Certificate part ii operating system, Lecture notes of Computer Networks

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K_C

CERTIFICATE IN COMPUTER SYSTEMS AND APPLICATIONS

PART I

TABLE OF CONTENTS

2 .....................................................................................................................................................

3 .....................................................................................................................................................

4 .....................................................................................................................................................

• 1 WELCOME !.................................................................................................................................................
• 6 INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS........................................................................................................
• 7 What is a Computer?.....................................................................................................................................
• 8 HARDWARE..................................................................................................................................................
• 9 CPU.....................................................................................................................................................
• 10 Peripherals.....................................................................................................................................................
• 11 SOFTWARE...................................................................................................................................................
• 12 Operating Systems.........................................................................................................................................
• 13 Disk Drives.....................................................................................................................................................
• 14 Filenames.....................................................................................................................................................
• 15 Wild Cards
• 15.1 LOADING MS - DOS...............................................................................
• 16 Functions of DOS...........................................................................................................................................
• 17 DOS Commands.............................................................................................................................................
• 18 EXERCISE 1..................................................................................................................................................
• 19 BASIC MS DOS COMMANDS....................................................................................................................
• 19.1 Type Internal...........................................................................................
• 20 EXERCISE 2..................................................................................................................................................
• 21 DOS DIRECTORIES....................................................................................................................................
• 21.1 About directories....................................................................................
• 21.2 Making Directories..................................................................................
• 22 Setting Paths...................................................................................................................................................
• 23 EXERCISE 3..................................................................................................................................................
• 24 BATCH FILES...............................................................................................................................................
• 25 EXERCISE 4..................................................................................................................................................
• 64 EXERCISE 3..................................................................................................................................................
• 65 PRODUCT DESCRIPTION.........................................................................................................................
• 66 EXERCISE 4..................................................................................................................................................
• 67 EXERCISE 5..................................................................................................................................................
• 68 EXERCISE 6..................................................................................................................................................
• 70 Windows 95....................................................................................................................................................
• 71 The Start button.............................................................................................................................................
• 72 Windows 95 Features.....................................................................................................................................
• 72.2 Other Features........................................................................................
• 73 PROGRAMS AND ACCESSORIES............................................................................................................
• 74 OPTIMIZING WINDOWS..........................................................................................................................
• 75 To add a program to the Start or Programs menu.....................................................................................
• 76 To remove a program from the Start or Programs menu..........................................................................
• 77 SHUTTING DOWN......................................................................................................................................
• 78 FINDING FILES AND FOLDERS..............................................................................................................
• 79 SETTING WINDOWS 95.............................................................................................................................
• 80 PRINTERS.....................................................................................................................................................
• 81 The Windows Explorer.................................................................................................................................
• 82 MANAGING Files and folders....................................................................................................................
• 82.2 To copy a file to a floppy
• 83 Using Windows Efficiently............................................................................................................................
• 84 Windows Accessories.....................................................................................................................................
• 85 EXERCISE 1..................................................................................................................................................
• 86 EXERCISE 2..................................................................................................................................................
• 87 EXERCISE 3..................................................................................................................................................

WELCOME!

We are highly privileged to have you here at our training center. It is our great pleasure to wish you every success and an enjoyable time. You certainly made the right choice in selecting K_C for your computer course!. Here are some of the privileges you enjoy at K_C:

• You are attended to by high calibre graduate trainers (facilitators) who are well tested, qualified and friendly.
• High course content standards are set and maintained. We make every effort to see that you get the most out of the course before we end any course
• We only train in current up-to-date, state of the art software to meet international standards.
• You have at your disposal a high power computer which you do not share with anyone else. Nearly all of our video displays are colored and you enjoy the privilege of printing out your work freely at any time you wish to do so.
• Our lessons are personalized; that means that you have the attention of a qualified instructor at all times, whom you can interact with at a personal level.
• We offer you a free high quality manual which has been designed specifically to meet your needs for each of our courses. We also offer you handouts and other course aides such as reference textbooks.
• (^) In the case that you do not perform sufficiently well to be certified, we offer you a second opportunity to re-sit our examinations at no extra cost.
• We are registered with the Directorate of Industrial Training. That means that the certificate you will receive at the end of your course is recognized all over Kenya.
• We are committed to meeting your requirements in that we are flexible in our lesson scheduling.

We hope you will enjoy your course and we wish you every success in this.

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS

In the introduction , you are introduced to computers , what they are and the different types of computers there are.

At the completion of this introduction unit you should be able to :

• Define a computer
• Explain why we need to use computers
• Give examples of different types of computers and explain the differences.
• Discuss disks and diskettes.
• Understand what files are
• Know at least 3 operating systems.

What is a Computer?

A Computer is an electronic device that works under the control of stored programs.

The four major categories of computers are

• Micro computers
• Mini computers

• Mainframes
• Super computers

Computer systems are divided into two parts

• Software
• Hardware

HARDWARE

This refers to the physical components of the computer. These include the monitor, printers etc

A Computer can be divided into 3 basic parts

• Monitor
• Keyboard
• CPU

Monitor (VDU) Displays whatever is being keyed or being processed by the computer. There different types of monitors namely Visual Graphics Array (VGA) , Enhanced Graphics Array, monochrome monitors etc..

Keyboard Enables operator to key in information. This may be for processing or retrieval later. There two main types of keyboards namely

1. Standard Keyboard
2. Enhanced keyboard

The main differences between the two are

• The position of the function keys
• The division of the numeric key pad
• The extra function keys
• The extra CTRL,ALT and SHIFT keys.

What Happens When you switch on the computer?

The process of starting a computer is called BOOTING. The computer first checks its memory and some other components. After this, the drive will begin to spin and the boot process will commence. The system then reads drive A for the operating system. If it does not find it in drive A it checks drive C. On finding the operating system, it reads COMMAND.COM. This is the command processor file. It contains all internal commands e.g. CLS, DATE, TIME etc. After reading the COMMAND.COM it checks if autoexec.bat exists. If it does, it carries out the commands in that file. If it does not exist, it prompts for the date, time after which the prompt appears. Flushing next to the prompt is the cursor. We are now ready to type in a DOS command.

What is an operating system ?:

An operating system is your "Silent partner" when you are using a computer. An operating system is the piece of system software most closely associated with the hardware. Providing an interface between the hardware and both you (the user) and other software.

Operating Systems

There exists a variety of operating systems for use on different hardware setups. SCO XENIX (developed by SCO inc.) was developed to run a "multi-user" environment where many users are connected to a single CPU via dumb Terminals. APPLE DOS (developed by APPLE Inc) was developed to run specifically on apple computers. PCDOS (developed by Micro soft Inc) runs on IBM personal System for use with other IBM Compatible computers, under the name MS DOS. All computers have either two Floppy disk drives or one floppy drive and a Hard disk drive. Although DOS is loaded automatically in Hard Disk Drive computers, in the case of a twin Floppy drive computer a DOS Diskette has to be kept ready and inserted into the computer every time is switched on.

"Loading DOS: refers to the action of starting the computer and transferring DOS software from three system files to the memory of the computer. These files are

COMMAND.COM

which contains all "Internal" DOS Commands, IBMBIO.COM (Basic Input and output) IBMDOS (disk operating system) the last two files are Hidden and cannot be listed by the ordinary computer user using the dir command.

1.6 The DOS Prompt

The purpose of the DOS prompt is to indicate to the user that the computer is active and awaiting a DOS command from the user. The prompt consists of the Drive Designation letter followed by a "greater-than" sign e.g. A>. The Drive designation letter indicates the "active" or "Default" Disk Drive. This means that should DOS need a file it will look for it in the default disk drive.

E.g. A:> Active drive A: C:> Active drive C:

Disk Drives

If classification where to be by disk drives there would exist two types of computers.

The first type consists of two Floppy disk drives and the second one Floppy Disk Drive and one Fixed or Hard Disk Drive. In the former The Drives are designated the letters A and B, whilst in the latter A and C. Sometimes there exist two drives in the Hard Disk Drive designated C: and D:. Dome times a harddisk computer could have two floppy disk drives thus it would have drives A, B and C or A, B, C and D.

Filenames

All data residing on any storage device within a computer must be contained in a file. Every file has a filename that is unique and can be used to identify that file.

Example of filename :

max 8 letters min 1 letter a dot max 3 letters min 0

Filename are always user specified and are to be of maximum 8 letters. A filename should indicate the contents of a file. File extensions are normally specified by the computer software and indicate the type of file.

Example of File extension and the type of contents :

.COM - Command Files .EXE - Executable Files .DBF - Database Files .DOC Ms Word files .PRN - Print Files .TXT - Text File .DOC - Document File XLS - Ms Excel files Filenames and extensions may not have the following special characters : , ; /. | ? * or a space. The same applies for a file extension.

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LOADING MS - DOS

In this unit you learn the importance of DOS and learn how to use internal DOS commands.

By the completion of this unit you should be able to:

• Use the following dos commands properly

DATE CLS VER COPY

TIME DIR VOL REN

• Be able to move from one disk drive to another with ease
• Know the use of DOS file names
• Be able to use wild cards

All computers have either two Floppy disk drives or one floppy drive and a Hard disk drive. Although DOS is loaded automatically in Hard Disk Drive computers, in the case of a twin Floppy drive computer a DOS Diskette has to be kept ready and inserted into the computer every time is switched on.

"Loading DOS: refers to the action of starting the computer and transferring DOS software from three system files to the memory of the computer. These files are COMMAND.COM which contains all "Internal" DOS Commands, IBMBIO.COM (Basic Input and output), IBMDOS (disk operating system) the last two files are Hidden and cannot be listed by the ordinary computer user using the dir command.

Functions of DOS

The MS Disk Operating System has the following functions: Reporting of the status of the computer. It shows the various files within the storage, their names. Sizes and types. It also shows the memory capacity and usage.

File manipulation including copying, deleting, renaming and creating. Preparing new Floppy diskettes to be used by the computer or new Hard disks.

Printing of Files within the storage onto the printer

Prevention against loss of data by providing backup facilities.

Organization of the storage to facilities easy storage and retrieval of files.

DOS Commands

DOS commands are of two types; Internal and External Internal commands are those that can be executed form the memory of the computer Example of internal commands :

DIR CLS MD CD RD DEL

TYPE RENAME COPY ERASE DATE TIME

VER

External commands are not retained in the memory of the computer but must be transferred from the storage device (Hard Disk or Floppy Diskette) into the memory to be executed. Upon completion of execution these files are wiped off the memory. The files that contains the instructions for the command are stored under the name of that command.

2 Example of external commands :

CHKDSK PRINT TREE DISKCOPY

BACKUP RESTORE FORMAT DISKCOMP

EDLIN

Each of the above commands will be covered further in the manual.

The DOS Prompt

The purpose of the DOS prompt is to indicate to the user that the computer is active and awaiting a DOS command form the user. The prompt consists of the Drive Designation letter followed by a "greater-than" sign e.g. A>. The Drive designation letter indicates the "active" or "Default" Disk Drive. This means that should DOS need a file it will look for it in the default disk drive.

E.g. A:> Active drive A: C:> Active drive C: Disk Drives If classification where to be by disk drives there would exist two types of computers.

The first type consists of two Floppy disk drives and the second one Floppy Disk Drive and one Fixed or Hard Disk Drive. In the former The Drives are designated the letters A and B, whilst in the latter A and C. Sometimes there exist two drives in the Hard Disk Drive designated C: and D:. Some times a harddisk computer could have two floppy disk drives thus it would have drives A, B and C or A, B, C and D. Throughout this manual whenever a Disk Drive is referred to it has the designator letter

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EXERCISE 1

1. What happens when you first switch on the computer?
2. State the three main parts of a computer.
3. Differentiate between Hardware and Software with examples.
4. Differentiate between System software and Application Software with examples.
5. What is an operating system? give examples.
6. List the functions of an operating system
7. What is a file? illustrate a directory.
8. What is a wild-card ?.

a) Give two examples

b) What is the difference between the two.

4. What do you understand by the following terms

CPU

DIR

PERIPHERALS

HARD DISK

FLOPPY DISK

In C:\DOS display the files which :

• Have extension EXE
• Have extension SYS (Using? wildcard)
• Start with letter A and have extenuation BAT (Using the? and * wildcards)
• Have a main name which ends with IG and have extension SYS

Type: Internal

Purpose: To reset the system date Syntax: DATE Comments: This feature resets the system clock date. Most computers show the American format of date unless a COUNTRY command has been executed to dictate otherwise.

PRACTICE: Type DATE Type in date in the following format followed by .

mm/dd/yy (use hyphens or slashes in between the date month and year e.g. 12/12/92 or 12-12-

CLS

Name: Clear Screen Type: Internal Purpose: Clears the terminal screen Syntax: CLS

PRACTICE: Type CLS

COPY

Type Internal

Purpose: To make a duplicate file onto another disk or the duplicate a file to another under a new name.

Syntax: COPY [DRIVE FROM]: [DRIVE TO]:[NEW FILENAME]

Comments: are must be used in using the copying command in that if a file already exists

with the target name it will be overwritten.

PRACTICE: Type COPY C:\autoexec.bat A: [ENTER]

Type DIR A: [ENTER] Notice directory of A now has the file AUTOEXEC.BAT

To copy the same above file to drive A and simultaneously change its name to EXER.NEW

COPY C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT A:\EXER.NEW

Thus to copy all files with extension SYS from drive C to drive A COPY C:*.SYS A:
and to copy all files with extension BAT from drive C to drive A and simultaneously change their

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extensions to OLD

COPY C:*.BAT A:*.OLD