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BIOS - is an abbreviation for "basic input/output system". System is in the name. BIOSes offer system calls that tend to be backward compatible, so it's an OS
by xxs 8y ago
BIOS - is an abbreviation for "basic input/output system". System is in the name.
BIOSes offer system calls that tend to be backward compatible, so it's an OS of sorts.
- cyphar 8y agoUEFI is the successor to BIOS on modern machines, and it stands for "Universal Extensible Firmware Interface". Is it also an operating system (it doesn't have "system" in the name)? (I don't disagree with you -- UEFI provides BootServices which arguably are more numerous than the number of syscalls on most operating systems. Just that "system" being in the name isn't really the best argument. :P)
- xxs 8y agoIt was thought to be like that - back in the day when everything used interrupts for syscalls, hence 'system' was mentioned. (Apple II had fixed address calls, though - no interrupts) It's quite the same as DOS being 'disk operating system' - it was able to drive the floppy and provide a file system.