Getting Started, Part II

Evolution of the Desktop

• Command Line Interface (CLI)
  • 
  • Much more difficult to learn to use.
  • Need to memorize commands.
  • Can be faster/ more efficient in the end.
  • Fairly low resource requirements.
• Graphical User Interface (GUI)
  • What you are sitting in front of.
  • More simple to learn.
  • Very reliant on the mouse.
• A common user interface
  • All applications have the same buttons and functions (as far as possible)
  • Eases the task of learning the applications.
• Multitasking - running multiple programs (applications) at the same time.
• Some versions of Microsoft operating systems
  • Various versions of DOS - Disk Operating System
  • Windows 3.1
  • Windows 95
  • Windows NT
  • Windows 98
  • Windows 2000
  • Windows ME
  • Windows XT
  • Each has improvements and changes. The book discusses the the differences. You should read this

Virus

• A computer virus is a program.
• Like a biological virus, it can reproduce (make a copy of its self).
• They are created by people.
• Some do very little harm, they are just annoying.
• Others can destroy the data on your hard drive.
• Still others can mess with flash-ROM.
• The only way to avoid a virus is to not copy any files onto your computer. (This is not really practical)
• Anti-virus software can detect and eliminate viruses that were know when the software was written.
• Often you can download upgrades to this software. This protects against newly discovered viruses.

Backup

• Some of the 10,000,000 ways to lose your data
  • A virus
  • A hard drive failure
  • Someone takes your computer
  • You move the wrong thing to the trash can
  • The upgrade goes wrong
  • Your dog ...
• At some time in your life one of these will happen.
• The only thing you can hope for is a good backup
  • A backup is a copy of your files placed on removable media on a regular basis
  • It is best to store a copy of this off site. (In case of fire or earthquake)
  • This is very important (I know of people who have lost jobs over this)
• You should back up your own system.
  • At least make a copy of "Important Files".
  • Realize that magnetic media decays over time.
  • And that my 5 1/4" disks no longer are readable.
  • Nor are my 8" disks.
• Use what you have, buy what you need.
  • Floppies for small files
  • Zip disks for projects
  • CD writer will do, but ...
  • If you have it, a tape backup system will do the entire disk.
• But ...
  • Not much good if they didn't work, check validity of the files
  • Multiple copies of media are required. Only one tape is a problem.
  • Backups are sometimes hard to restore.

Application Software

• Word Processors
  • Allow you to enter a document, format it and revise it.
  • Include spelling and grammar checkers
  • Many features to make the document look nice.
• Spreadsheets
  • Set up for mathematical calculations
  • (Your house/car/student loan)
  • Allow what-if analysis
  • (What if I pay $10 extra each month on my loan)
• Data Bases
  • Maintain records (my friends addresses, my cd collection)
  • Allow sorting (by artist, by year purchased ...)
  • Allow searching (Who performed Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds)
• Presentation Software
  • Assist you in giving presentations
  • Enhance your ability to communicate
• Other applications
  • Painting programs
  • Network browsers
  • Many Many Others

Networks

• A combination of Hardware and Software
• Allows computers to communicate with each other
• LAN Local Area Network
• WAN Wide Area Network
• servers
  • File Server
  • Mail Server
  • Web Server
  • Print Server
  • Internet Server

The Internet

• A collection of networks
• Decentralized
• A set of software
  • The world wide web
  • ftp
  • telnet
• The WWW
  • A client (web browser, ie or netscape)
  • A server (httpd)
  • A protocal (http)
• TCP/IP
  • The language of the internet.
  • Everything is broken into packets
  • Hardware known as Routers send these packets the right place