Operating Systems
The first operating system was developed in 1956, by General Motors (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_operating_systems).
It was called a mainframe, because of the big cabinet casing that housed the computer.
It consisted of a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and memory. IBM were next on the scene and developed their own mainframe operating systems. Operating systems would develop at an ever expanding rate up until the present day.
From big to small, they have massively reduced in size over the past 66 years of development.
People are more reliant on technology than ever, driving big business even bigger, employing more people, helping lives on a daily basis and assisting the future development of new human technologies for use here on earth and in other areas of the universe.
OS’s have hugely developed during the past 60+ years, but today the variety is far greater than yesteryear with business and home consumers benefiting on a higher level compared to at the beginning, when they first appeared on the market, for sale to customers.
The two (2) main types of operating systems for all-in-one’s, desktops, notebooks and servers are:
Commercial (Paid); and
Open-Source (Free)
Here is a list of the most popular operating systems used today:
Unix (Paid)
Linux (Free)
MS-DOS (Paid)
Mac-OS or iOS (Paid)
Windows (Paid)
Android OS (Paid for when purchasing the device)
Chrome OS (Paid for when purchasing the device)
FreeBSD (Free)
OpenBSD (Free)
There are many operating systems to choose from today.
Technology is far more compatible than what it was 25 years ago, so it is possible to install and operate OS’s onto computers built or designed and recommended for a different OS originally.
For example, it is possible to install a Linux OS distribution onto an Intel processor mainboard system, designed for Microsoft (MS) Windows.
Let’s take a look at these popular operating systems from the past up unto today:
Unix: Unix was developed as a commercial (paid) software product for sale back in the 1970’s and was sold to and bought by various companies and groups. Today, Unix is owned by Novell. Unix is traditionally a command-line OS, with no GUI (Graphical User Interface), just white or green text on a screen. It’s filesystem is based on a hierarchy standard, which utilises a non-GUI directory structure, similar to GUI desktop systems such as MacOS and Linux. Microsoft Windows uses a different type of filesystem hierarchy structure (see Filesystems below in Section 3.1). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filesystem_Hierarchy_Standard
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSolaris
Linux: Linux was invented in 1991 and today hosts the most number of internet web servers in the world, such as Apache. Linux is the graphical user interface (GUI) version of Unix. This means that it can be seen visually the same as the 'windows' style of desktop operating systems. It is fast and secure like Unix. Linux comes in many flavours, which means that it is made by different manufacturers with different models.
There are so many Linux distributions. Below are listed the most popular Linux OS distributions.
CentOS
Chrome OS
Debian
Debian Edu
Fedora
Kali
Linux Mint
Novell Open Enterprise Server
Oracle Linux
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Red Hat Linux
SUSE Linux Enterprise
Tails
Ubuntu (Ubuntu comes in many flavours)
https://ubuntu.com/desktop/flavours
Kubuntu (Plasma desktop with office suite applications)
Lubuntu (Simple and easy to use)
Ubuntu Budgie (Modern and fast)
Ubuntu Kylin (Chinese)
Ubuntu Mate (Traditional)
Ubuntu Studio (Music, Video, Graphics, Multimedia)
Xubuntu (Lightweight and stable)
Ubuntu Unity (Beautiful design)
MS-DOS: Microsoft (MS) Disk Operating System (DOS) was introduced commercially in 1981 and finished public releases of its OS in the year 2000. It is incorporated into their main commercially selling product, Microsoft Windows.
Microsoft Windows for desktop and Windows phone.
Apple MacOS for desktop and iOS for Apple iPhone smartphones and iPads.
Google Android for tablet, TV and smartphone.
Terminals: all of these OS’s used terminal applications, to write to the kernel (to program the computer). The kernel is the main part of the OS, which interacts with and controls: the CPU, memory, devices and applications (hardware and software). MS-DOS itself can be categorised as a terminal emulator which runs inside of the Microsoft Windows Operating System.
Filesystems
Filesystems are made of a directory structure, which means that for both non-GUI systems such as Unix and GUI systems, they are designed to be just like a physical filing cabinet from the days before computers. They include the filing cabinet (the root directory or base drive), which contain folders and then inside the folders, files are contained (stored or placed).
Basically filesystems are either:
Non-GUI (lines of code with no visual graphics such as Linux); or
GUI (visual graphics such as Windows, MacOS and Linux)
See the link below for all of the filesystems available.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_system
The Desktop
The desktop is a hierarchical filing and management GUI (Graphical User Interface) system which allows users to organise in order, files and folders with the freedom of movement of those virtual objects. It is a visual stepping stone into the virtual graphical world of digital electronic data management and is used across the world on desktops, servers, tablets and smartphones. It is the same style of management system, spread across a spectrum of operating systems. It powers most modern machinery.
List of Operating Systems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_operating_systems
The First Desktop Operating Systems with folders
The first desktop operating systems with folders was the 'oN-Line System,' (NLS), developed by Douglas Engelbart, in the 1960's at the Stanford Research Institute, USA.
It was further developed by Xerox and then Apple Computers. The Macintosh computer proved a hit, followed by Microsoft Windows.
Linux was developed later, in 1991 and became the GUI (Graphical User Interface) for Unix operating systems..
The basic idea is that the desktop file system operates as a GUI (Graphical User Interface) presented as a 'picture,' displayed in the same way that a television set does. It is organised into a virtual desktop file management system (DFMS) environment, made up of files and folders.
Just the same as a physical filing cabinet, the windows desktop style of operating systems are designed to allow users to store files in a personalised manner - i.e., folders can be created (made) anywhere within the hard drive, using the desktop file management system. Files can be stored in any folder, if you have access permissions to open the folder. All file and folder management is operated by using a left and right click action for the left and right buttons located at the front of the mouse, when using a mouse; or the left and right buttons under the touchpad for a notebook computer.
Files
A file can be of any type - i.e., a .mp4 file is a video file. A .docx file is a document file etc. etc.
Files are stored, rearranged and moved according to the user's requirements of each file.
Folders
Much like a metal filing cabinet tower, folders act like real folders inside a real filing cabinet. The virtual DFMS, is a virtual copy of a real (physical) filing cabinet. Just like a real filing cabinet has sliding folders with paper files inside them, the DFMS also has Folders which contain Files. That is the entire window-style file management system presented as a GUI - the entire system is moulded using Folders and Files.