System Software

Operating Systems

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Every piece of hardware connected to the computer system requires a device driver. Drivers essentially act as a 'translator' for the signals between OS and hardware.
When a computer is booted up, the OS will choose the correct device drivers the hardware it detects.
Device manufacturers may release updates to device drivers. Updates may be installed automatically by the OS or manually by the user.

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A user interface allows the user to interact with the computer system.
Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) are the most common type - they're designed to be easy for everyday users by making them visual, interactive and intuitive.
A command-line interface is text based. The user enters specific commands to complete tasks. The Command-line interfaces are less resource-heavy than GUIs.

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GUI systems are optimmised for specific input methods. In the past, GUIs have been WIMP-based (using windows, icons, menus and pointers). Anodroid and IOS were created for touchscreen devices, using finger gestures like pinching and swiping in place of a mouse.
Command-line interfaces aren't suitable for everyday users. But for advanced users, they can be far more efficient and powerful than a GUI. They can be used to automate processes using scripts.

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Operating Systems provide a platform to run applications (by configuring hardware so they can use it, and giving access to the CPU and memory).
Operating Systems that can run multiple applications at the same time are called multi-tasking OSs.
The OS helps the CPU carry out multi-tasking by efficiently managing memory and CPU processing time.

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