Hardware and Operating Systems Flashcards

What type of storage device uses NAND flash memory and has no moving parts?

Answer: SSD (Solid State Drive)

SSDs use NAND flash memory chips with no mechanical parts, making them faster and more durable than traditional hard drives.

Which directory in a Linux system typically contains device files for hardware devices?

Answer: /dev

/dev contains device files (special files) that represent hardware devices such as disks, terminals, and printers.

What does the command 'free -h' display?

Answer: RAM and swap memory usage in human-readable format

free -h displays RAM and swap memory statistics in human-readable format using units like MB and GB.

What is the role of a device driver in Linux?

Answer: A kernel module that allows the OS to communicate with hardware

A device driver is a kernel module that provides an interface between the operating system and a specific hardware device.

Which command shows USB devices currently connected to the system?

Answer: lsusb

lsusb lists USB buses and the devices connected to them, displaying vendor/product IDs and descriptions.

What is the difference between 32-bit and 64-bit processor architectures?

Answer: 64-bit CPUs can address more memory and process larger data chunks per cycle

64-bit CPUs can address far more RAM (theoretically up to 18 EB) and process 64-bit data words per cycle, improving performance for large workloads.

On a Linux system, where are kernel modules typically stored?

Answer: /lib/modules//

Kernel modules are stored under /lib/modules// and are organized by subsystem type.