Professional Documents
Culture Documents
June 2005
© SQA
Computer Operating Systems 1 DH33 34
Acknowledgements
SQA and COLEG wish to thank James Watt College and West Lothian College for the
development of this material.
Grateful thanks are expressed to the Microsoft Corporation for permission to use
screen shots throughout this publication.
© Scottish Qualifications Authority – Material developed by James Watt College of Further and
Higher Education.
This publication is licensed by SQA to COLEG for use by Scotland’s Colleges as commissioned
materials under the terms and conditions of COLEG’s Intellectual Property Rights document,
September 2004.
No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior written consent of COLEG and
SQA.
Contents
Acknowledgements 2
Outcomes 7
Unit structure 8
Assessment information 13
Drive letters 31
Answers to SAQ 65
Answers to activities 66
Controlling printing 87
Answers to SAQ 91
Outcomes
The unit comprises four outcomes.
• Outcome 1 – Describe the structure and function of an operating system.
• Outcome 2 – Use a graphical environment to operate a computer.
• Outcome 3 – Install and configure an operating environment.
• Outcome 4 – Install and configure system and application software.
The first outcome is theoretical and ensures the candidate develops a knowledge of the
structure of a modern operating system and understands the functions and
relationships between main functional elements of such a system.
The second outcome covers the effective basic operation and control of a computer
using a graphical environment such as Microsoft Windows or a UNIX/Linux-based
graphical environment such as X-windows.
The third outcome covers the installation and configuration of operating systems. You
will gain experience of installing and setting up both a command line environment and
then a more complex, graphical operating system such as Windows.
The final outcome covers the effective installation of different types of system and user
software, including device drivers, utility programs and generic application programs.
Note that, although less used these days by ordinary users, command line skills are
still considered important and are required in particular if the student wishes to attempt
more technical units such as HN unit Computer Hardware: Hardware Installation and
Maintenance & Fault Finding or if working in an IT support role.
It is important to appreciate that, despite a practical requirement to install and configure
the MS-DOS 6.22 command line environment, its use will not be assessed here.
The required command line skills are developed in HN units such as Computer
Operating Systems 2 and Multi User Operating Systems.
Unit structure
This unit contains the following study sections:
Approx.
Section number and title study time
1 The structure and function of an operating system 10 hours
2 Using a graphical environment to operate a computer 7 hours
3 Install and configure operating environments 12 hours
4 Install and configure system and application software 11 hours
? 1
Activity
A 1
This symbol indicates an activity, which is normally a task you will be asked to do that
should improve or consolidate your understanding of the subject in general or a
particular feature of it.
Remember that the SAQs and activities contained within your package are intended to
allow you to check your understanding and monitor your own progress throughout the
course. It goes without saying that the answers to these should only be checked after
the SAQ or activity has been completed. If you refer to these answers before
completing the SAQs or activities, you cannot expect to get maximum benefit from your
course.
T 1
This symbol means that a tutor assignment is to follow. These will be found at the end
of each study section. The aim of the tutor assignment is to cover and/or incorporate
the main topics of the section and prepare you for unit (summative) outcome
assessment.
Section 2
Parts 1 and 2:
• Access to a computer with no critical data or applications loaded (all the directories
and files stored in the computer will be removed).
• A set of MS-DOS version 6.22 installation disks (consisting of three 1.44MB double-
sided, high-density 3½ inch floppy disks).
• A working printer attached to the PC.
Parts 3 and 4:
• Access to a computer with no operating system installed. A hard disk drive of at
least 2GB capacity and a minimum of 128MB of RAM is recommended.
• A Microsoft Windows XP installation compact disk, with End User Licence
Agreement (EUL)A and CD key.
• A computer with the capability of booting from CD or a bootable 3½ inch floppy disk
that provides a generic CD driver.
Section 3
Parts 1 and 2:
• Access to a computer with no critical data or applications loaded (all the directories
and files stored in the computer will be removed).
• A set of MS-DOS version 6.22 installation disks (consisting of three 1.44MB double-
sided, high-density 3½ inch floppy disks).
• A working printer attached to the PC.
Parts 3 and 4:
• Access to a computer with no operating system installed. A hard disk drive of at
least 2GB capacity and a minimum of 128MB of RAM is recommended.
• A Microsoft Windows XP installation compact disk, with EULA and CD key.
• A computer with the capability of booting from CD or a bootable 3½ inch floppy disk
that provides a generic CD driver.
Section 4
• A stand-alone PC with Windows XP installed as the operating system.
• Use will be made of the Start/Run/cmd Windows option to launch an MS-DOS
session (also using the Alt + Return feature to switch to full-screen mode).
• A supply of work log sheets either supplied by the tutor or copied from the end
of this unit.
Assessment information
How you will be assessed
The first outcome requires candidates to produce responses to written questions
testing underpinning knowledge. The other three outcomes are practical in nature and
could be assessed either by a separate method of assessment for each outcome or by
a single, workbook-style method containing a number of assessment tasks. Candidates
will be required to submit a log of each assessment task and should be observed by an
assessor to ensure the work is valid. Assessment is therefore to be carried out in
supervised conditions.
A 1.1
Research and record information about single user, single task operating systems.
Useful URLs:
http://www.imsai.net/history/imsai_history/cp-m_history.htm
http://members.fortunecity.com/pcmuseum/dos.htm
Useful texts:
The P.C. Support Handbook, The Configuration & Systems Guide by David Dick (page
44 onwards).
A 1.2
Research and record information about current single user, multi-tasking operating
systems.
Summarise the historical development of versions of Microsoft® Windows to the
present day.
Useful URLs:
http://www.levenez.com/windows/
http://members.fortunecity.com/pcmuseum/windows.htm
Multi-user, multi-tasking
Larger computers, being more powerful and more expensive than a PC, are normally
used by more than one person at the same time. Each user sits at their own terminal –
a screen and keyboard just like that on a PC – which sends their commands to the
central computer and displays its responses.
Multi-user systems can split each user’s time up even further, so that each person
appears to be running more than one program at once. The more each user tries to do,
the slower their programs will appear to run, as their time slice has to be split between
all their different tasks.
Traditional multi-user systems offered only simple text-only terminals with none of the
sophistication of the graphics seen on PCs, but modern terminals offer a full graphical
interface.
So how does a computer spread itself among lots of users? Well, that depends on the
way it is designed.
Examples: UNIX, Linux, Solaris.
A 1.3
they want to communicate with the computer or run a program, it has to be shared.
This is done by dividing up the processor’s time into short intervals and allocating one
of these time slices to each user. So, the processor will service the first user for a few
milliseconds, then the second, then the next and so on. As the time slices are short and
each user is serviced many times every second, all the users have the impression that
their programs are running continuously.
Distributed systems
Here, the user ‘sees’ a single computer system, but it is actually constructed from a
number of different host computers, which are connected together. This is completely
transparent to the user – all decisions about which specific computer any individual
user or program will use are taken by the distributed system’s operating system. Each
individual host within such a distributed system could be any type of computer, from a
single-processor PC up to a supercomputer.
Networked PCs
Increasingly often, businesses are deciding not to use large, multi-user computers but
to provide each user with their own single-user system and connect them together
using a local area network (LAN). A LAN requires the use of a network interface card
(NIC) in each computer, and the cards are connected by cable. The most common
cable type in use today is unshielded twisted-pair copper cable. It is also necessary to
use a network operating system (NOS) to provide the additional functionality required
by a network.
A network can provide the best of both worlds – each user has their own PC, and it is
able to access centrally stored information, and exchange files and electronic mail
easily with any other user connected to the network. Sharing common resources such
as printers, CD drives and modems, to name but a few, is another benefit of networked
systems.
Examples: Windows 2000 Server, Novell Netware and UNIX/Linux.
A 1.4
© SQA Version 1 22 Developed by COLEG
Computer Operating Systems 1 DH33 34
Batch processing
When general-purpose computers were first developed commercially in the 1960s and
1970s, they were not the small, powerful, interactive tools we see on our desks
nowadays. Originally it was not possible for users to interact with the computer directly
at all – their programs had to be produced on a stack of punched cards, which were fed
into the computer by an operator and the results (eventually) delivered back in the form
of a pile of printout.
Such computers were used mainly by business for batch operations such as
calculating and printing customers’ bills, often running on such a single task for hours
or days at a time.
Although all large modern computers can provide interactive multi-user capabilities,
batch operations are still a common and effective method of working. Banks, for
example, process millions of cheques each month; these are not entered individually
by hand but are processed together in a long run, usually overnight.
A key feature of batch processing is that it is very far from being real-time! If you buy
something with your credit card, this does not produce an immediate response from the
bank’s computer – no interrupt is generated to make you immediately poorer! There
may indeed be quite a delay between the event and it being processed – anything from
hours to days.
Another term often used for such an operation is background processing – the long,
non-interactive job is executed ‘in the background’, often while users and other
programs are interacting with the system in real time.
File Management
System
Kernel
Memory Management
N.B. Commands in UNIX/Linux are case sensitive. The above command comprises the
lower case letter ‘l’ and a lower case ‘s’. The first character in the command is not the
numeral ‘1’.
A switch is a control we want to apply to a command, to modify the way it executes or
how it displays its output. In MS-DOS, switches are usually preceded by the forward
slash character, ‘/’, and are placed at the end of the command line after all parameters.
For example:
C:> dir windows /p
This lists the files in the windows folder as before, but this time if there are too many to
fit on the screen without scrolling, it pauses the output until a key is pressed after each
screenful to give us the chance to read it. The result of running the above command
would look something like the following:
Volume in drive C is OS
Volume Serial Number is 2245-1B01
Directory of C:\WINDOWS
$ ls -l
which displays detailed (in long format) information about each file. Note the subtle
difference in syntax. The DOS switch is preceded by a ‘/’, while the UNIX/Linux switch
is preceded by a ‘ – ‘.
Other operating systems offer similar command-line functions, although they may have
different names and use different switches.
Dialogue Box
Radio Buttons
Check boxes
Edit Box
Microsoft Corporation
If we wanted to obtain a listing of the contents of a directory (or folder) using Windows
2000, then by double clicking on a particular drive icon and then the given folder’s icon,
the output to screen could be similar to the one shown.
Microsoft Corporation
Drive letters
Firstly, let us consider the drive letters assigned to the various disk drives and how they
come to be. As you will already be aware, the floppy disk drive (if your computer still
has one) is the A: drive, the hard disk drive is the C: drive with the CD drive (in most
cases) the D: drive.
Why is the main storage medium known as the C: drive, and not as you might expect,
the A: drive?
To answer this question we must go back in history to a time when computers did not
have a hard disk drive (HDD). These computers had two floppy disk drives (FDDs)
which were assigned the letters A: and B:. The A: drive was the boot device (i.e. where
the computer looked for the system files which allowed it to start). A system disk was
inserted into this drive, and the machine was switched on. The second drive (B:) was
used to hold a disk which served as a storage medium for programs and the data used
by these. These early floppy disks had very limited storage capacity (360KB, 720KB or
1.44MB). As applications became more sophisticated (required more storage space),
and the amounts of data being processed increased, it became more and more difficult
to have all the necessary information stored on one disk. The HDD evolved and it was
assigned the next available letter (C:).
The first level of ‘real’ operating system we will
meet is the file system. This is the layer of
system software responsible for organising and
managing the storage of data on a permanent
medium. Most of this storage is still magnetic, in
the form of hard and floppy disk drives (and
perhaps tape streamers), although optical media
A: such as CD-ROM and DVD together with
external semiconductor EEPROM devices
(‘travelling disks’ connected to a universal serial
bus) are becoming more common.
C: Concepts
On any computer system, it is desirable that
users have a way of storing and retrieving their
information, and programs are available for
loading into memory whenever they are
D: required. This leads us to the idea of a file
system, where information is structured and
organised in a similar way to any kind of manual
storage system.
Imagine the computer as a filing cabinet as represented above. We can picture each
disk drive as a drawer in the cabinet, capable of holding our information. We could just
fill a drawer by throwing individual sheets of paper into it in no particular order but, as
we all know, finding something again in such a mess is a slow and difficult process!
Instead, we would normally staple or clip together pages which were connected (such
as those making up a letter). We can organise computer storage similarly – each
document we create is stored as a single entity called a file.
Again using our filing cabinet analogy, we could organise things even better by placing
folders into the drawer and filing documents sharing a common topic in the same
folder. A computer file system lets us do just that – we can create folders, also known
as directories, to hold files we would like to group together (for example all the chapters
of a book or all the bills we have sent to a particular client).
Letters
Chapter 1
Root Book Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Programs
Each file and folder must be given a name, and this must be one which has not already
been used for a file or folder at the same level (i.e. inside the same folder). So, in the
example above, we could not have two letters with the same name, although we could
have a letter with the same name as one of the documents in, say, Chapter 2 of our
book.
On most multi-user systems, each user is given a directory somewhere in the file
system (usually called by their name) and can then organise folders and files within
that as they choose. The overall structure is created and maintained by the system
administrator. A user would not normally be able to see anyone else’s directory – the
file management system would protect each user’s files from everyone else. If you
wanted to share a file with a colleague, however, the administrator could tell the file
system that you wanted to do so, and to specify who was to have access. You could
also say whether your colleague was to be allowed to modify the document, or merely
to read it, and you can usually specify a range of permissions for different categories or
groups of users.
Track 79
Track 78
Track 77
Track 3
Track 2
Track 1
Track 0
Floppy disks normally have 80 tracks on each side of the disk, and are split into 18
sectors. Hard disks can store data much more densely, and will have hundreds or even
thousands of tracks, usually split into 63 sectors.
Example:
A 3.5" floppy disk with 80 tracks and 18 sectors will have 80 x 18 = 1,440 storage
units.
Each holds 512 bytes, so the disk can hold 1,440 x 512 = 737,280 bytes
(720Kbytes) per side. As each disk is double-sided, this gives us a total of 2 x 720 =
1,400Kbytes (1.4Mbytes) per disk.
Directories
We have already met the idea of directories, or folders, when we looked at organising
our files. But what are they? Well, each folder, including the root, is a structured list (or
table) held on disk and maintained by the file system.
Each entry in the table (a directory entry) relates to the properties of a single file or
folder. An entry will typically contain the name of the file or folder and information about
its status – whether it is read-only, or can be modified or deleted; which users are
allowed to access it (in a multi-user or network situation), and whether it has any
special status (if it is a file connected with operating system itself, or if it is hidden from
users).
An entry will also contain some information relating to how big the file is, and where on
disk the file is stored (or, if it is another folder, where on disk its directory table is
stored). There are several different methods used for this which are dependent on the
system used for allocating and keeping track of free disk space.
A typical method is that used by Windows, where each directory entry contains the
number of the cluster which holds the start of the file’s data. If the file is smaller than
the cluster size for that disk, then this cluster will contain the whole file, and we need to
store no other information. But what happens if the file is larger than a single cluster?
How do we know where the rest of it is stored?
There are three possible solutions to this. Firstly, we could insist that files are stored
contiguously – then, as we know the first cluster and the file’s size, we shouldn’t have
any problem finding its data. This has the advantage of being extremely simple –
what’s the catch? Well, what happens if we still have lots of free space dotted about
our disk, but we try to save a file which is larger than any single available free area?
Our simple system has no way to split such a file up, so we are sunk. Also, this system
makes it impossible for us to easily know which areas on the disk are used and which
are free – we would need to maintain a separate free space map, which would occupy
additional space on disk and slow down the file system.
Alternatively, we could use a little of the space in each cluster to hold a pointer to the
next one (and possibly to the previous one as well, for clusters after the first, in case
something goes wrong). This is a technique called a linked list – it has many
advantages over a contiguous allocation system, but it also has disadvantages. Most
significantly, the input/output system has no idea where it will be going to read the next
cluster until it actually reads the previous one. This may not seem important, but it
badly affects performance in systems which attempt to automatically read ahead, or
buffer, data to speed up file access. Like contiguous allocation, this system also
suffers from the need to maintain some kind of separate free space map so we know
which clusters are available for allocation to a new or enlarged file.
The third solution (and the one adopted by Windows) is to use an index table called
the file allocation table (FAT). The table has as many entries as there are clusters on
the disk and the start cluster number from a file’s directory entry is used to point into
the table. This entry contains the number of the next cluster allocated for that file (or a
special value such as –1 if it is the end cluster), and this is used to point into the table
again and get the next cluster number, and so on until all the file’s clusters have been
accounted for. Not only does this system give us a compact and fast look-up table to
find all the clusters used for a particular file, but it also doubles as a free space map!
Any cluster which has not been allocated has another special value (such as –8) in its
entry in the table, and we can find a free cluster to allocate to a file simply by looking
through the table from the start until we meet an entry with this value.
The main drawback to this system is its vulnerability. If the index table is damaged or
destroyed, we have lost all of the information we need to know which cluster belongs to
which file – all we would have left is the first cluster number for each file from its
directory entry. For this reason Windows actually keeps backup copies of the FAT on
every disk, enabling system utility software to check and repair the FAT. It is also
common to keep an additional copy of the FAT as data in a special file, which gets
updated every time the computer starts up.
The FAT made use of by Windows has evolved over the years to cater for the
demands of larger capacity disk drives; these changes are reflected in the progressive
FAT16, FAT32 and NT File System (NTFS) metadata techniques.
An alternative to the index table system is used by UNIX and CP/M. Here, each file has
a block of data associated with it (its directory entry in CP/M, or its I-node entry in
UNIX), which includes a list of some or all of the data block numbers used to store its
data.
Disk management
The space on any disk drive is finite, and it would be unfair if any one process or user
were able to use so much of it that other processes were left with too little. To prevent
this, the file system in many advanced operating systems divides up available disk
space and allocates it as equally as possible to different users and to different
processes when they run. Where a process is given a proportional share of whatever
space is free at the time it runs, the form of allocation is called dynamic. Often,
however, each user on a multi-user system will be allocated a fixed amount of disk
space, which is the maximum available to them and their programs in total. This can
only be varied by applying to the system administrator and is known as static
allocation. Note that most single-user operating systems, including MS-DOS and
Windows, perform no form of disk space allocation. It is then left up to the user how
disk space will be used, and any program can use as much space as it wants.
File management
Even on a single-user system, we need to be careful about how information in files is
shared. What if one program tries to read information from a file at the same time that
another process or program is modifying it? The first program would not know whether
each piece of the information it read was old or new, and would end up with
inconsistencies in the data it was working with.
To prevent this, the file system controls access to shared files. When a program asks
the operating system to open a file for it to use, this is only permitted if no other
process is using the file at that time. If the file is already in use, the program has to wait
until it is free – just like borrowing a library book. This system is known as file locking
and is supported by most operating systems, including Windows. It has the advantage
that it is simple to implement but has one major disadvantage – the entire file is locked
and unavailable to other programs for an indeterminate time. If it is a large and
important file, for example a company database, many different programs or users may
be wanting access almost all the time. So how can they share the file more efficiently?
The key is to realise that these different users or programs are each likely to only want
access to one relatively small part of the file at a time – and these are likely to be
different parts. We could therefore split the file up into sections, or records, and lock
each section separately. When a program moves on to use a different part of the file,
the section it was using becomes unlocked and available for another process to
access. The optimum size for each record is a complex issue, but is generally not large
and may be as small as 128 bytes. This system of access control is called record
locking and is commonly found on multi-user or networked computers. It is supported
by UNIX and Windows, although programs which wish to use record locking must be
written specially to do so. If this is not done, then only the less efficient file locking will
be available to that program when it runs.
Character I/O
This is characterised (pardon the pun!) by the small amount of data to be transferred
on each interrupt. This is not to say that overall a great deal of data may not be coming
or going, just that at any one time we are only dealing with one element, usually an 8-
bit byte or ASCII character.
Typical character-mode devices are the keyboard, mouse, joysticks, communication
ports and printers. Usually when an interrupt is received an I/O process is called, which
will carry out the actual reading or writing of the data, sending it to or getting from the
higher-level layer or application which is using the device concerned.
Block I/O
This is required where lots of data (for example, a 2,048 byte disk block) has to be read
into or written back out from memory. While it is possible for block mode I/O to be
carried out in just the same way as character mode, by a process reading or writing the
data one byte after another as quickly as possible, this is an awful waste of the
processor’s time.
Instead, it is normal for the interrupting device to carry out the transfer of the data into
memory by itself, using hardware. This is known as direct memory access (DMA), as it
is used wherever large amounts of data need to be transferred between a device and
contiguous memory locations as a block.
All that the I/O process needs to do is tell the device where in memory to start dumping
the data and when to start. Another interrupt will then be received when the device has
finished transferring the data, and the I/O process then sends a message to the higher-
level process telling it the data it wanted has arrived or been safely written out.
Device drivers/handlers
What is a device driver? One definition of a device driver is:
‘A program which controls a particular type of device that is attached to your computer.’
There are device drivers for printers, displays, CD-ROM readers, diskette drives, and
so on. When you buy an operating system, many device drivers are built into the
product. However, if you later buy a new type of device that the operating system didn't
anticipate, you'll have to install the new device driver. A device driver essentially
converts the more general I/O instructions of the operating system to messages that
the device type can understand.
Some Windows programs are virtual device drivers. These programs interface with the
Windows virtual machine manager. There is a virtual device driver for each main
hardware device in the system, including the hard disk drive controller, keyboard, and
serial and parallel ports. They are used to maintain the status of a hardware device that
has changeable settings. Virtual device drivers handle software interrupts from the
system rather than hardware interrupts.
In Windows operating systems, a device driver file usually has a file name suffix of DLL
or EXE. A virtual device driver usually has the suffix of VXD.
In a PC, neither the OS nor the Read Only Memory Basic Input/Output System
(ROMBIOS) contains code to deal with every type of I/O device which may be attached
to a computer, only the basic ones. If a more sophisticated device is added, for
example a higher-performance Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) disc drive, a
scanner or a modem, then some special software must be added to the operating
system. Other operating systems, such as UNIX, require such software for all input and
output devices attached to the system.
Such a program is called a device driver, or a device handler, and contains all the
program code needed to communicate with the device. It is not held in read-only
memory (ROM) like the BIOS, but is loaded into RAM from disk every time the
computer starts up. Once a device driver is loaded, the kernel is able to call one of the
device driver processes to deal with any interrupt from the device, and the I/O system
can use device driver processes to control it.
Device management
Where more than one program or process may want to use a peripheral device (such
as the printer we used as an example earlier), the I/O system is responsible for
controlling and sharing access to the device.
Perhaps the most common devices which have to be shared are printers. As a printer
can obviously only print one document at a time, simply locking the printer as if it were
a file would mean other programs waiting a very long time to print. Instead, it is more
efficient if the I/O system takes care of holding print jobs in a print queue, and
pretends to each program that its document has been printed immediately.
All the queued documents are held in a special file on disk, called a spool file. The I/O
system process which controls this is called a print spooler. It is usually possible to
control the operation of the print spooler from the user interface or with a utility program
– this lets us change the order in which queued jobs are printed (if one is urgent, for
example), or we could remove a job from the queue to save paper if we discover a
mistake in our document before it gets printed.
Other devices such as hard disk drives and CD-ROMs can also be shared, and
typically the I/O system makes sure that requests from the file system to access
information stored on different parts of a disk are sorted into the most appropriate order
before carrying them out.
What is memory?
Semiconductor memory is used to hold the programs which the processor is currently
executing as well as any data these programs are using. So, for example, when you
run a word processor program, both the program and any documents you type using it
are held in memory. Only when you save your document as a file does it actually get
written to disk in permanent form – most memory is volatile (it loses all the information
it holds when the computer is turned off).
Computers contain two principal types of memory. Most of the memory found in a
modern PC is RAM – this is the volatile stuff used to hold the programs you load from
disk, and their data.
The second form is ROM. This is memory which can only be read from; its contents
cannot normally be altered after it is manufactured. It also has the useful feature of
being non-volatile – unlike RAM, ROM doesn’t lose its content when switched off.
Together, these features make ROM ideal for one particular purpose – holding the
computer’s BIOS or start-up program.
Memory management
At its simplest, memory management consists of loading a single program from disk
and allowing it free use of all the memory it can find. This was the approach adopted by
the older and now essentially obsolete single-user, single-tasking operating systems
such as CP/M and MS-DOS. In fact, later versions of both developed some ability to
have more than one program loaded at once and therefore also had to develop some
basic management facilities to ensure that physical memory was shared fairly between
them. Even then, if a program wanted more memory than was physically present or
allocated to it, it could not proceed and would usually freeze!
More complex situations arise, however, in any system which supports true multi-
tasking or is multi-user. Here, there is usually no effective limit on the number of
programs a user can load and run simultaneously, or to the amounts of memory each
may demand for its data. Obviously, no matter how much physical memory is present it
will, sooner or later, not be enough! On such systems, it is not good enough to refuse
the program the memory it needs; some method has to be contrived to provide it.
When a program demands the use of an area of memory which is not physically
present, the memory management layer of the operating system is invoked – usually
by a special interrupt generated by the processor itself. The program is not aware that
it has been paused, but the operating system now has the chance to do something to
get the program some memory from somewhere before letting it continue. So how do
we produce memory which does not exist – rabbit-like, from a hat? Almost! If we have
run out of the real thing, we must invent some fake stuff – known more formally as
virtual memory.
Protection
Usually, we would not want one process to be able to access memory used by another,
or by the operating system! To prevent this, segments are tagged with information
about which process ‘owns’ them, who else is permitted access and whether these
‘visiting’ processes are allowed to modify the contents of the segment or merely to read
data from it. Any attempt by a process to use a memory segment to which it has not
been granted access will be prevented.
Paging
The simplest solution to this apparent conundrum is to divide our physical memory into
a number of logical pages. When a program requires memory, either for itself when it is
loaded or later when it requests some extra for its data, we allocate it a number of
pages.
So what happens when all the pages are in use, and a program requests some more?
The memory management system looks through its records for a page which has either
been in memory the longest (the least recently loaded method) or which has not
actually been used for the longest time (the least recently used method). When the
most suitable page has been found, it is removed from memory and written out to a
special system file on the hard disk – the swap file. The page requested by the running
program is then read from disk into the now vacant page. This process is known as
swapping and provides a way of giving programs an apparently limitless amount of
virtual memory.
When a page which has been swapped out to the swap file on the hard disk is required
by a program, the memory manager is again triggered by the processor and can swap
the required page back into memory.
There is one apparent problem with this system – the pages of physical memory which
are swapped out to make room are unlikely to be the same pages that the program
wants to use. If a program requests Page 6, for example, what use is it to find that the
least recently used page was Page 3 and swapping that? The program does not know
anything about the swapping process, remember – it simply expects to find its memory
at the location it looks for it!
This is the real significance of virtual memory. Swapping is only part of the story.
Hardware, either within the processor or in a special chip called a memory
management unit (MMU), automatically translates the logical addresses used by
programs into the physical addresses corresponding to where the information is
actually stored. This process is also quite transparent to a program – it looks in
memory location 1234 for a piece of data and has absolutely no idea that it has actually
been re-directed to physical address 6789!
The mapping process uses a page table held in a special protected area of memory.
The program issues an address (the memory location it wants to access) to the
processor, which is split into two parts – the page number and an offset within that
page. Hardware in the MMU uses the page number to look up the page table; the entry
in the table at that position is the physical page number where the page is loaded, and
some other important information (called its tag) such as when the page was last used,
whether it has been modified – and whether it is actually present in memory at the time!
Program address
Page number Offset
If it is not present, perhaps it has been swapped out of memory – and another page
must be swapped out to make room for it; this can be accomplished by the memory
manager.
Segmentation
The major drawback to paging as a memory management system is that by definition
all the pages are the same size. If our pages are large, we are likely to waste memory
as many processes will not use the whole of every page allocated. If, on the other
hand, we make the pages small we will have a large number of them, will need to swap
them more often and will need large page tables which themselves will take up large
amounts of memory!
A more flexible and efficient management system is provided by segmentation – but
this is also significantly more complex, and we won’t examine it in detail here.
Basically, it allows memory to be divided up into variable-sized blocks; programmers
define the amount of memory required by a process when it is written, and this is the
size of the segment which will be allocated to the process by the MMU when it runs.
Segments are also used to implement protection schemes.
Processes
In all but the most primitive operating systems, some form of multi-tasking is
supported, where the computer is able to run more than one program, or support more
than a single user, at the same time. We call each program or subprogram, capable of
simultaneous execution, a process.
The kernel is responsible for sharing resources and time between all the different
processes competing for attention, and for enabling them to communicate with each
other.
Scheduling
In an ideal world, every process would be created equal and would have the same
length of time slices in which to use the processor. In reality, of course, things are
never that simple! Different processes may have different needs, or one may be more
urgent or important than another. Some processes may be eligible to run but might not
be able to do anything because they are waiting on another process completing or on a
device to become available – surely we should not let them waste their time slices
doing nothing?
To ensure the processor is used efficiently and that processes are given the facilities
they require, the kernel allocates each a priority. This may be assigned by a user, or
may be set or varied by the system depending on what the process is doing. The
overall amount of time a process gets to execute on the processor, or how frequently it
is given a time slice, is determined by its priority – the higher the priority, the faster it
will execute.
The kernel also groups processes into one of three states. A process is running if it is
currently executing on the processor. When its time slice ends, it rejoins all the other
active processes in the process queue and is classed as waiting or ready. If a
process is stuck, waiting for a specific event to occur (another process to send it a
signal or a device to become free) it is removed from the active process queue and
classed as blocked or suspended. It will not be given any time on the processor until
the event it is waiting for occurs. See the diagram that follows.
running
1 Process waits for signal
2 Scheduler picks another
1 3
process
2
3 Scheduler picks this process
blocked ready 4 Signal arrives; process ready to
proceed
4
Interrupts
Whenever the processor receives an interrupt, a special process within the kernel,
called an interrupt handler, is executed. This is responsible for determining what
external condition caused the interrupt signal, turning it off, and ensuring that an
appropriate process, usually from a higher operating system layer, is called in to deal
with the event in detail. The processor is then made ready to receive another interrupt.
Error handling
Sometimes an interrupt will be generated not by an external device but by the
processor or the MMU when something goes wrong with a program. Alternatively, if a
program realises that a serious problem has arisen, it can ask the operating system for
help in closing itself down safely.
When an error occurs, it is the kernel’s responsibility to terminate the process which
produced it and to ‘clear up’ after it by telling the other higher layers to release any
resources in use by the process.
A 1.5
Using the WWW carry out a search to find other sources of third-party utility programs.
URL Description of site
Utility programs exist to provide the user with access to operating system functions or
to extend or enhance those functions. Consequently, there are a great many types of
such programs, which are supplied either by the manufacturer together with the
operating system, or by third-party developers.
Most such programs can be categorised into one of a number of broad groups and we
will look at some of these in more detail.
The first, and largest, group is concerned directly with giving the user control over
operating system functions, or with optimising the way the system operates.
File management
One of the most important types of utility program allows the user to organise and
control their file system.
This is implemented by system utility programs, such as Windows Explorer in Windows
systems and an Explorer lookalike in Linux-based systems. These programs display a
visual representation of the disk and file system, showing folders and files graphically
and allowing the user to operate more intuitively, for example by using ‘drag and drop’
to copy or move a file with the mouse. Alternative third-party file management utilities
are also available.
A 1.6
In the following table enter the operating system you are using for this course. Enter
the name/location of the supplied file management utility and then find a third-party
utility that does a similar job.
If you are allowed, install the utility and try it out. Make some comment about how it
differs from the supplied utility.
Comments:
Disk fragmentation
When we looked at the physical structure of a file system earlier, we saw that most
operating systems store files in numbered blocks, or clusters, which need not be
contiguous. When a disk is empty, a file which is stored on it is in fact likely to be stored
contiguously, as there is no difficulty in doing that. But what happens once we start
deleting files and storing new ones in their place? The space freed by deleted files
could be anywhere on the disk, and any file we save now is likely to have its clusters
spread all over the disk.
Although this is not a problem for the file system to manage, and is quite transparent to
the user, it does pose something of a problem for the I/O system. It is a lot faster to
read or write a file which is stored contiguously than one split up in areas of the disk
which may be a long way apart. When files become badly fragmented in this way, the
I/O system spends significantly more (wasted) time just moving the read/write heads
across the disk to go from one file block to the next than it spends actually transferring
data. Eventually, disk performance degrades to an appreciable extent and the user will
notice that programs are taking much longer to load and it is taking very much longer to
load and save files, especially large ones.
To fix the problem, it is necessary to run a utility program designed to defragment the
disk. This operation will take a significant length of time (up to several hours for a large,
badly fragmented disk), and swaps individual clusters all over the disk so that when it is
finished all files are stored contiguously. Defragmentation programs will usually provide
a choice between a long, thorough operation and a faster, less effective one.
A 1.7
In the following table enter the operating system you are using for this course. Enter
the name/location of the supplied defragmentation utility. Search the WWW for a few
third-party utilities that do a similar job.
List the name of the utility and a location (URL) where it can be found.
O/S Supplied utility
Disk compression
There seems to be a basic law in computing that however unimaginably vast your hard
disk may seem when you first buy it, within a relatively short time it will be full! Like
RAM, it seems that you can never have too much hard disk space. The obvious,
though expensive, answer is to simply add another disk drive. An alternative solution is
to use some fancy software to compress the data on your disk so that it takes up less
space – and now you have tens or hundreds of megabytes free again, just like magic!
So what’s the catch? Well, compression is essentially a complex mathematical process
and every time you load or save a file the processor has to do a lot of calculations to
expand or compress the data stream. The reason that disk compression software is a
relatively recent development is that until processors got fast and powerful enough, it
simply wasn’t worth doing. With a slow processor, the delays introduced by the
compression calculations would be unacceptable.
The amount of space available on a compressed drive is never certain! The exact
degree of compression which is achieved is entirely dependent on the type of data the
files on the disk contain. Files containing regular, repeating data such as bit-mapped
graphics and text files compress very well; files containing more randomised data such
as programs often do not. Always treat figures for free space on a compressed drive as
an estimate only!
A 1.8
In the following table enter the operating system you are using for this course. Enter
the name/location of the supplied disk compression utility and then find a third-party
utility that does a similar job.
If you are allowed, install the utility and try it out. Make some comment about how it
differs from the supplied utility.
Comments:
File compression
As an alternative to compressing your whole disk, it is possible to select a group of files
and compress them into a single archive file. This is particularly useful when you want
to transfer data over the internet.
As with disk compression, the amount of space saved depends entirely on the type of
data in the file.
A 1.9
In the following table enter the operating system you are using for this course. Enter
the name/location of the supplied file compression utility and then find a third-party
utility that does a similar job.
If you are allowed, install the utility and try it out. Make some comment about how it
differs from the supplied utility.
Comments:
Diagnostic
Diagnostic utilities are designed to monitor and/or test your computer’s hardware as
thoroughly as possible without specialist hardware test equipment. Some are limited to
one specific function or component of your computer, while others are written to
perform exhaustive tests on all areas of the machine, including the disk drives, RAM
video capabilities and the serial and parallel ports.
If a diagnostic program finds a fault, this will be reported to you and a solution
proposed. Where the problem can be resolved by software changes, the program may
offer to make any necessary modifications for you.
A 1.10
Operating system
Features and functions available
Some programs actually update not only the virus definition files but also parts of the
scanner program itself (a program patch) when you update the virus definitions. This is
sometimes required when a new virus type necessitates a change in how scanning is
done by the software.
Always remember: no matter how good your antivirus program may be, it can only be
effective if it is used.
A 1.11
Using the WWW to find the latest virus threats, check the following sites:
http://www.grisoft.com
http://www.symantec.com
http://uk.mcafee.com/uk
http://uk.trendmicro-europe.com
List the names of the threats, the types of virus and the systems affected.
Name of threat Type of virus Systems affected
If you want to find out more about viruses and the software used to protect systems,
spend a bit more time looking at the sites listed earlier.
What is an API?
The abbreviation API stands for application program interface. A PC system can be
described as a series of layers – some hardware and some software – which interface
with each other. In the most basic sense you can break a PC down into four primary
layers, each of which can be broken down further into subsets. These four layers in a
typical PC are:
• Hardware
• ROM BIOS and device drivers
• Operating system
• Application programs
The purpose of the layered design is to allow a given OS and applications to run on
different hardware. Imagine two different machines with different hardware (e.g.
processor, HDD, RAM, VDU) each using a custom BIOS to interface this different
hardware with a common OS and applications. Thus two machines with different
processors, storage media, VDUs, etc. can run the same software. How is this
achieved?
In this layered architecture, the application programs talk to the OS via the API. The
API varies according to the OS being used, and consists of different commands and
functions which the OS can perform for an application. For example, an application can
call on the OS to save a file. This prevents the application itself from knowing how to
find the relevant area on the HDD, read the file from memory and write it to the HDD.
Instead it tells the OS to write a specified amount of data to a certain file, and the OS
performs the complex tasks required.
It is important to remember that APIs are specific to only one OS. This is why an
application designed to run under the Macintosh OS will not run under Windows.
(Unless of course you use an emulator which converts the API calls of one program
into the API calls of the OS running it.)
SHELL=: This command tells DOS where to look for its command interpreter, or
command.com file, and how much memory to set aside for DOS to use to execute
commands.
LASTDRIVE=: This command tells DOS the last drive letter that has been assigned.
Beginning with Windows 95, the commands in config.sys are performed by the io.sys
(input/output system configuration) file instead. Because older hardware devices need
the config.sys file, a blank version is still installed on computers that use Windows
95/98.
Any changes made to the config.sys file may cause your operating system to fail
when you boot it up. It is recommended that you do not change or add commands
unless you are given explicit instructions about what commands to add and how to type
them. Even then it is wise to have a backup copy of config.sys on a boot disk. All
changes come into effect after your computer is rebooted.
Autoexec.bat is a file containing DOS commands that are executed when the
computer is booted (started). The commands in autoexec.bat tell the OS which
application programs are to be automatically started, how memory is to be managed,
and initialise other settings. Each command in autoexec.bat could be typed in manually
after the computer is started, but that would take too long. The autoexec.bat file is, in
fact, a command script that is written beforehand so that it can be automatically
executed when the OS is started. The BAT suffix stands for batch, indicating that this is
a file containing a sequence of commands entered from a file rather than interactively
by a user.
Common commands in an autoexec.bat file include:
@ECHO OFF: This command tells DOS not to display on the screen the commands
that are being executed in autoexec.bat.
PATH=: This command tells DOS the path of a command that might be typed at the C
prompt. DOS looks in the path for the command and then executes it. If DOS does not
find the command in the path referred to in autoexec.bat, an error message is
displayed, stating, ‘Bad command or file name’.
PROMPT $P$G: This command tells DOS how the C prompt is to appear.
C:\MOUSE\MOUSE: This loads the mouse software into memory so that the mouse
works in DOS.
C:\PROGRA~1\NORTON~1\NAVDX.EXE /Start up: This command tells the antivirus
program to scan for viruses in the memory and master boot record (MBR) when the
computer is started. Antivirus software usually puts a command like this in
autoexec.bat when installed. This command is different according to each antivirus
software package.
The commands in the autoexec.bat file differ on each computer system and are
determined by the software applications and OS installed. Starting with Windows 95,
the commands in autoexec.bat were given to the io.sys file. Today, most autoexec.bat
files are blank unless an installed application expects a command to be present in the
autoexec.bat file.
You can view the commands in your autoexec.bat file by opening it in any text editor.
Remember that any changes made might cause your computer to fail when you boot it.
It is recommended that you do not change or add commands unless you are given
explicit instructions on what commands to add and how to type them. Even then it is
wise to have a backup copy on a boot disk. All changes come into effect after your
computer is rebooted. The autoexec.bat file is always stored in the root directory.
? 1.1
Check your answers with those given at the end of this section.
Answers to SAQ
SAQ 1.1
1. Single user, single task
Single user, multi-tasking
Multi-user, multi-tasking
2. There are five layers:
• The user interface
• The file management system
• The input/output (I/O) system
• Memory management
• The kernel
3. Command line interface and graphical user interface.
4. Commands, parameters and switches.
5. Windows, icons, menus and pointers.
6. Hard disk.
7. The file allocation table (FAT) is an index of each sector on a disk and contains
information about where a file is stored on a disk. A file’s directory entry holds the
start cluster number, which identifies the table entry, which in turn points to the next
cluster occupied by the file. The last cluster holds a special value indicating it is the
last. An empty cluster is allocated a different special value in its entry in the table,
so free clusters for allocation can be easily found.
8. The operating system allocates an area of the hard disk as a swap file and uses
this as a temporary storage area for data not currently required by applications.
9. The three states are running, blocked and ready.
10. In the DLL files located in the Windows system directory.
Answers to activities
Activity 1.10
• Disk cleanup
• Backup
• File/disk recovery
• Software uninstaller
• Registry tools
T
Your tutor will make available to you a blank work log which you should complete while
working through this section.
The completed logs should be sent to your tutor, who will use their content to decide
whether you have demonstrated sufficient knowledge to undertake the summative
assessment.
The log may be in either hard copy or supplied as a Microsoft Word document. You
may photocopy the hard copy or print copies of the electronic version. Alternatively you
may load the file to a word processor and type your information.
Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft Corporation
The other method is to press the Windows key on the keyboard, which displays the
start menu box, and proceed as above.
As you become more familiar with Windows you will discover there is invariably more
than one way to perform the various operations.
You will have nothing else to do as the system will run through its shut down routine,
and automatically switch off the computer.
Letters
Chapter 1
Root Book Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Programs
Our first task is to create a new folder called Example. This folder will be situated in the
root directory of the C: drive.
To do this, perform the following steps.
• Right-click the My Computer icon on the desktop, or right-click the Start button.
• Left-click the Explore option. (Slide the mouse pointer on the word Explore and
press the left button.)
• Right-click the icon representing your C: drive.
• Left-click the Explore option
• Move the mouse pointer over to the right-hand window (where the contents of your
C: drive are listed) and press the right-hand mouse button.
• Select New (second last option) from the menu which appears.
• Select Folder from the fly-out list.
• When the New Folder icon appears in the window, type the word Example and
then press the enter key or the left mouse button. The highlighted words New
Folder will be deleted as you begin to type.
• Click the View option on the menu bar at the top of the page and then click
Arrange Icons By in the fly-out list and select Name. You will now see the new
folder appear in its correct position.
Congratulations, you have now created a new folder called Example in the root
directory of your C: drive.
Now you can create the other required directories within this by right-clicking the
Example icon, selecting the Explore option and following the above steps to create
folders labelled Book, Letters and Programs.
The next step is to create the three folders inside the Book folder. Try it. If you make a
mistake, right-click the folder icon, click delete from the resultant menu, and then
confirm deletion by clicking Yes in the Are you sure dialogue box.
Your directory structure, in the left-hand section of Explorer, should now look like one
of the following:
Microsoft Corporation
The ‘+’ symbol tells you that there are subfolders in the folder. To view these folders
click on the ‘+’ symbol. To hide the subfolders click on the ‘ –‘ symbol.
Try this now.
In the next part of this section you will learn how to copy, move and rename files and
groups of files, but we don’t have any files to work with, so let’s create some now.
From the diagram of the structure, on the preceding page, you will see there are four
files in the ‘Example’ directory. You can create these files in a way similar to the
creation of the folders. Open the ‘Example’ folder, either in an Explorer or My Computer
window, and follow these instructions.
• Right-click in the space below the three folders listed.
• Select New from the menu.
• Select Text Document from the fly-out menu.
• Name the file Text Document 1.
Repeat this process for the remaining three files, but remember to give each a different
name. Use the names shown below. Windows will not allow you to apply the same
name to more than one file in any directory.
To change the look of the right-hand window click on the View option on the menu bar
at the top of the page then click Details.
The contents of the Example directory should now look like this.
Microsoft Corporation
Repeat this process to create files in the other folders. The files in the Letters folder
should be named ‘letter1’, ‘letter2’, . . . . ‘letter9’, and in the Book\Chapter folders, you
could call the files ‘1stfile’ etc.
The Letters folder should contain:
Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft Corporation
©Microsoft Corporation
©Microsoft Corporation
©Microsoft Corporation
Once you have done this, take a little while and become confident and competent in
getting about your newly created structure.
What happens if you right-click on a file name or folder?
Use the View option on the menu bar at the top of the page and try different ways of
viewing the folders and files.
Notes:
• To select more than one file or folder to copy, hold down the Ctrl key, and then click
the items you want.
• If you want to copy a group of files which are listed together, select the first in the
list, hold down the shift key, and then click on the last file in the list. All the files
between these will be highlighted and can be copied in one operation.
• To select a folder in the left pane of Windows Explorer, click the folder.
Renaming files
Within the naming convention used by Windows XP there is plenty of scope for
assigning unique names to files but you will come across occasions when you decide
the name you have given to a file is not suitable and you want to rename the file.
Using Windows this is a very simple procedure.
Use the Help menu from Explorer to find out how you would rename a file.
To access the help menu, open Explorer, click Help on the Menu Bar and then select
Help and Support Center.
Select Index from the Menu Bar on the Help and Support Center window.
Type ‘renaming files’ in the search box.
When you have found the method, you will also see information about the maximum
size of a filename, and reserved characters which may not be used in the name. You
should pay attention to this information.
Use the information found in the Help and Support Center to rename some of the files
and folders you created earlier in the Example folder.
these to appear. If this is done they will appear in the window as greyed-out, and this is
the indication that they are either hidden or system files.
Should you wish to view the attributes of a particular file, locate the file in Explorer or
My Computer, right-click the filename and select Properties from the menu. Try this
with one of the files you created earlier. Make the file read-only and then try to delete it.
Don’t worry about this; it can always be restored to its original location from the
Recycle Bin. If you apply the hidden attribute to a file, how can you later remove the
attribute if you cannot see the file to click on it? It can be done; see if you can find out
how.
Opening files
Once again there are numerous ways of doing this. Once the application has started,
you could click on the ‘open file’ icon on the Standard toolbar; you could click File
on the Menu bar; or you could use My Computer or Explorer to locate the file, double-
click the filename and the application will launch and open the file.
Controlling printing
In this part we shall learn how to send jobs to the printer, pause the printer, delete jobs
from the print queue, change the order of jobs in the print queue and delete all the jobs
in the queue.
To send a job to the default printer, using the settings selected at the time the printer
was installed, click the printer icon on the Standard toolbar. Should you wish to
alter any of these settings, e.g. the page or pages to printed or selected text, then click
File then Print on the menu bar and check the appropriate radio buttons on the
dialogue box which appears.
©Microsoft Corporation
If you have access to more than one printer, (e.g. a colour and a monochrome printer
on a network or attached to different ports on a stand-alone PC), you can select the
required printer by clicking the down arrow next to the printer Name: box and clicking
the appropriate printer from the list which appears.
To increase or decrease the number of copies required, either use the arrows at the
side of the Number of copies box, or type in the number of copies required.
The following instructions about pausing the printer are taken from the printer help
menu. To access this facility, click Start on the taskbar, go to Settings then Printers
and double-click the icon for the printer attached to your computer.
©Microsoft Corporation
As you can see there are four jobs in the print queue, but let’s suppose that I think
there is a problem with the printer and I want to print the Test Page first, how would I
do this?
In the printer window click on the job to be moved and, holding the mouse button down,
drag the job to the required position in the queue. In this example you can see I have
moved the Test Page from third position to first position in the queue.
Microsoft Corporation
? 2.1
1. You are trying to log on to a computer on a network; you are sure you have entered
the correct username and password, but the system tells you ‘incorrect login’. What
are some of the causes of this?
2. What are the two methods of initiating the shut-down procedure in Windows 98?
3. What is meant by a ‘hierarchical’ file storage structure?
4. What options are presented if you right-click the ‘My Computer’ icon on the
Windows 98 desktop?
5. What is the maximum number of characters which can be used to name a file in
Windows 98?
6. Which characters can NOT be used in the Windows 98 file naming convention?
7. What attributes are associated with the files io.sys and msdos.sys?
8. What attributes are associated with the files win.ini and system.ini?
9. I want to print 10 copies of a document. How do I do this?
10. How can a print job be cancelled?
Check your answers with those given at the end of the section.
Answers to SAQ
SAQ 2.1
1. Although the username is not case sensitive, the password is. If you are sure the
correct password is being keyed in, check that the Caps Lock is not on; also make
sure, if you have a password made up of mixed-case characters, you are entering
the case correctly for each character.
2. Click on the Start button on the taskbar, or press the Windows key on the keyboard.
3. A hierarchical file storage structure is where the highest level directory is the ‘root’.
The root directory can contain subdirectories and files. These subdirectories can
also contain subdirectories and files. A hierarchical file storage structure is a
multilevel structure.
4. Open; Explore; Find; Map Network Drive; Disconnect Network Drive; Create
Shortcut; Rename; Properties.
5. 255.
6. File names cannot include any of the following characters: forward slash (/),
backslash (\), greater than sign (>), less than sign (<), asterisk (*), question mark
(?), quotation mark (‘, “), pipe symbol (|), colon (:), or semicolon (;).
7. System, hidden and read only.
8. Generally none, although you may come across instances where these files have
the archive attribute set.
9. From the File menu click Print, and when the print dialogue box appears, enter 10
in the Number of Copies box, then click ‘OK’.
10. On the Taskbar, click Start, then Settings and from the fly-out menu click Printers.
Select the active printer from the list and from the job list which appears, select the
job you want to cancel, and from the Document menu click Cancel.
You will submit evidence to satisfy this outcome in the form of a handwritten log of all
the work done in response to each assessment task. Each log must be approved as
satisfactory and certified by the assessor as your own work.
Each log, as a minimum, must be properly titled with your name, the date and task, and
include:
• a brief outline of the task;
• a note of the work carried out, commands and/or actions used and any
installation/configuration options selected;
• a note of any problems encountered and their solutions.
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Your tutor will make available to you a blank work log which you should complete while
working through this section.
The completed logs should be sent to your tutor, who will use their content to decide
whether you have demonstrated sufficient knowledge to undertake the summative
assessment.
The log may be in either hard copy or supplied as a Microsoft Word document. You
may photocopy the hard copy or print copies of the electronic version. Alternatively you
may load the file to a word processor and type your information.
Low-level formatting
When you buy a hard disk, the manufacturer has already performed the first of these
operations on the disk. During the low-level formatting, the tracks are laid down on the
disk and these are divided into a specific number of sectors. The formatting process
also creates the intersector and intertrack gaps, and records other sector information.
The process also fills each sector’s data area with a pattern of test values.
Virtually all new HDDs now use a technique call zoned bit recording, which writes a
variable number of sectors per track. Without zoned bit recording, the number of
sectors, and therefore the number of bits, on each track is constant. This means the
actual number of bits per inch will vary. There will be more bits per inch on the inner
tracks than on the outer tracks.
A standard low-level format wastes capacity on the outer tracks because they are
longer but hold the same amount of data as the inner tracks. One way to increase the
capacity of a hard drive during low-level formatting is to create more sectors on the
outer tracks than on the inner tracks. Because they have a larger circumference, the
outer tracks are capable of holding more data. Drives without zoned bit recording store
the same amount of data on each track, even though the outer tracks may be twice as
long as the inner tracks. The result is wasted storage capacity. Drives which use zoned
bit recording split the tracks into groups called zones, with each successive zone
having more sectors per track as you move outward from the centre of the disk.
Low-level formatting therefore, lays down the number of tracks and sectors per track on
the hard disk.
Partitioning
Creating a partition on a hard disk enables it to support separate file systems, each in
its own partition.
Each file system can then use its own method to allocate file space in logical units,
called clusters or allocation units. Every hard disk must have at least one partition on it,
and can have up to four primary DOS partitions and one extended DOS partition. It
should be noted that there are alternatives to Microsoft operating systems, and that
these require their own partitions and file systems. It is possible to set up a computer
with more than one operating system, and to make the choice of which is required at
boot-up.
Partitioning is accomplished by running the Fdisk program which comes with your
operating system. Fdisk allows you to select the amount of space on the drive to use
for a partition, from a single megabyte or one per cent of the disk’s capacity, up to the
entire capacity of the disk, or as much as the file system will allow.
With today’s large capacity drives, many people have more than one operating system
installed on their PC. I know of several who have Windows 98, Windows 2000 and one
of the Linux distributions on one machine.
However, for our purposes we need only one partition and to create it we will need to
remove any existing partitions from the drive. To do this you should access a machine
which has Windows 98 and create a start-up disk by going to Start – Settings – Control
Panel – Add/Remove Programs, click the Startup Disk tab and follow the on-screen
instructions.
Make sure the computer you are going to use contains no data or applications which
may be needed by anyone, because you are going to completely remove all the files
and directories on the HDD.
Put the newly created disk in the A: (floppy) drive of the machine you are going to use
and switch on the computer.
When the computer has gone through the boot sequence, type ‘fdisk’ at the command
prompt, and if you are asked if you wish to enable large disk support, press the ‘N’ key
and then press enter.
FDISK Options
When the FDISK screen appears choose option 4, press enter and the current partition
information will be displayed. If the system tells you “The extended DOS
partition contains Logical DOS drives”, press ‘Y’ to display the
information. This will show you how many logical drives are in the partition.
Fdisk will now show how many logical drives are in the extended partition and what
drive letters are assigned to them. If you are not prompted to view this, it will make your
task easier.
At this stage you should press the ‘Escape’ key until you arrive back at the original
FDISK screen as shown above.
If there is only one partition on your HDD then follow the instructions on the next page.
If, however, the system indicates you have an extended partition containing logical
drives, then these must be deleted before the primary partition. To do this skip ahead
to the section entitled Deleting logical drive(s) and extended partition, and when
completed, resume by following the instructions at the top of the next page.
Change the choice offered to [3] by pressing the ‘3’ key, and press enter. You should
now see the following screen:
Enter choice: [ ]
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One of the files in this directory should be called mouse.sys or mouse.com. Some
installations will enable the mouse on start-up by creating a new config.sys (or
autoexec.bat) file. This can be achieved by using the copy command. Suppose on the
installation disk there is a file called mouse.cop and it contains only the line required to
install the mouse driver at start-up (DEVICE=C:\MOUSE\MOUSE.SYS); then to add
the line to the config.sys file, a batch program could be run and the instruction
(command) in the batch file would be:
COPY C:\CONFIG.SYS + A:\MOUSE.COP
If you use the copy command with the ‘+’ sign, and do not specify a destination, the
system will append the contents of the second named file to the first named file, and
save it with the same name.
This method is used only if the mouse.sys file is installed. If a mouse.com file is used
to install the driver at start-up, it can be called when the autoexec.bat file is run. This is
explained shortly.
It is possible to use a number of DOS utilities to optimise the performance of a PC
using DOS as the operating system, and we shall look at one of these. At the
command prompt, type ‘memmaker∧/?’ and see what the utility does.
To run the memmaker program, type its name at the prompt and follow the instructions,
and answer the questions asked. Make a note of the memory available both before and
after the program has run, and also note the size of the largest program able to run.
Suppose you have a CD-ROM drive fitted to your computer, and you want to access
data on a CD-ROM but you cannot, because the OS does not know there is a CD drive
fitted. To enable the OS to recognise the CD drive, you will need to install a driver for
the CD drive, and this can be done by adding a line to each of the config.sys and
autoexec.bat files. You will also need to install the CD-ROM driver file onto your HDD;
the file you need is called oakcdrom.sys.
There are many CD-ROM manufacturers, each of whom should issue their own driver
program. However, some drivers (known as generic drivers) cover a range of devices
by different manufacturers. If the oakcdrom.sys file does not work, then you should try
the btccdrom.sys file in its place. Between them these two files are reputed to enable
over 95% of CD-ROM drives. Should neither work, you will have to locate the driver for
your specific drive.
Having located the file (oakcdrom.sys can be found, for example, in the
C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\EBD folder on a Windows 98 second edition machine) and
copied it onto a floppy disk, you can use it to install the CD driver to the machine on
which you installed DOS by following these steps.
1. Make a directory on the C: drive and call it ‘CDROM’ (md cdrom).
2. Copy the oakcdrom.sys file from floppy to the newly created directory.
3. Use edit to open the config.sys file, and add the following lines (see the following
explanation).
• LASTDRIVE=Z
• DEVICE=C:\CDROM\OAKCDROM.SYS /D:CDROM1
4. Save and close file.
5. Edit autoexec.bat by adding: C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE /D:CDROM1
6. Save and close file.
7. Restart the computer and hope you get all the correct messages.
8. Insert a CD into the drive and try to get a directory listing of the D: drive.
Explanations
LASTDRIVE command specifies the number of allowable drive letters. If this is not set
you may get an error message saying ‘insufficient drive letters
available’.
DEVICE=driver to install.
C:\CDROM\OAKCDROM.SYS is the path to, and name of driver to install.
/D:CDROM1 is the name given to the device (nothing to do with the drive letter).
C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE /D:CDROM1 tells the system to apply the Microsoft CD
EXtensions to the named device.
User requirements
Windows allows users to customise their computers in many ways; the purpose of this
is to make the user feel comfortable at and with their machines. This section serves as
an introduction by considering a limited selection of the ways in which the Windows XP
interface can be customised to suit particular user requirements. It also introduces user
accounts and some security issues.
Mouse
Some users have more difficulty in double-clicking the mouse at the correct speed for
the system to recognise it as a double click and not as two single clicks. Other users
may have problems seeing the mouse pointer on the screen, perhaps because it
moves too quickly or because it is too faint.
How would we set up a system for users such as these?
Click ‘Start/Settings/Control Panel’ and when the control panel opens, double click the
mouse icon, indicated in the following illustration, to launch the mouse properties
dialogue box:
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From this dialogue box, the function of the mouse buttons can be swapped with one
another. Some left-handed people find this very useful. The double-click speed can
also be altered and tested. The test facility lets you know if you have double-clicked at
a fast enough speed. Alter the setting and test the new setting. How do you know if you
clicked fast enough?
Now click the ‘Pointers’ tab and see what options are available.
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Investigate these possibilities and make recommendations for those whose eyesight is
not quite as good as it used to be.
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What can be done here to improve the user environment for those who may have
problems following the cursor?
Experiment with the settings to find out.
Appearance
There are many ways in which you can customise the appearance of your user
interface. An obvious one is the desktop background colour or image.
It is also possible to change the window colour and the text colour when running
applications. Many users find the stark contrast between a white window and black text
too harsh for their eyes, especially if they are going to be sitting in front of a monitor for
many hours every day.
How are these customisations accomplished? There are two methods of accessing the
required dialogue box.
You may either click ‘Start/Settings/Control Panel’ and when the control panel opens,
double-click on the Display icon.
Alternatively you could right-click on a free area of the desktop and select ‘Properties’
from the resultant menu.
Whichever of the above options is chosen, the following dialogue will appear on your
screen.
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By selecting the ‘Appearance’ tab and then the Advanced button, you may, by selecting
the various items, choose how they will be displayed.
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The areas whose appearance can be altered include the Active Title Bar, the Inactive
Title Bar, the Desktop, the Window and what are known as 3D Objects. The 3D
Objects are the buttons which are pressed to accept or cancel the choices you have
made.
If you select the Active Title Bar item (the area which has ‘Active Window’ printed) from
the drop-down list, you will have the choice of altering the colour(s) displayed on the
bar, and the various font attributes (typeface, weight and style, size and colour).
Return from the Advanced Appearance dialogue to the Display Properties dialogue.
Try out the different colour schemes on offer.
Select the Screen Saver tab and try out a number of screen savers.
Take the time to experiment with the changes you can make to the settings, and to look
at some of the options offered by Windows. Experiment with the many preformatted
appearance configurations that Microsoft believe you might want to use.
? 3.1
Answers to SAQ
SAQ3.1
1. FDISK allows you to select the amount of space on the drive to use for a partition,
from a single megabyte or one per cent of the disk’s capacity, up to the entire
capacity of the disk, or as much as the file system will allow.
2. HDDs without zoned bit recording store the same amount of data on each track,
even though the outer tracks may be twice as long as the inner tracks. The result is
wasted storage capacity. Drives which use zoned bit recording split the tracks into
groups called zones, with each successive zone having more sectors per track as
you move outward from the centre of the disk.
3. Having more than one partition on a drive would enable the computer to have more
than one operating system installed. Another reason for more than one partition is
that it could lead to more efficient use of the available space by reducing the size of
the clusters (allocation units).
4. Disk Operating System.
5. Add a line to the config.sys file. The line should read ‘LASTDRIVE=Z’.
6. Right click on the folder you wish to share and choose Properties. Within the
Properties dialogue box, select the Sharing tab.
7. Country, Keyboard and Time Zone.
8. To prevent images being burnt onto the back of the cathode ray tube during times
when the computer was idle.
9. Click Start/Settings/Control Panel then double-click on the Add or Remove
Programs icon and then click the Add/Remove Windows Components icon.
T
The tutor will make available a blank work log which the student should complete while
working through this section. The completed logs should be sent to your tutor, who will
use their content to decide whether you have demonstrated sufficient knowledge to
undertake the summative assessment.
The log may be in either hard copy or supplied as a Microsoft Word document. You
may photocopy the hard copy or print copies of the electronic version. Alternatively you
may load the file to a word processor and type your information.
Windows drivers
Linux driver
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The following text is taken from an installation guide which shows the manufacturer’s
instructions for setting up their Ethernet adapter using Windows as the OS.
As you will see, the translation from the native language of the manufacturer leaves a
bit of room for confusion, but in fact the installation is painless, and if the instructions
are followed, the NIC will be installed and configured with minimal user input.
As the years have progressed the act of installing Plug and Play devices has become
easier, and is now almost without exception, simply a matter of physically installing the
hardware, letting the OS detect it on boot up, and using either the disk supplied by the
manufacturer or the driver on the OS installation CD-ROM. As OSs have become more
sophisticated, the developers have included an ever-increasing number of drivers on
the installation CD-ROM, and it is very often a case now of inserting the CD when
prompted and letting the OS find the required file.
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6. Select the ‘Install the hardware that I manually select from a list (Advanced)’ radio
button.
7. Select Network Adapters from the ‘Common hardware types’ list provided.
8. Choose the ‘Realtek RTL8019 pnp LAN adapter or compatible’ from the list
presented.
Another example of the ease with which a device can be added to a PC which uses
Windows as the OS is the installation of an internal modem, and the manufacturer’s
instructions are as follows.
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The installation of a new device and its driver is generally as easy as the above
instructions imply. It is important that you should have the appropriate driver as the files
are necessary to ensure the correct operation of the device.
There will be occasions when you do not wish to install a new device but may want to
upgrade an existing driver. An example could be that a new driver has been written for
your graphics adapter and you want to install this new driver.
Advanced
button
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3. Clicking the ‘Advanced’ button within Settings will open a further dialogue box. Click
the Adapter tab, which will enable you to change the driver for your graphics card.
4. Click the ‘Properties’ button.
5. Click the Driver tab.
6. Then click the ‘Update Driver…’ button.
As this unit will be studied by many students at many different locations, the tutor will
have available a suitable choice of devices to be installed or drivers to upgrade. The
process is simple and involves the ability to follow on-screen instructions.
Another type of system software you will come across is utility software and we shall
look at what is available. A brief definition of utility software is software which enhances
the OS. There is a tremendous range of utility software available on the WWW, both as
shareware and freeware.
If you access your favourite search engine and insert ‘windows utilities’ in the search
box, you may well find in excess of 100,000 results. These will be websites which have
a store of utilities. Look at some of them, decide if you think any could be useful and,
after consultation with your tutor, download and install one of them. You will find the
process is completely simple and you could be pleasantly surprised by what you
download.
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As you will see from the above, setup will not function properly if there are any other
Windows programs running at the same time that may be using shared files which are
required by Works. If you have any applications running use the ‘Help’ button for
instructions on how to close them or if not, click ‘OK’ to continue with Setup.
The next dialogue box to be displayed will ask you for your name and the name of the
organisation for which you work. Make the relevant entries and click ’OK’.
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After the Name and Organization Information box closes the next box to appear will
give you a product ID which you should use if you have occasion to contact Microsoft
technical support.
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The next stage in the procedure is for you to decide onto which drive you wish to install
the application.
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The setup program, by default, will install to the MSWORKS directory (folder) on the C:
drive. If this is not where you want the application to be, you should click the ‘Change
Directory’ button, and inform the program where you want the application to reside.
©Microsoft Corporation
The previous example will install to a directory called MSWORKS on the D: drive. On
my PC I have multiple partitions, and the D: drive is where I install my applications.
Changing the target directory is simply a matter of typing the path to the directory in the
‘Path’ box. In the event of the destination directory not existing, the program will ask
you if you want to create it. You should answer ‘Yes’ to this question.
Next on the list of questions will be the type of installation you want to do. Under
normal circumstances, mainly because I now have a fair amount experience of
installations, I choose a Custom Installation because I don’t always need all the
features available.
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In this case, however, you should choose ‘Complete Installation’ as the application is
not excessively large, and will not occupy too much disk space.
The ‘Choose Program Group’ screen may cause you slight confusion, as it was
designed to be used in conjunction with an earlier version of Windows (3.11), but if you
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accept the default option, setup will add a ‘Microsoft Works for Windows’ icon to the
Start Programs menu, as the following illustration shows.
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You will see the system creating the icons in the relevant windows, and when that
process has been completed you will be presented with a final setup screen which
should tell you the installation has been successful.
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Click the ‘OK’ button to close the window, then to ensure the installation has indeed
been successful, start the application and create a word-processed document and a
spreadsheet.
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This is the welcome screen and you should press enter to continue with the installation.
Once you have done this the next screen you will see will look like this.
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This ensures that you are accessing the correct source drive, i.e. the drive which
contains the installation disk, and the following screen checks that you want to install to
a hard disk drive.
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Now you will have the choice to change the default target directory. If you have multiple
partitions on your HDD, and you do not want to install Turbo Pascal to the C: drive, this
is where you make the change.
Should you decide to change the destination drive, just press the enter key and edit the
box which appears to point the installation program to your chosen destination. It is
good practice to accept the default directory (TP) even if you change the destination
drive.
Change
destination
drive
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Once you have decided which drive is to host the application, use the cursor (arrow)
keys to scroll to the Start Installation option and then press enter. The program will now
begin to copy the compressed files to the hard drive and explode them to the
destination drive.
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After several files have been exploded and loaded to the correct drive and directory,
you will be prompted to insert the disk containing the utilities and help files needed for
the correct operation of the program.
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Once all the necessary files have been decompressed and stored in the correct
location, the program will ask you to make a couple of checks to ensure the
configuration files are correctly edited.
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When any key is pressed, after noting the message, the installation will end.
If you were going to make use of the Turbo Pascal program you would, using the ‘Edit’
command, open each of the config.sys and autoexec.bat files in turn and make the
alterations as indicated by the box in the last window.
Type ‘exit’ at the command prompt, and the system will close the DOS window and
return you to where you were prior to starting the installation.
? 4.1
Answers to SAQ
SAQ 4.1
1. Any hardware device you add to your computer will require a device driver.
Examples of such devices are: graphics adapters, modems, soundcards, scanners
etc.
2. To allow the device to be recognised by, and work in conjunction with, the OS.
3. The device manufacturer’s website.
4. During the installation, the setup program will offer you its default location which is
usually a folder using the application name, and this will be in the root directory of
the C: drive. Clicking the ‘Change Directory’ button will let you specify another
directory for the program.
5. The term Plug and Play applies to hardware which will automatically be recognised
by an OS the first time that the computer is switched on after the physical fitting of
the device to the computer. The configuration of the device is done by the OS. It will
allocate the correct IRQ number and I/O addresses, and this should be
accomplished without conflicts with any existing devices.
Work Log
Attach additional notes or printouts as necessary.
This page may be photocopied if required, or it may be made available as a file and
you may word process your answers.
Candidate’s
name
Assessor Date
Task Procedure