Overview of IO Systems
Input/Output (I/O) systems are critical components of operating systems that manage the communication between the computer and external devices. This interactive visualization demonstrates key concepts of I/O systems, including device drivers, interrupt handling, and various I/O scheduling algorithms.
I/O Processing Steps
Application Request
Application initiates I/O request through system calls
Device Driver
OS device driver translates request to device-specific commands
Device Controller
Hardware controller manages actual device operation
Interrupt Handling
Device sends interrupt when operation completes
Completion
OS processes interrupt and notifies application
Interactive Simulations
Device Driver Communication
Interrupt Handling Process
I/O Scheduling Algorithms
Request Queue
Key Concepts
Device Drivers
Software components that allow the operating system to communicate with hardware devices. They translate generic OS requests into device-specific commands.
Interrupt Handling
Asynchronous signals sent by hardware devices to the CPU when they require attention. The OS uses interrupt handlers to process these signals efficiently.
I/O Scheduling
Algorithms that determine the order in which I/O requests are serviced to optimize disk performance and minimize seek time.
DMA (Direct Memory Access)
A feature that allows hardware devices to directly read from or write to system memory without CPU intervention, improving performance.