kernel that underlying system hardware devices

[shaharhada]

"OS kernel performs three primary jobs:

1. It provides the interfaces needed for users and applications to interact with the computer.
2. It launches and manages applications.
3. It manages the underlying system hardware devices."

(From: https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatacenter/definition/kernel)


What is the meaning of underlying?
What is the meaning of managing the underlying system devices?

 

[ex_bubblehead]

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/underlying

 

[hotaru.hino]

In the context of computers, you may hear of so called "levels." Levels are how close or far you are to the actual hardware.

"Low level" software means software that talks directly to the hardware. It understands everything about the hardware it's talking to. The downside is that software can't be run on any other hardware. For example, firmware is low level software. There's firmware for your hard drive, your network card, etc. You can't run say the hard drive's firmware on a network card and expect things to work. Low level software can provide an interface so that other software can talk to it. You can think of an interface like your TV's remote.

"High level" software is software that doesn't know much, if anything at all, about the hardware that it's running on. It only knows general ideas about the hardware. So for instance, your file browser knows there's a "storage drive", but it doesn't know what kind. Nor does it care. It will talk to lower level software to talk to the actual storage drive.

The OS more of a middle level software. It may not talk to most hardware directly, but it knows more about what hardware it's running on than say a web browser or a paint program. Knowing what hardware it's running on allows it to manage allocating hardware resources to other applications. Since there's still stuff running at a lower level than the OS, that's the "underlying" part.

 

[Colif]

OS Kernel acts as the glue that makes everything in the operating system work. Without it, windows crashes. Windows cannot do anything without the kernel. Every action has the kernel involved somewhere. Its why almost all the BSOD I see blame ntoskrnl which stands for New Technology Operating System Kernel. Its often the victim, rarely the cause.

Kernel has the highest level of access to the CPU, it controls everything.