a) either low or high memory (depending on the location of interrupt vector)
b) in the low memory
c) in the high memory
d) none of the mentioned
The exact placement of the operating system in memory depends on the architecture of the system. However, a common practice is to place it either in low memory or high memory.
- Low Memory: This was a common approach in older systems. Placing the OS in low memory often coincided with the placement of the interrupt vector, a table of addresses used to handle hardware interrupts. This arrangement simplified the process of handling interrupts.
- High Memory: In modern systems, there’s a trend towards placing the OS in higher memory addresses. This is often due to architectural reasons, memory management techniques, and to protect the OS from accidental overwrites.
Ultimately, the specific location of the operating system in memory is determined by the system’s design and the underlying hardware architecture.