Inside OS/2 (1987)
14 days ago
- #Operating Systems
- #Multitasking
- #OS/2
- OS/2 is Microsoft's operating system for Intel 80286/80386 microcomputers, designed for office automation and multitasking.
- OS/2 features a preemptive scheduler, dynamic link libraries (dyn-link), and supports both protected and real modes for running MS-DOS applications.
- The OS/2 Software Development Kit (SDK) includes tools like an optimizing C compiler, macro assembler, and a debugger.
- OS/2 uses screen groups managed by a session manager to organize multitasking applications and MS-DOS sessions.
- Memory management in OS/2 includes virtual memory support, shared memory, and dynamic allocation routines like DosAllocHuge().
- Device services in OS/2 provide high-level interfaces for video, keyboard, and mouse, improving over MS-DOS BIOS services.
- File management in OS/2 is compatible with MS-DOS but includes asynchronous read/write operations and supports up to 255 open file handles.
- Interprocess communication (IPC) in OS/2 includes pipes, message queues, and semaphores for coordinating between threads and processes.
- OS/2 supports task timing, process signaling, and sound generation through APIs like DosBeep().
- Future enhancements for OS/2 may include better 80386 support, installable file systems, and improved security mechanisms.