I just opened a moderated list at Topica so anyone can post questions and answer them freely and in a civilized manner of course. This way we can all learn together. To post a question, you must first subscribe and see the instruction in your Topica account. If you want to get a hold of me, do it the same way.

What is an operating system (OS)?

In the simplest definition, an operating system (OS) is a set of instructions (software) that controls some hardware. These instructions are layered over the kernel accessing the hardware directly and the user interface (command line interface or graphic user interface) for the user (normally a human being) to interact with it. These instructions are written (coded) using in different languages from low level languages (like machine language and assembler) to high level languages (like C++).

Operating systems have evolved from their early days and surprisingly most modern operating systems are also fairly old. MVS was created in 1964. DOS was created in 1980. Unix was created in 1969. BSD was created in 1977. Macintosh (or Mac) was created in 1984. Windows was created in 1985. Linux was created in 1991.

In the past couple of years, a different approach to operating systems and management of resources is using terminals accessing all resources from a server through a web browser. Also this is similar to devices like the Nintendo Wii game console that uses Opera for Devices to allow users access the internet.

At the same time, computers have shrunk from huge systems that would normally fit in a loft (like an IBM 360 mainframe) to machines that fit in your pocket like any of today's mobile phones. Computers are used worldwide for various purposes from web browsing to going to outer space. This site takes a high level look of the different operating systems used worldwide.

Use this site as a source of information on different operating systems at your own discretion. I offer no warranties that the information in this site is fully accurate and you are welcome to correct any errors that you find. You can copy and/or steal the contents for your school reports. Do not publish it on other websites or other media and say that you wrote this information. The latter would not be nice and is considered plagiarism. You can credit VintageOS and give this site a link (thanks in advance).

Technology is great and gives us access to a lot of nice toys that must be used carefully especially with children, like the internet. I am trying to write white papers that you can share with friends and family on technology. Of course, I have not had enough time to do so. For the time being, you can read the white paper on how to protect children on-line and my experiences with PC-BSD (though a bit outdated).