Kernel, Modules and Stuff:
NOTE: Review the CACHE, CHIP pages for more info on:
Microsoft isn’t saying much, but we will. Over the short term, you can expect quarterly service packs for NT 5.0 and Windows 98 though 1999, we expect Microsoft to evangelize its "Windows 2000" initiative, which involves developing all consumer and corporate Windows upgrades on the NT kernel.
PARTITION TABLE ENTRY FORMAT
Each partition table entry is 16 bytes and contains things like the start and end location
of a partition in CHS, the start in LBA, the size in sectors, the partition
"type" and the "active" flag. Warning: older versions of FDISK may
compute incorrect LBA or size values. And note: When your computer boots itself, only the
CHS fields of the partition table entries are used (another reason LBA doesn't solve the
>528MB problem). The CHS fields in the partition tables are in L-CHS format --- CHS
Translation".
There is no central clearing house to assign the codes used in the one byte
"type" field. But codes are assigned (or used) to define most every type of file
system that anyone has ever implemented on the x86 PC: 12-bit FAT, 16-bit FAT, HPFS, NTFS,
etc. Plus, an extended partition also has a unique type code. Note: I know of no complete
list of all the type codes that have been used to date. For more information on this
subject (see the NERD pages).
So what's a kernel, (it's a number of things explained in short) but it's basically the architecture of Windows or any operating system:
Central System:
The central module of an operating system. It is the part of the operating system that loads first, and it remains in main memory. Because it stays in memory, it is important for the kernel to be as small as possible while still providing all the essential services required by other parts of the operating system and applications. Typically, the kernel is responsible for memory management, process and task management, and disk management.
Module, explain it:
In software, a module is a part of a program and programs are composed of one or more independently developed modules that are not combined until the program is linked. A single module can contain one or several routines.
In hardware, a module is a self-contained component.A Operating System:
Operating systems provide a software platform on top of which other programs, called application programs, can run. The application programs must be written to run on top of a particular operating system. Your choice of operating system, therefore, determines to a great extent the applications you can run. For PCs, the most popular operating systems are DOS, OS/2, and Windows, but others are available, such as Xenix.
As a user, you normally interact with the operating system through a set of commands. For example, the DOS operating system contains commands such as COPY and RENAME for copying files and changing the names of files, respectively. The commands are accepted and executed by a part of the operating system called the command processor or command line interpreter. Graphical user interfaces allow you to enter commands by pointing and clicking at objects that appear on the screen.Memory thing:
Refers to physical memory that is internal to the computer. The word main is used to distinguish it from external mass storage devices such as disk drives. Another term for main memory is RAM.
The computer can manipulate only data that is in main memory. Therefore, every program you execute and every file you access must be copied from a storage device into main memory. The amount of main memory on a computer is crucial because it determines how many programs can be executed at one time and how much data can be readily available to a program.
Because computers often have too little main memory to hold all the data they need, computer engineers invented a technique called swapping, in which portions of data are copied into main memory as they are needed. Swapping occurs when there is no room in memory for needed data. When one portion of data is copied into memory, an equal-sized portion is copied (swapped) out to make room. Another technique, called virtual memory, enables a computer to access larger amounts of data than main memory can hold at one time, but it is a relatively slow process. Therefore, the more memory a computer has and the more it can avoid swapping, the faster it will be able to execute large programs.
Now, most PCs come with a minimum of 8 megabytes of
main memory. This is adequate for some applications, but you may need more memory to run
sophisticated applications, particularly those that include graphics. You can
usually increase the amount of memory by inserting extra memory in the form of chips or
memory expansion boards.
Applications thing:
A program or group of programs designed for end users. Software can be divided into two general classes: systems software and applications software. Systems software consists of low-level programs that interact with the computer at a very basic level. This includes operating systems, compilers, and utilities for managing computer resources.
In contrast, applications software (also called end-user programs) includes database programs, word processors, and spreadsheets. Figuratively speaking, applications software sits on top of systems software because it is unable to run without the operating system and system utilities.
Disk & Data:
A machine that reads data from and writes data onto a disk. A disk drive resembles a stereo turntable in that it rotates the disk very fast. It has one or more heads that read and write data.
There are different types of disk drives for different types of disks. For example, a hard disk drive (HDD) reads and writes hard disks, and a floppy drive (FDD) accesses floppy disks. A magnetic disk drive reads magnetic disks, and an optical drive reads optical disks.
Disk drives can be either internal (housed within the computer) or external (housed in a separate box that connects to the computer).
