Interview Questions

OPERATING SYSTEM TYPES

Operating System Interview Questions and Answers


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OPERATING SYSTEM TYPES

As computers have progressed and developed so have the types of operating systems. Below is a basic list of the different types of operating systems and a few examples of Operating Systems that fall into each of the categories. Many computer Operating Systems will fall into more than one of the below categories.

GUI - Short for Graphical User Interface, a GUI Operating System contains graphics and icons and is commonly navigated by using a computer mouse. See our GUI dictionary definition for a complete definition. Below are some examples of GUI Operating Systems.

System 7.x
Windows 98
Windows CE

Multi-user - A multi-user Operating System allows for multiple users to use the same computer at the same time and/or different times. See our multi-user dictionary definition for a complete definition for a complete definition. Below are some examples of multi-user Operating Systems.

Linux
Unix
Windows 2000
Windows XP
Mac OS X

Multiprocessing - An Operating System capable of supporting and utilizing more than one computer processor. Below are some examples of multiprocessing Operating Systems.

Linux
Unix
Windows 2000
Windows XP
Mac OS X

Multitasking - An Operating system that is capable of allowing multiple software processes to run at the same time. Below are some examples of multitasking Operating Systems.

Unix
Windows 2000
Windows XP
Mac OS X

Multithreading - Operating systems that allow different parts of a software program to run concurrently. Operating systems that would fall into this category are:

Linux
Unix
Windows 2000
Windows XP
Mac OS X



OPERATING SYSTEM LISTINGS

Operating system

Date first released

Platform Developer
AIX / AIXL Various IBM
AmigaOS Amiga Commodore
BSD Various BSD
Caldera Linux Various SCO
Corel Linux Various Corel
Debian Linux Various GNU
DUnix Various Digital
DYNIX/ptx Various IBM
HP-UX Various Hewlett Packard
IRIX Various SGI
Kondara Linux Various Kondara
Linux Various Linus Torvald
MAC OS 8 Apple Macintosh Apple
MAC OS 9 Apple Macintosh Apple
MAC OS 10 Apple Macintosh Apple
MAC OS X Apple Macintosh Apple
Mandrake Linux Various Mandrake
MINIX Various MINIX
MS-DOS 1.x

IBM / PC Microsoft
MS-DOS 2.x IBM / PC Microsoft
MS-DOS 3.x IBM / PC Microsoft
MS-DOS 4.x IBM / PC Microsoft
MS-DOS 5.x IBM / PC Microsoft
MS-DOS 6.x IBM / PC Microsoft
NEXTSTEP Various Apple
OSF/1 Various OSF
QNX Various QNX
Red Hat Linux Various Red Hat
SCO Various SCO
Slackware Linux Various Slackware
Sun Solaris Various Sun
SuSE Linux Various SuSE
System 1 Apple Macintosh Apple
System 2 Apple Macintosh Apple
System 3 Apple Macintosh Apple
System 4 Apple Macintosh Apple
System 6 Apple Macintosh Apple
System 7 Apple Macintosh Apple
System V Various System V
Tru64 Unix Various Digital
Turbolinux Various Turbolinux
Ultrix Various Ultrix
Unisys Various Unisys
Unix Various Bell labs
UnixWare Various UnixWare
VectorLinux Various VectorLinux
Windows 2000 IBM / PC Microsoft
Windows 2003 IBM / PC Microsoft
Windows 3.X IBM / PC Microsoft
Windows 95 IBM / PC Microsoft
Windows 98 IBM / PC Microsoft
Windows CE PDA Microsoft
Windows ME IBM / PC Microsoft
Windows N IBM / PC Microsoft
Windows Vista IBM / PC Microsoft
Windows XP IBM / PC Microsoft
Xenix Various Microsoft

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