Disk Operating System

Essay by hunter5512University, Bachelor's February 2006

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When the computer starts, it starts the operating system that takes the control of the machine. An Operating System is a set of programs that help in controlling and managing the Hardware and the Software resources of a computer system. One type of operating system is DOS. The main functions of DOS are to manage disk files, allocate system resources according to the requirement. DOS provides features essential to control hardware devices such as Keyboard, Screen, Disk Devices, Printers, Modems and programs. Basically, DOS is the medium through which the user and external devices attached to the system and communicate with the system. DOS translates the command issued by the user in the format that is understandable by the computer and instruct computer to work accordingly. It also translates the result and any error message in the format for the user to understand. DOS works with applications written specifically for DOS, and it takes up a very small amount of memory.

DOS is also a good contender for embedded systems that need no GUI interface. It operates in real mode, it can only perform one task at a time, this is called single tasking, however it will generally seem much faster than a system that allows you to perform many tasks at once. DOS also does not support hard drives lager than 7.8GB. Computers play an important role in virtually all aspects of our life.

There are at least seven different versions of DOS that have been available through the years. The first version of DOS was created in 1981 by Microsoft for IBM and was licensed for personal computer use. Later Microsoft licensed MS- Dos to many computer manufactures. DOS 5.0 was the first version of DOS that was sold as a separate product from Microsoft. The last retail...