By itself computing equipment is an inert paperweight with no wit or intelligence to do much of anything. What give it the look and feel is software – programs to provide the charm and utility that we have come to expect of these tireless servants. The first of these programs – software – is the one that guides the operation of the hardware and software toward the useful and useable.
In this exploration, you are to identify two operating systems – old or new – that you have used (or can find out about) and compare them on five topics
1. Name and hardware on which the OS runs
2. Chief characteristics of the System (e.g., 32 bit, multi-processor, etc.) that it
needs as a minimum.
3. Main built-in features which the system contains
4. Chief advantages of the OS
5. Disadvantage
Compose the answers to each question and email them to me as a word processed document or simply in the body of an email. The former method may be more convenient if you are doing two systems and are comparing the two as a table or double column document is easier in Word.

3b.
Operating Systems for Smart Devices
In the first part of this lab you found what operating system is used by “general purpose digital computers.” In this part of your operating system exploration, you should look at what and how contraptions that aren’t general purpose build their operating environment.
Computers – that is collections of on/off switches with access to instructions based on the binary system – can be extremely flexible or can be configured to do just a few well- chosen tasks. The modern automobile’s electronic ignition system is such a system as is even the “dumbest” digital phone.
While these dumb systems are interesting historically, they tend to have primitive, idiosyncratic operating systems. Smart devises in the same domain not only have really interesting operating systems but, as you will see in Lab 3, are part of a group of systems that foretell what our increasingly “robotic” world will be using in the future.
For this exercise, identify two smart devices then find out what they use for an operating system and why. Report on the following items for one point each:
1. Name and host for the operating system
2. General characteristics of the OS (open architecture, multi-tasking, etc.)
3. Under what auspicious are apps developed for it
4. Significant advantages of this system
5. Disadvantages
Compose the answers to each question and email them to me as a word processed document or simply in the body of an email. The former method may be more convenient if you are doing two systems and are comparing the two as a table or double column document is easier in Word.