Top "Operating-system" questions

An operating System (OS) is a basic software whose role is to be an abstract layer between software requisitions for resources and the hardware available, manage input/output, memory allocation/deallocation, file systems, among other basic tasks a device (not necessarily a computer) should do.

Difference between word addressable and byte addressable

Can someone explain what's the different between Word and Byte addressable? How is it related to memory size etc.?

memory operating-system cpu-architecture
Best OS for java development?

What is the best OS for Java development? People from Sun are pushing the Solaris, yes Solaris have some extra …

java operating-system jvm solaris
What is priority inversion?

I've heard the phrase 'priority inversion' in reference to development of operating systems. What exactly is priority inversion? What is …

operating-system priority-inversion
How to change the user and group permissions for a directory, by name?

os.chown is exactly what I want, but I want to specify the user and group by name, not ID (…

python operating-system chown
What is the meaning of *nix?

What is the meaning of *nix, and what is its relation with Ruby? Just saw that in an interview question... …

ruby linux unix operating-system
How does FIFO page replacement work?

I'm trying to understand the FIFO page replacement algorithm, but all the information I can find amounts to what's below. …

operating-system page-replacement
Why does a 32-bit OS support 4 GB of RAM?

Just reading some notes in a purdue lecture about OSs, and it says: A program sees memory as an array …

memory operating-system virtual-address-space
Difference between sequential write and random write

What is the difference between sequential write and random write in case of :- 1)Disk based systems 2)SSD [Flash Device ] …

memory-management operating-system disk virtual-memory solid-state-drive
What is progress and bounded waiting in critical section?

I was reading Critical Section Problem from Operating System Concepts by Peter B. Galvin. According to it 1) Progress is : If …

operating-system synchronization critical-section data-synchronization thread-synchronization
What are Ring 0 and Ring 3 in the context of operating systems?

I've been learning basics about driver development in Windows I keep finding the terms Ring 0 and Ring 3. What do these …

operating-system driver