STUDY MATERIAL

ON

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT (BM 509)

(L 2-T 0-P 2 – CH 4 – CR 3)

COMPILED BY

DR. HEERA BAPUJARY

 Unit 1
Computer Fundamentals

1.1 Basics of Computer Hardware and its functional units

1.1.1 Classification of Computer
Classification of computers can be done as follows:
1. According to function
2. According to purpose
3. According to capabilities
1. According to Function
According to function, computers can be classified into three types.
a. Digital Computers: The digital computers are programmable electronic devices that
perform mathematical calculations, compare values and store results. All expressions are
coded into binary digits (0 and1) inside the computer and it manipulates them at very fast
speed. Almost all personal computers (PCs) are best examples of this category.
b. Analog Computers: The analog computers actually are a measuring device. They
recognise data as a continuous measurement of physical property like voltage, pressure,
speed and temperature. They are the first computers being developed and are the base for
the development of modern digital computers.
c. Hybrid Computers: A hybrid computer is one which combines the analog and digital
capabilities in the same computer system. These machines are used for scientific
applications and are also used as a controlling device in an industrial process. MODEM is
an example of a hybrid system. It transforms analog signals to digital signals and vice
versa.
2. According to Purpose
The computers can be classified according to purpose in two ways.
a. General Purpose: These computers are designed to solve wide variety of problems from
different fields. They are adaptable to environment. These computers are used for different
purposes like inventory control, record keeping, payroll, etc.
b. Special Purpose: A special purpose computer is designed to operate and solve restricted
class of problems. Some examples are computer used for Process Control in an industry,
Bio-medical X-ray instrument, ECG machine, computer used for air-traffic control, etc.
3. According to Capabilities
According to capabilities, computers can be classified as follows.
 a. Supercomputers: They are the most powerful computers and are widely used in scientific
applications such as aerodynamic design simulation, processing of geological data, etc.
Multiple numbers of CPUs are used in these computers to achieve high processing speed.
The Cray supercomputer, the first of which was invented by Seymour Cray, covers
seventy five per cent of the supercomputer market. The other computers in this category
are CRBER 810 and 830, Appro Xtreme – X1, and NEC SX3.
b. Mainframe-Computers: The Mainframe Computers are usually slower, less powerful and
less expensive than supercomputers and can support hundreds or thousands of users,
handling massive amounts of inputs, output and storage. Mainframes often act a servers
that control the networks of computers of large organisations.
c. Mini-Computers: The mini computers are smaller version of mainframe computers and are
general purpose computers that support multiple users. A small minicomputer can support
between ten and twenty users. It is ideal for medium size business.
d. Micro-Computers: They are another category of computers that can be divided into two
groups – personal computers and workstations. The personal computers are the desktops
that are cheaper and have all the functionalities of a computer required by common users.
The workstations are the powerful single user computers which are often used as network
and internet servers.
Another classification of computer is the notebook or laptop. They are portable
microcomputers.
Another category of computers that emerged in last couple of years is Tablet PC. It is a
hybrid of personal digital assistant (PDA) and laptop PC. They are a kind of mobile
computer having a touch-screen or pen-enabled interface. Virtual keyboards runs on
Tablet PC and some of them also support external keyboard. Tablet PCs have built-in
Web-browsing capabilities, multiple connectivity options and multimedia.

1.1.2 Computer Organisation

A computer consists of three main components –
(1) Input/ Output (I/O) Unit,
(2) Central Processing Unit (CPU) and
(3) Memory Unit.

Figure 1 depicts the block diagram of a computer system.

 MAIN MEMORY UNIT

CENTRAL PROCESSING
UNIT

REGISTERS
INPUT OUTPUT
UNIT ARITHMETIC UNIT
UNIT

LOGIC UNIT

CONROL UNIT

Figure 1: Block Diagram of a Computer System

(1) Input / Output (I/O) Unit: The computer user interacts with the computer via the I/O
unit. The purpose of I/O unit is to provide data and instructions as input to computer
and to present relevant information as output from the computer.

(2) Central Processing Unit (CPU): The CPU or the processor is also often called the
brain of computer. The main operations of the CPU include four phases.
 Fetching instruction from the memory.
 Decoding the instructions to decide what operations to be performed.
 Executing the instructions.
 Storing the results back in the memory.

The CPU consists of the following subsystems:

(a) Arithmetic Unit (AU): AU is a part of the CPU that performs arithmetic operations
on that data. The operations can be addition, subtraction, multiplication or
division. The multiplication and division operations are usually implemented by
the AU as the repetitive process of addition and subtraction operations
respectively. AU takes the input in the form of an instruction that contains an
opcode, operands and the format code.
(b) Logic Unit (LU): LU is a part of the CPU that performs logical operations on the
data. It performs different types of logical operations. The various logical
 operations include greater than (>), less than (<), equal to (=), not equal to (≠) shift
left, shift right, etc. LU makes use of various logical gates such as AND, OR,
NOR, etc. for performing the logical operations on the data.
(c) Control Unit CU): CU is an important component of CPU that controls the flow of
data and information. It maintains the sequence of operations being performed by
the CPU. CU guides AU and LU about the operations that are to be performed and
also suggests the I/O devices to which the data it to be communicated. It uses a
program counter register for retrieving the next instruction that is to be executed. It
also uses a status register for handling conditions such as overflow of data.
(d) Registers: CPU contains a few special purpose, temporary storage units known as
registers. They are high-speed memory locations used for holding instructions,
data and intermediate results that are currently being processed. A processor can
have different types of registers to hold different types of information. They
include, among others:
 Program Counter (PC) to keep track of the next instruction to be executed.
 Instruction Register (IR) to hold instructions to be decoded by the control
unit.
 Memory Address Register (MAR) to hold the address of the next location in the
memory to be accessed.
 Memory Buffer Register (MBR) for storing data received from or sent to CPU.
 Memory Data Register (MDR) for storing operands and data.
 Accumulator (ACC) for storing the results produced by arithmetic and logic
units.

(3) Main Memory Unit: The main memory is referred to as the internal memory or
primary memory of the computer. It is also known as Random Access Memory
(RAM). It is a temporary storage medium that holds the data only for a short period of
time. Once the computer is switched off, the data stored in RAM gets erased. The
main memory is also responsible for holding intermediate data transferred between
CPU and I/O devices.

1.1.2 Input Devices

(a) Keyboard

Most common and very popular input device is keyboard. The keyboard helps in inputting the
data to the computer. The layout of the keyboard is like that of traditional typewriter, although
there are some additional keys provided for performing some additional functions.
Keyboards are of two sizes 84 keys or 101/102 keys, but now 104 keys or 108 keys keyboard
is also available for Windows and Internet.

The keys are following:

Sl. No. Keys Description

These keys include the letter keys (A-Z) and digits keys (0-9) which are
1 Typing Keys
generally give same layout as that of typewriters.

It is used to enter numeric data or cursor movement. Generally, it

2 Numeric Keypad consists of a set of 17 keys that are laid out in the same configuration
used by most adding machine and calculators.

The twelve functions keys are present on the keyboard. These are
3 Function Keys arranged in a row along the top of the keyboard. Each function key has
unique meaning and is used for some specific purpose.

These keys provides cursor and screen control. It includes four

directional arrow key. Control keys also include Home, End, Insert,
4 Control keys
Delete, Page Up, Page Down, Control(Ctrl), Alternate(Alt),
Escape(Esc).

Special Purpose Keyboard also contains some special purpose keys such as Enter, Shift,
5
Keys Caps Lock, Num Lock, Space bar, Tab, and Print Screen.

(b) Mouse

Mouse is most popular Pointing device. It is a very famous cursor-control device. It is a small
palm size box with a round ball at its base which senses the movement of mouse and sends
corresponding signals to CPU on pressing the buttons.
Generally it has two buttons called left and right button and scroll bar is present at the mid.
Mouse can be used to control the position of cursor on screen, but it cannot be used to enter
text into the computer.
(c ) Joystick

Joystick is also a pointing device which is used to move cursor position on a monitor screen.
It is a stick having a spherical ball at its both lower and upper ends. The lower spherical ball
moves in a socket. The Joystick can be moved in all four directions.
The function of joystick is similar to that of a mouse. It is mainly used in Computer Aided
Designing (CAD) and playing computer games.

(d) Light Pen

Light pen is a pointing device which is similar to a pen. It is used to select a displayed menu
item or draw pictures on the monitor screen. It consists of a photocell and an optical system
placed in a small tube.
When light pen's tip is moved over the monitor screen and pen button is pressed, its photocell
sensing element detects the screen location and sends the corresponding signal to the CPU.

(e) Scanner

Scanner is an input device which works more like a photocopy machine. It is used when some
information is available on a paper and it is to be transferred to the hard disc of the computer
for further manipulation. Scanner captures images from the source which are then converted
into the digital form that can be stored on the disc. These images can be edited before they are
printed.
(f) Microphone

Microphone is an input device to input sound that is then stored in digital form. The
microphone is used for various applications like adding sound to a multimedia presentation or
for mixing music.

(g) Magnetic Ink Card Reader (MICR)

MICR input device is generally used in banks because of a large number of cheques to be
processed every day. The bank's code number and cheque number are printed on the cheques
with a special type of ink that contains particles of magnetic material that are machine
readable.
This reading process is called Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR). The main
advantage of MICR is that it is fast and less error prone.

(h) Optical Character Reader (OCR)

OCR is an input device used to read a printed text. OCR scans text optically character by
character, converts them into a machine readable code and stores the text on the system
memory.
(i) Bar Code Readers

Bar Code Reader is a device used for reading bar coded data (data in form of light and dark
lines). Bar coded data is generally used in labeling goods, numbering the books etc. It may be
a hand held scanner or may be embedded in a stationary scanner.
Bar Code Reader scans a bar code image, converts it into an alphanumeric value which is then
fed to the computer to which bar code reader is connected.

(j) Optical Mark Reader (OMR)

OMR is a special type of optical scanner used to recognize the type of mark made by pen or
pencil. It is used where one out of a few alternatives is to be selected and marked. It is
specially used for checking the answer sheets of examinations having multiple choice
questions.

1.1.3 Output Devices

Output devices are used to transfer the information stored in the computer of the result of any
processing done by the computer to the outside world. Through it computer conveys the result
to user. There are many output devices available in market. Commonly of them are:
 Monitor or VDU (Video Display Unit)
 Printer
 Projector
 Speaker / Head Phone / Ear Phone
 Plotter
(a) Monitor or VDU (Video Display Unit)

Monitor is very similar to a television, shows all the processed result and program of CPU. It
is very important output device, without it user of computer is almost blind. It gives easy
interface to machine. It comes in many sizes 9”, 12”, 14”, 15”, 17”, 19”, 20”, 21”, 24”, 29”
and many more.

(b) Printer
Printer is the most important output device, which is used to print information on paper.
There are two types of printers
A. Impact Printers
B. Non-Impact Printers
A. Impact Printers
The printers that print the characters by striking against the ribbon and onto the paper, are
called impact printers.
These printers are of two types
I. Character printers
II. Line printers
I. Character Printers:
Character Printers are printers which print one character at a time.
These are of further two types
i. Dot Matrix Printer(DMP)
ii. Daisy Wheel

II. Line Printers

Line printers are printers which print one line at a time.
These are of further two types
i. Drum Printer
ii. Chain Printer
B. Non-impact Printers
The printers that print the characters without striking against the ribbon and onto the paper are
called Non-impact Printers. These printers print a complete page at a time, also called as Page
Printers.
These printers are of two types
I. Laser Printers
II. Inkjet Printers

I. Laser Printers

These are non-impact page printers. They use laser lights to produces the dots needed to form
the characters to be printed on a page.
Advantages:
 Very high speed.
 Very high quality output.
 Give good graphics quality.
 Support many fonts and different character size.
Disadvantages:
 Expensive.
 Cannot be used to produce multiple copies of a document in a single printing.

II. Inkjet Printers

Inkjet printers are non-impact character printers based on a relatively new technology. They
print characters by spraying small drops of ink onto paper. Inkjet printers produce high
quality output with presentable features.
They make less noise because no hammering is done and these have many styles of printing
modes available. Colour printing is also possible. Some models of Inkjet printers can produce
multiple copies of printing also.
Advantages:
 High quality printing
 More reliable
Disadvantages:
 Expensive as cost per page is high
 Slow as compare to laser printer

(c) Projector

Projector is an output device which used to produce projection of computer output on screen.
It is used for giving presentation.

(d) Speaker / Head Phone / Ear Phone

This is sound device which produce sound output like music, tone and speech.

(e) Plotter

Plotter is an important output device in computer system used for plotting processed data or
maps.
1.1.3 Memory
A memory is just like a human brain. It is used to store data and instruction. Computer
memory is the storage space in computer where data is to be processed and instructions
required for processing are stored.
The memory is divided into large number of small parts. Each part is called cell. Each
location or cell has a unique address.
Memory is primarily of three types:
I. Cache Memory
II. Primary Memory/Main Memory
III. Secondary Memory

I. Cache Memory
Cache memory is a very high speed semiconductor memory which can speed up CPU. It acts
as a buffer between the CPU and main memory.
It is used to hold those parts of data and program which are most frequently used by CPU.
The parts of data and programs are transferred from disk to cache memory by operating
system, from where CPU can access them.
Advantages:
 Cache memory is faster than main memory.
 It consumes less access time as compared to main memory.
 It stores the program that can be executed within a short period of time.
 It stores data for temporary use.
Disadvantages:
 Cache memory has limited capacity.
 It is very expensive.

II. Primary Memory

Primary memory holds only those data and instructions on which computer is currently
working. It has limited capacity and data get lost when power is switched off.
It is generally made up of semiconductor device. These memories are not as fast as registers.
The data and instruction required to be processed earlier reside in main memory. It is divided
into two subcategories RAM and ROM.
a. RAM:

A RAM constitutes the internal memory of the CPU for storing data, program and program
result. It is read/write memory. It is called random access memory (RAM).
Since access time in RAM is independent of the address to the word that is, each storage
location inside the memory is as easy to reach as other location & takes the same amount of
time. We can reach into the memory at random & extremely fast but can also be quite
expensive.
RAM is volatile, i.e. data stored in it is lost when we switch off the computer or if there is a
power failure. Hence a backup uninterruptible power system (UPS) is often used with
computers. RAM is small, both in terms of its physical size and in the amount of data it can
hold.
RAM is of two types
i. Static RAM (SRAM)
ii. Dynamic RAM (DRAM)

b. ROM

ROM stands for Read Only Memory. This type of memory is non-volatile. The information is
stored permanently in such memories during manufacture.
A ROM, stores such instruction as are required to start computer when electricity is first
turned on, this operation is referred to as bootstrap. ROM chip are not only used in the
computer but also in other electronic items like washing machine and microwave oven.
Following are the various types of ROM.
MROM (Masked ROM), PROM (Programmable Read only Memory), EPROM (Erasable
and Programmable Read Only Memory), and EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and
Programmable Read Only Memory).

III. Secondary Memory

This type of memory is also known as external memory or non-volatile. Secondary memory is
also called the storage device of computer. It is slower than main memory. These are used for
storing Data/Information permanently.
CPU directly does not access these memories instead they are accessed via input-output
routines. Contents of secondary memories are first transferred to main memory, and then CPU
can access it.
Secondary memory can be broadly divided into the following four categories.
I. Magnetic Tape
II. Magnetic Disk and
III. Optical Disk
IV. USB Interface Drives

I. Magnetic Tape:

Magnetic tape is a plastic tape with magnetic coating. It is a storage medium on a large an
open reel or in a smaller cartridge or cassette. Magnetic tapes are cheaper, durable and
can be written, erased and re-written. They are sequential access devices, which mean
that the tape needs to rewind or move forward to the location where the requested data is
positioned in the tape. Due to their sequential nature, magnetic tapes are not suitable for
data files that need to be revised or updated often. They are generally used to store back-
up data that is not frequently used or to transfer data from one system to other. Magnetic
tape is mounted on a magnetic tape drive for access.
II. Magnetic Disk:
Magnetic Disk is a direct access secondary storage device. It is a thin plastic or metallic
circular plate coated with magnetic oxide and encased in a protective cover. Data is
stored on magnetic disks as magnetized spots. The presence of a magnetic spot represents
the bit 1 and its absence represents the bit 0.The different types of magnetic disks are
Floppy disk, Hard disk and Zip disk.

Floppy Disks

A floppy disk is a secondary storage device. It is a circular piece of plastic material

coated with particles, which are magnetized. This thin plastic sheet is protected from
outside by a plastic cover to prevent the sensitive data stored on them. The commonly
used floppy disks are of 3.5 ” diameter. Floppies are used to store data and transfer them
from one computer to another. Due to their size and portability they are the most popular
storage mediums in offices and at homes.
The data inside the floppies are stored in tracks and sectors. The entire floppy is divided
into circular segments called tracks. Each track is given a unique number. The outermost
track is referred as 0 and the track inner to them is 1 and so on. Each track is further
divided into segments called sectors. These floppy disks are called high-density disks as
they can hold 1.44 MB data. The outer plastic cover has read / write hole covered by a
metal sheet. This metal cover automatically opens when the floppy is inserted inside the
floppy disk drive.

Hard Disks

A hard disk is fixed inside the cabinet of CPU (Central Processing Unit). It is made up of
many rigid metal platters coated to store data magnetically. The hard disk rotates while
recording data. This rotation speed is measured in the unit of revolutions per minute
 (rpm). The normal speed of hard disks is 3600 revolutions per second. The read/write
head of the hard disks moves across its surface. The storage capacity of the hard disks is
many times more than the floppy disks.
The normal storage capacity of hard disks installed inside the Pentium-IV machines now
a day is 40 Gigabytes. The data stored in the hard disks are retrieved faster as compared
to the floppy disks as they are installed inside the computers.
Zip Disks

They are high capacity removable disk and drive that have the speed and capacity of hard
disk and portability of floppy disk. Zip disk are of the same size as a 31/2 inch floppy disk
but their storage capacity ranges from 100 MB to 750 MB. They can be used to store
large files, audio and video data.

III. Optical Disk

Optical disk is a flat and circular disk which is coated with reflective plastic material that
can be altered by laser light. The bits 1 and 0 are stored as spots that are relatively bright
and light, respectively. The most common used optical disks are CD-ROM, CD and
DVD.
CD-ROM (COMPACT DISK READ ONLY MEMORY):

CD-ROM is an optical disk that can only be read. CD-ROM is written on by

manufacturer of the CD-ROM using the laser light. A CD-ROM drive reads data from the
compact disk. Data is stored as pits (depression) and lands (flat area) on CD-ROM disk.
When the laser light is focussed on the disk, the pits scatter the light (interpreted as 0) and
the lands reflect the light to a sensor (interpreted as 1). The storage density of CD-ROM
is very high and cost is low as compared to floppy disk and hard disk. It is a commonly
used medium for distributing software and large data.
 CD (COMPACT DISK):
CD allows data to be written, erased and re-written on the disk.
DVD (DIGITAL VIDEO DISK):
DVD is an optical storage device used to store digital video or computer data. It looks
like CDs in shape and physical size but it is an improved version of CD. It is a high-
density medium with increased track and bit density and has storage capacity higher than
CDs. New versions of DVD can store at most 17 GB of data.

IV. USB (UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS) Interface Drives

USB Interface Drives are that storage device that uses USB ports for retrieving and
transferring data from the device to the main memory. Examples of such storage devices
are USB Flash Drive, Flash Memory Cards, External Hard Disk, etc.
USB Flash Drive:
A USB flash drive is a data storage device that includes flash memory with an integrated
Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface. USB flash drives are typically removable and
rewritable, and physically much smaller than an optical disc. A flash drive consists of a
small printed circuit board carrying the circuit elements and a USB connector, insulated
electrically and protected inside a plastic, metal, or rubberized case which can be carried
in a pocket or on a key chain. USB flash drives draw power from the computer via the
USB connection. Some devices combine the functionality of a digital audio player with
USB flash storage; they require a battery only when used to play music.

1.2 Concepts of Software

1.2.1 Software:
Software is a set of programs, which is designed to perform a well-defined function. A
program is a sequence of instructions written to solve a particular problem.
There are two types of software:
(1) Application Software
(2) System Software

(1) Application Software:

The program that help the user, the system software, and the hardware work together to solve

end user problems are application software.

They can be broadly classified into two groups:

  Standard application programs that are designed for performing common

application jobs. Examples are Word Processors, Spread sheets, Database

Management system, Presentation, Communication, etc.

 Unique application programs that are developed by users themselves to support

their specific needs. Examples are Information systems.

(2) System Software:

The system software directly interacts with the hardware and comprises programs that
manage the hardware components.
The purposes of the system software are:
• to provide basic functionality to computer,
• to control computer hardware, and
• to act as an interface between user, application software and computer hardware.
They can be broadly classified into two groups:
a. System management programs used for managing both the hardware and software
systems.
b. System development programs used for developing and executing application
software
a. System Management Programs:
System management programs are those programs that are meant for operating the
hardware system and managing their resources effectively. They also enable the users
to perform certain utility functions, such as creating backup files, recovering damaged
files and merging files. They minimize the human intervention during processing and
aid in maximising the productivity of a computer system. System management
programs include:
i. Operating system
ii. Utility programs
iii. Device drivers
b. System Development Programs:
System development programs known as programming software allow the users to
develop programs in different programming languages. System development tools
include:
i. Language translator like compiler, assembler, interpreter.
 ii. Linkers
iii. Debuggers
iv. Editors

1.2.2 Operating System

An Operating System is a set of programs that control and coordinates the use of computer
hardware among various application programs. It provides an environment within which user
can execute programs. A computer can be divided into four components: the hardware, the
operating system, the applications programs, and the users. It is the operating system that
manages all the above components.

1.2.2.1 Functions of an Operating System:

The various functions of the operating system are:
• Controlling Input / Output devices (Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, Printer, Plotter etc.)
• Memory and File storage management
• CPU Scheduling and controlling processes
• Loading, initiating, executing and supervising user applications programs
• Handling errors and restarting
• Providing command interface between user and computer system

1.2.2.2 Classification of Operating System:

Operating System can be classified into the following categories:

Batch Processing Operating System:

They are capable of executing only one job at a time. The jobs or the programs submitted by
different users are grouped into batches and one batch of jobs is provided as input to computer
system at a time. The jobs in the batch are processed on the first-come first-serve basis. Eg:
Old version of UNIX, network printer operation, etc.

Single User Vs Multi-User Operating System:

Single User Operating System allows only one person to work at a particular instant of time.
Examples of such Operating System are DOS, Windows 95, Windows 98, etc.
Multi-User Operating System allows more than one person to work at a particular instant of
time. Examples of such Operating System are UNIX, Windows NT, Windows 2000, etc.
Command Line Interface Vs GUI (Graphical User Interface) based:
CLI based operating System mostly uses commands for operation. Examples of such
Operating System are DOS and UNIX.
GUI Based Operating System uses graphical symbols for its operation. Examples of such
Operating System are the Windows family and the new versions of UNIX.

Network Operating System (NOS):

Network Operating System controls and operates a computer network in an appropriate
manner. Novel NetWare is the best example of a Network Operating System. UNIX and
Windows NT besides being performing the functions of a general operating system also act as
a network operating system.

Multitasking Operating System:

Multitasking Operating Systems allow a user to carry out multiple tasks at the same time on a
single computer system. Examples of such operating system are UNIX all versions and
Windows family.

Multiprocessor Operating System:

Multiprocessor Operating System allows the use of multiple CPUs in a computer system for
executing multiple processes at the same time. Some of the examples are UNIX, LINUX and
Windows 2000.

Real-time Operating System:

They are similar to multitasking operating system in their functioning. However, these
operating systems are specifically designed and developed for handling real-time applications
that are required to be executed within a specific period of time. Some of the examples of
real-time operating system are MTOS, Lynx, RTX.

Embedded Operating System:

Embedded Operating System is installed on an embedded computer system, which is
primarily used for performing computational tasks in electronic devices. Palm OS and
Window CE are examples of embedded operating system.

Popular Operating Systems

 UNIX
 MS-DOS
 Windows
1.2.2.3 UNIX:
UNIX was first developed in the early 1970s at Bell Laboratories in the USA. It was
originally developed as a system to be used by the staff in the laboratories, and it was
principally intended to provide an operating system that people would enjoy using. It was
designed for users who were largely computer scientists, which may explain some of the more
arcane and apparently unfriendly features of UNIX, such as the obscure sounding command
names. AT&T (the owners of Bell Laboratories) made UNIX available at nominal cost to
academic users, with whom it became popular. This helped to create a market for UNIX, at a
time when technological changes had themselves created a need for a portable multi-user
operating system. As a result UNIX began to be adopted by non-academic users in the 1980's
as it became commercially available. Several standards are now being worked out, and UNIX
is steadily becoming the standard operating system in many environments.

Different UNIX systems:

They are many different versions of UNIX, as well as some UNIX 'lookalikes'. The most
widely used are:

 System V (distributed by the original developers, AT&T) Eg. LINUX, SCO UNIX, etc.
 AIX (IBM) Berkeley BSD (from the University of California, Berkeley)
 SunOS, now known as Solaris (from the makers of Sun workstations)
 Xenix (a PC version of Unix).

Important features of the UNIX system:

 Multitasking capability: Multitasking is performing more than one task at a time. For
example, printing of a file and writing in another file can be done simultaneously. That
means the two tasks - printing of a file and writing a file can be done simultaneously.
 Multi-user capability: It permits several users to use the same computer simultaneously.
 Portability: The UNIX system can run on different brands and types of computer easily,
unlike other operating system.
 Large selection of powerful UNIX-supplied programs: The UNIX system comes with
several hundred of supplied powerful programs called utilities and tools.
 Communication and electronic mail: Communication software is part of the UNIX
system UNIX communications capabilities include the following options.
 Communicating between different terminals hooked into the same computer.
  Communicating between users of one computer in your office with users of another
computer in your office.
 Communicating between computers of different sizes and types in different locations -
as far away as other countries.
Email is the best way of communication, which is provided by UNIX system.

 Library of application software: UNIX system has a lot application programs which can
procured from third party suppliers.

Basic UNIX commands:

Command Meaning

mkdir Make directory

cd Change the current directory

rmdir Removing a directory

ls Listing directories and files of the current directory

cp Copying a file from one location to another location

rn Renaming a file

rm Deleting a file

1.2.2.4 Disk Operating System (DOS):

Though UNIX was a powerful operating system available, but it was not suitable for 8-bit
8086 microprocessor based Personal Computers. So there was a need for a small operating
system that could work in 640K memory (RAM). DOS was a variant of CP/M (Control
Program/Monitor) which ran for the first time on IBM-PC in 1981. It is called so because it
resides on Floppy or Hard disk and provides command level interface between user and the
computer hardware.

The different versions of MS-DOS have evolved over a period of time with Microsoft
introducing new features in each new release. Starting with MS-DOS1.1, the latest version is
MS-DOS 8.0 released in 2001. This version comes with Windows Millennium.
Different Version of DOS:

 MS-DOS(Microsoft)
 PC-DOS(IBM)
 Apple DOS
 Dr-DOS

Basic Dos Commands:

Command Meaning

MD Make directory

CD or CHDIR Change the current directory

RD or RMDIR Removing a directory

DIR Listing directories and files of the current directory

COPY Copying a file from one location to another location

REN Renaming a file

DEL Deleting a file

1.2.2.5 Windows:

WINDOWS was similar to APPLE Mach operating system interface on IBM-PC. The main
features of windows are easy to use graphical user interface (GUI), device independent
graphics and multitasking support. The first version of windows1.0 was introduced in 1985.
Windows was an application of MS-DOS using the basic commands of DOS. Windows for
Workgroup (WIN3.11) released in 1992 was an integrated windows and networking package
with file and printer sharing capabilities, a network mail (Microsoft Mail) and a workgroup
scheduler (Schedule+) packages in windows environment. WINDOWS-95 released in 1995
was the full-fledged 32-bit operating system of the Window's family, which includes MS-
DOS7.0 and takes control of computer system after starting. Windows 95 was a single user
system. In the same year Windows NT was launched which has most of the features of
Windows 95 along with networking capabilities, making it a multi-user operating system.
After that different versions of Windows operating system were launched.
Some of the versions of Windows are:

 Windows 95
 Windows NT
 Windows 98
 Windows 2000
 Windows Millennium
 Windows XP
 Windows Vista
 Windows 7
 Windows 8

Some important terminology of Windows operating system:

THE DESKTOP:

The most visible change in Windows 95 over earlier versions of Windows is the new user
interface. The full screen display you see when you boot your PC and from which you work
with documents and applications.

Icon: An icon is a picture. Windows 95 uses a small video icon that represents objects –
documents, applications, folders, devices, and computers. An icon has a text label that further
describes the object.

Selection: Selecting an object is pointing to it without taking any further action. To select the
object, move the mouse cursor onto the icon and press the left mouse button once. If the
currently selected object is in a group, you can change the selected object with arrow keys.
You can change groups with Tab and Shift- Tab keys and then use arrow keys to select an
object in the selected group.

Drag and Drop: To drag and drop an object onto another object, move the mouse cursor onto
the icon of the object to be dragged. Press down the left mouse button and hold it down while
you move mouse cursor to be destination object’s icon. Release the button from that position
to complete the drop.

The Right Mouse Button: If you move the mouse to almost anywhere or anything on the
desktop or in a Window and click the right mouse button, Windows 95 displays a menu with
common commands for the object. To close the menu, click the left mouse button anywhere
else on the desktop or press the keyboard’s Esc key.

Icons on the Desktop: The upper left corner contain four icons. Those icons provide access
to your files and documents. Four icons are: My computer, Network Neighbourhood, Recycle
bin and briefcase.

My Computer: The "My Computer" icon on the desktops opens a view into the resources of
the local computer. The contents of the My Computer Window depend on the disk drives on
your PC and the network support that is installed.

Network Neighbourhood: This icon displays the computers and shared printers connected
on the windows network.

Recycle Bin: This icon receives all deleted objects like files, folders, documents, applications
etc. These deleted objects can be retrieved back by dragging it out of the recycle bin and
dropping it onto the desktop or into a folder or they can be permanently deleted from the disk
by choosing EMPTY RECYCLE BIN selection on the file menu.

Briefcase: The commonly used personal documents can be put or stored in the briefcase. This
briefcase can be moved to a disk or copied across a network.

Putting new objects on the desktop: New objects can be added to the desktop by dragging
and dropping them from other locations or creating them on the desktop.

FOLDERS:

Folders on the desktop can contain other folders, documents, applications and shortcuts to
devices such as printer. To add a folder to the desktop, move the mouse cursor to an empty
spot on the desktop and press the right mouse button. Click the Folder command. A folder
icon labelled "New Folder" appears on the desktop. Label can be changed by selecting it.
Drag the folder to a convenient place on the desktop.

DOCUMENTS:

The references to the current documents are stored in the document object. The documents list
includes Word processing documents, spreadsheets, database files, graphics file etc.