A Web-Based Electronic Laboratory for
Operating Systems and Computer Networks

Steve Robbins
Division of Computer Science
The University of Texas at San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas 78249

This page is at http://vip.cs.utsa.edu/nsf/

This NSF-sponsored project is developing interactive laboratories to illustrate key system concepts such as scheduling, paging, communication and protocol synchronization. These projects are accessible through the web and many of them are based on student experimentation.

Prototype Operating Systems Project
Prototype Networks Project
Proposal Details

Prototype Operating Systems Project: Process Scheduling

Process Scheduling Simulator

This project is a Java applet which runs a simulation of the several process scheduling algorithms. Currently, the algorithms supported are round robin, first-come/first-served, shortest job first, and a short job first approximation.

The applet allows the user to create processes with fairly general properties. Total running time, cpu burst time, I/O burst times, and interarrival times can be chosen from constant, uniform, or exponential distributions.

The applet keeps track of the entire history of each process and allows for logging of detailed or summary information. Graphs can also be produced and logged. The log file produced is in HTML format and can be viewed directly from a browser. Details

Prototype Networks Project: Data Link Layer Protocols

Network Protocol Simulator

This project is a Java applet which runs an animated simulation of the six data link layer protocols described in Computer Networks, third edition, by Tanrnbaum.

The applet allows users to try out different parameters of the various protocolsand see what happens when certain types of errors occur.

The animation can be slowed down, speeded up, or paused at any time.
It can produce Gantt charts showing a record of a particular run.
It also allows two copies to be run in a synchronized manner so that two different protocols or parameter settings can be compared.

For each of the 6 protocols there are two to five scenarios built in to the simulator which illustrate the important features of the protocol.
For each of these scenarios, there is a visual commentary which traces the progress of the scenario.
Optionally, an audio commentary and/or sound effects can make it easier to follow what is happening. Details

Details of the grant proposal can be found here.

Many of the projects use animations developed with my JOTSA exact time animation package.