OSC– Chapter 1 Quiz

What is the primary role of an operating system?

To act as an intermediary between the user and hardware

Which of the following is NOT an operating system goal?

Make the hardware less reliable

Which of the following is NOT a major component of a computer system?

Internet browser

From the system’s point of view, the operating system acts as:

A resource allocator and control program

The part of the operating system that always runs is called:

Kernel

The bootstrap program is responsible for:

Initializing the system and loading the OS kernel

Which mechanism allows the CPU and I/O devices to operate concurrently?

Shared memory and device controllers

Which mechanism signals the CPU that an I/O operation is complete?

Interrupt

A trap is best described as:

A software-generated interrupt

Which of the following is NOT part of interrupt handling?

Poll device continuously

Direct Memory Access (DMA) improves performance by:

Letting device controllers transfer data directly to memory

Which three factors define the storage hierarchy?

Volatility, speed, cost

Caching works by:

Storing copies of data in faster memory

In symmetric multiprocessing (SMP):

Each processor performs all tasks equally

In asymmetric multiprocessing (AMP):

A master processor delegates tasks to other processors

Clustered systems are different from multiprocessor systems because:

They connect separate computers to work together

Which type of system must carefully manage battery power?

Handheld/mobile device

Which environment emphasizes sharing and fairness among multiple users?

Time-sharing system (users share resources simultaneously)

What is a potential issue with time-sharing systems?

Resource misuse or data theft

The two modes of operation in modern systems are:

Kernel mode and user mode

User: restricted environment where standard user applications execute

Kernel: highly privileged state where core operating system routines and hardware drivers run