Computer operating system - the current mainstream operating system

Personal computer

The personal computer market is currently divided into two camps in terms of hardware architecture, PC and Apple computers.

The operating systems they support:

1. Windows series operating systems

Produced by Microsoft;

2.Unix-like operations System

Such as SOLARIS, BSD series (FREEBSD, openbsd, netbsd, pcbsd);

3. Linux operating system

Such as UBUNTU, suse linux, fedora , etc.

4. Mac operating system

Produced by Apple (Darwin), it is generally installed on MAC computers.

Mainframe computers

The earliest operating systems were developed for large mainframes in the 1960s. Due to the huge investment in software for these systems, the original computer manufacturers Continue to develop hardware and operating systems that are compatible with the original operating system. These early operating systems were the forerunners of modern operating systems. Mainframe operating systems that are still supported include:

Burroughs MCP-- B5000,1961 to Unisys Clearpath/MCP, present.

IBM OS/360 -- IBM System/360 , 1964 to IBM zSeries, present

UNIVAC EXEC 8 -- UNIVAC 1108, 1964, to Unisys Clearpath IX, present.

Modern mainframes can generally run Linux or Unix variants .

Embedded systems

Embedded systems use a wide range of operating systems (such as VxWorks, eCos, Symbian OS and Palm OS) as well as some reduced-function versions of Linux or other operating systems . In some cases, OS refers to a huge general-purpose program with built-in fixed application software. In many of the simplest embedded systems, the so-called OS refers to the only application program on it.

Unix-like system

A customized KDE desktop system running under Linux. The so-called Unix-like family refers to a family of various OSs. This family includes System V, BSD and Linux. Since Unix is ??a registered trademark of The Open Group, it specifically refers to operating systems that adhere to the behaviors defined by this company. Unix-like usually refers to an OS that contains more features than the original Unix.

Unix systems can run on a wide range of processor architectures and are highly used on server systems, such as workstations in colleges and universities or engineering applications. Free software Unix variants, such as Linux and BSD, have become more and more popular recently. They have also made great gains in the personal desktop computer market, such as Ubuntu systems, but they are mostly used by computer experts.

Some Unix variants, such as HP's HP-UX and IBM's AIX, are only designed to be used on their own hardware products, while SUN's Solaris can be installed on their own hardware or x86 computers. Apple Computer's Mac OS X is a microkernel BSD system derived from NeXTSTEP, Mach and FreeBSD. This OS replaced Apple Computer's early non-Unix family Mac OS. After several years of hard work, the free and open source Unix system has gradually encroached on the professional fields that used to be proprietary software. For example, the IRIX system of SGI, the former computer animation computing giant, has been replaced by the Linux family and the Plan 9 [3] cluster.

Linux system

Linux is a free 32-bit multi-tasking operating system. It operates very much like the UNIX system, but the stability and multi-tasking of the Linux system are The capabilities and network functions are unmatched by many commercial operating systems. Another biggest feature of Linux is that the source code is completely open. In compliance with the principles of GNU GPL (General Public License), anyone can freely obtain, distribute, and even Modify the source code.

As far as the essence of Linux is concerned, it is only the core of the operating system, responsible for controlling hardware, managing file systems, program processes, etc. The Linux Kernel (kernel) is not responsible for providing users with powerful applications. Without compilers, system management tools, network tools, Office suites, multimedia, drawing software, etc., such a system cannot exert its powerful functions and users cannot take advantage of it. This system works, so some people proposed to use the Linux Kernel as the core and then integrate it with various system programs or application tool programs to form a complete operating system. The Linux package thus combined is called a Linux distribution.

The two relatively successful domestic Linux distributions are Hongqi and ChinaSoft. The interfaces are very beautiful and the installation is relatively easy. The new version gradually blocks some low-level operations and is suitable for novices. use. Both versions are derived from the Linux project of the National 863 Program undertaken by the Institute of Software of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. However, there is a certain gap in stability and compatibility compared with foreign versions. The operating interface and habits are becoming more and more similar to Windows. , providing certain technical support and after-sales service, suitable for domestic low-cost operating system solutions.

Microsoft Windows

The Microsoft Windows series operating systems are graphical operating systems designed based on the MS-DOS designed by Microsoft for IBM machines. Today's Windows systems, such as Windows 2000 and Windows XP, are built on the modern Windows NT kernel. The NT kernel is borrowed from systems such as OS/2 and OpenVMS. Windows runs on 32-bit and 64-bit Intel and AMD processors, but earlier versions also ran on DEC Alpha, MIPS, and PowerPC architectures. Although Windows' market share has declined due to increased interest in open source operating systems, by 2004, Windows operating systems accounted for 90% of the desktop operating system market worldwide. [4]

Windows systems are also used on low-end and mid-range servers, and support some functions such as database services for web services. Recently, Microsoft has spent a lot of research and development funds to make Windows have the ability to run large-scale enterprise programs.

WindowsXP was released on October 25, 2001, and the latest upgrade package, WindowsXP Service Pack 2, was released on August 24, 2004. Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows Vista (developed as Longhorn), was released on January 30, 2007[5]. Windows Vista adds many features, especially system security and network management functions. Windows Vista has Aero Glass with a gorgeous interface.

Apple Mac OS

The Apple Mac OS series of operating systems are OSs designed by Apple Inc. (formerly known as Apple Computer) for the Apple personal computer series.

Others

Mainframes and embedded operating systems have little to do with the Unix or Windows families, except for Windows CE, Windows NT Embedded 4.0 and Windows XP Embedded, which are blood relatives of Windows. and several *BSD and embedded Linux packages are exceptions.

A few older OSs are still active today in markets that require stability, such as IBM's OS/2[6] BeOS and XTS-400.

After the craze of the Dacom era, OSs used by a few people, such as AmigaOS and RISC OS, continue to be established to satisfy the fanatical enthusiast community and special professional users.

Future

Research and building future operating systems are still ongoing. The operating system is improving in the direction of providing a more power-saving, network-based, and gorgeous user interface. Linux and some UNIX-like OS are trying to make themselves a comfortable environment for individual users. GNU Hurd is a microkernel architecture that attempts to be fully compatible with Unix and enhance many features. Microsoft Singularity is a research project based on .Net with the goal of establishing a better memory protection mechanism.