic surfaces. Strictly speaking, "drive" refers to a device distinct from its medium, such as a tape drive and its tape, or a floppy disk drive and its floppy disk. Early HDDs had removable media; however, an HDD today is typically a sealed unit (except for a filtered vent hole to equalize air pressure) with fixed media.^[2]

HDDs (introduced in 1956 as data storage for an IBM accounting computer^[3]) were originally developed for use with general purpose computers. In the 21st century, applications for HDDs have expanded to include digital video recorders, digital audio players, personal digital assistants, digital cameras and video game consoles. In 2005 the first mobile phones to include HDDs were introduced by Samsung and Nokia.^[4] The need for large-scale, reliable storage, independent of a particular device, led to the introduction of embedded systems such as RAID arrays, network attached storage (NAS) systems and storage area network (SAN) systems that provide efficient and reliable access to large volumes of data.

The Video card

2008-11-17T03:10:00.000-08:00

A video card, also known as a graphics accelerator card, display adapter, or graphics card, is a hardware component whose function is to generate and output images to a display. It operates on similar principles as a sound card or other peripheral devices.

The term is usually used to refer to a separate, dedicated expansion card that is plugged into a slot on the computer's motherboard, as opposed to a graphics controller integrated into the motherboard chipset. An integrated graphics controller may be referred to as an "integrated graphics processor" (IGP).

Some video cards offer added functions, such as video capture, TV tuner adapter, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 decoding, FireWire, mouse, light pen, and joystick connectors, or even the ability to connect multiple monitors.

A common misconception regarding video cards is that they are strictly used for Video games; a misconception that companies take advantage of in order to sell their products by advertising their products as if they were in fact video consoles. Video cards instead have a much broader range of capability. Being specialized for video output Video Cards improve what a computer monitor displays. As well, they play a very important role for Graphic Designers and 3D Animators, who tend to require optimum displays for their work as well as faster rendering in order to efficiently tone up their work.

Video cards are not used exclusively in IBM type PCs; they have been used in devices such as Commodore Amiga (connected by the slots Zorro II and Zorro III), Apple II, Apple Macintosh, Atari Mega ST/TT (attached to the MegaBus or VME interfac

The Microprocessor

2008-11-17T02:55:00.000-08:00

A microprocessor incorporates most or all of the functions of a central processing unit (CPU) on a single integrated circuit (IC). ^[1] The first microprocessors emerged in the early 1970s and were used for electronic calculators, using BCD arithmetic on 4-bit words. Other embedded uses of 4 and 8-bit microprocessors, such as terminals, printers, various kinds of automation etc, followed rather quickly. Affordable 8-bit microprocessors with 16-bit addressing also led to the first general purpose microcomputers in the mid-1970s.
Computer processors were for a long period constructed out of small and medium-scale ICs containing the equivalent of a few to a few hundred transistors. The integration of the whole CPU onto a single VLSI chip therefore greatly reduced the cost of processing capacity. From their humble beginnings, continued increases in microprocessor capacity have rendered other forms of computers almost completely obsolete (see history of computing hardware), with one or more microprocessor as processing element in everything from the smallest embedded systems and handheld devices to the largest mainframes and supercomputers.

My Motherboard

2008-11-17T02:43:00.000-08:00

A motherboard is the central printed circuit board (PCB) in some complex electronic systems, such as a modern computer or laptop. It is also known as a mainboard, system board, and, on Apple computers, a logic board.[1] It is also sometimes casually shortened to mobo.[2]

Most motherboards produced today are designed for IBM-compatible computers, currently which hold over 95% of the global personal computer market.[3] A motherboard, like a backplane, provides the electrical connections by which the other components of the system communicate, but unlike a backplane, it also contains the central processing unit, other subsystems and devices, such as the chip set.

Motherboards are also used in robots and in many other electronics devices.