Computer Operating Systems

1.  Hand back quizzes and homework

2 .  Discussion of A+ in Depth, chapter 2

     Chapter 2 Objectives

     In this chapter, you will learn:

• How hardware and software interact
• How system resources help hardware and software communicate ·
• How an OS relates to BIOS, device drivers, and applications ·
• Different ways an OS can launch applications
  

Questions

a) Computer buses: the system bus has three components _________, _________, and __________

b) How do devices & peripherals connect/communicate with the computer?
     ___________, ________, _________

c) ISA slots now have ______  data lines
d) The Address Bus in modern PCs now have _____ data lines.
e) Each DMA channel uses ___ data lines
f)  Lines on the buses (data traces etched into the motherboard) may be used for four purposes:
    ________,  ________,   _________, __________

g) Serial and Parallel ports on a computer use fixed "port addresses" and IRQs to
    communicate with their attached devices.
    ________ Windows/DOS name for first serial port
    ________ Port Address for first serial port
    ________ IRQ for first serial port|

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4. Continue building new computers

   a) Fill in as many hardware details as you can about your computer on the hardware inventory
       sheet.
   b) Check to see whether hard disk and CD-ROM are recognized, using Windows 98 Startup
       disk. How (describe how you know whether the computer recognizes the CD-ROM and hard
       disk)?

   ______________________________________________________________________

   ______________________________________________________________________

    c) Does the hard disk have any partitions on it? _________. (Describe how to check for
        partitions, by running the FDISK program from the Windows 98 Startup disk)

  _________________________________________________________________

  _________________________________________________________________


 d)  If the hard disk has any partitions on it, use FDISK to delete them. Reboot the computer with the floppy drive empty. Can the computer boot to a C-prompt? ______. What error message do you get? _____________

e)   Reboot the computer from the Windows 98 Startup disk Read the startup message about the C-drive. What does the startup message tell you? ________________________________

From the A-prompt (A:\) run the command DIR C:   Do you see any files listed? _______. Run FDISK. Does the hard drive have any partitions configured? ___________

Can you explain why you see files on "C:\> when the hard disk has no c-drive partition?

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

f) Use FDISK to create a partition on drive C. Configure the partition to use half of the available space on the drive.

g) Reboot the computer from the W98 Startup floppy and when you get to the A-prompt, issue the command DIR C:\.  What's different this time?
(Is DOS trying to read a "virtual disk" created by the W98 Startup floppy, or is it trying to read the partition you created on the hard disk? _______

What do you need to do before DOS will read the partition on the hard disk? _____________

 

Homework:

Finish filling in blanks on Day 8 Agenda sheet.

Read FDISK.DOC, instructions for partitioning and formatting a hard disk under DOS/Windows 9.x.

Read A+ Chapter 2, pages 56-74 to learn about real mode vs. protected mode, and how the OS uses BIOS and Device drivers. Read Chapter Summary on page 72 and make note of any bullet items that you don't understand or want a better explanation for. Write vocabulary definitions for key terms A-M on page 73.

CPUs  (We'll get to this when we're done building the computers)

Study Meyers Lab 2.1, if you have the manual.

See MCMCSE Study Guide- Processors for more notes on CPUs http://www.mcmcse.com/comptia/aplus/notes/processor.shtml

See Geek.com (http://www.geek.com/procspec/procspec.htm) for a near-complete listing of Intel CPUs.
See Erols com (http://users.erols.com/chare/sockets.htm) and CPU Socket and Slot Criteria for pictures and info about CPUs, sockets, and slots.

On Thursday, if all goes well, we will begin installing Windows 98 on the computers we're building..