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Question 1
Lumafern Studio uses desktop computers and battery-powered tablets to edit photographs and store clients’ image files. Each device runs an operating system that manages applications and background operations.
I.
State one hardware resource managed by an operating system.
[1]
II.
State two file operations that the operating system provides for managing the studio’s image files.
[2]
State one scheduling approach that the operating system could use to allocate CPU time.
[1]
A tablet receives stylus input only occasionally and at unpredictable times. Justify using interrupt handling rather than polling to detect this input.
[2]
Compare and contrast first-come first-served and round robin scheduling for a desktop computer running image-editing and background export processes. Give three points.
[3]
Explain how the operating system can maintain system integrity while a background utility runs alongside the image editor.
[2]
Question 2
Mereclay Studio uses a computer to run pottery-design software and manage print jobs. The computer also controls an electrically heated pottery-drying cabinet.
State two functions of the computer's operating system other than scheduling.
[2]
State the scheduling approach in which each ready process receives a time slice and an unfinished process then returns to the back of the ready queue.
[1]
An operator presses a console button only a few times each day to request a cabinet status report. Explain one reason for using interrupt handling rather than repeatedly polling this button.
[2]
The design task and the print-management task run concurrently. State two system resources for which these tasks could experience resource contention.
[2]
State two differences between open-loop and closed-loop control of the drying cabinet.
[2]
Opening the cabinet door briefly causes its temperature to fall. Explain how a closed-loop control system could return the cabinet to the selected temperature and maintain it.
[4]
Question 3
Brindle Dispatch uses a workstation to record scanned parcels, print shipping labels and produce daily reports. Its operating system manages the workstation’s devices and allocates CPU time to these processes.
I.
State one function of an operating system other than scheduling.
[1]
II.
State two scheduling approaches that the operating system could use.
[2]
State one operation that an application can request through the operating system without directly controlling the hardware.
[1]
The label printer is replaced with a different model supported by the operating system. Explain how hardware abstraction allows the parcel application to continue printing without being rewritten to control the new printer directly.
[2]
Compare and contrast polling and interrupt handling for detecting input from the parcel scanner. Give three points.
[3]
The workstation uses priority scheduling. Label-printing processes have higher priority than report processes. Explain one disadvantage of this arrangement when label-printing processes arrive continuously.
[2]
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