CT10404E PC Technology

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CT10404EPC Technology

• Week 1The Personal Computer

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Whats in store this week

• Introduction
• Module Overview
• The Personal Computer
• Using the Grove House PC
• Organising your Files
• Virii

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Introduction

• Welcome to LCMM!
• Please switch off all mobile phones
• No food or drink is permitted in the lecture
  theatres or labs

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Module Overview

• CT10404E PC Technology
• 14 Week Course
• Duration 200 hours (42 tutor-led)
• First 6 Weeks The PC Components, networks,
  specifying hardware
• Last 8 Weeks Using Software Spreadsheets and
  Databases

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Module Overview

• 1 lecture and 1 2-hour workshop per week
• Lecture 1200 Monday, GLT.2
• Workshop Times for workshops are currently
  provisional - Attend the workshop as listed on
  your timetable, but ensure you keep up-to-date by
  checking the module study guide

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Module Overview

• Module Leader Christian Cooper
• Room G.318
• Website http//mercury.tvu.ac.uk/chi/
• Lectures will also be given by Dr. Amer Salman
• Other workshop tutors Edwin Love

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Module Overview

• Two Assignments (each worth 50)
• A report on PC hardware
• Spreadsheet Database assignment
• Pass mark for the module is 40 overall
• You will be entitled to re-sit failed components
  only if you achieve at least 20 overall
• MSG is at http//mercury.tvu.ac.uk/pct/

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Module Overview

• Preliminary Schedule
• 1. The Personal Computer
• 2. Motherboard, Processor
• 3. RAM, ROM, Expansion Card
• 4. Specifying and Buying a PC
• 5. PC Networks and the Internet
• 6. The booting process, alternatives to PC
• 7. Application Software

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Module Overview

• Preliminary Schedule
• 8. Introduction to Spreadsheets
• 9. Spreadsheet Design
• 10. Introduction to Databases
• 11. Entity Relationship Modelling
• 12. Queries and Reports
• 13. Multimedia Aspects of Databases
• 14. Module Summary Feedback QA

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The Personal Computer

• Computing has a long history (the first
  documented algorithm was written by Euclid around
  300BC)
• The first computer - The Difference Engine - was
  conceived by Charles Babbage in 1822 - Sadly
  technology of the time was inadequate to build it
• In 1830 he proposed a more sophisticated, yet
  easier to build machine called The Analytical
  Engine

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The Personal Computer

• The first computer programmer was Ada Lovelace -
  a mathematician who wrote a program for the
  Analytical Engine
• Alan Turing created a theoretical model of a
  computer - The Turing Machine
• In January 1943, Alan Turing (and colleagues)
  designed and built a computer using vacuum tubes
  - the COLOSSUS
• It was used to try and crack the
  Geheimfernschreiber code during WWII

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The Personal Computer

• The first electronic computer was the Electronic
  numerical integrator and computer (ENIAC),
  constructed at the University of Pennsylvania
  between 1943 and 1946
• 1944 - 1952 EDVAC - the first stored-program
  computer
• 1951 UNIVAC - the first commercial computer

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The Personal Computer

• IBM 610 Auto-Point Computer (1957) - this was
  advertised as the first Personal computer - but
  it cost USD55,000 at the time!
• 1971 Intel releases the first microprocessor -
  the 4004
• 1976 Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs produce the
  Apple I
• 1978 Visicalc becomes the first piece of
  commercial software

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The Personal Computer

• August 12, 1981 The first IBM PC
• 4.77MHz 8088 processor
• 16KB of memory - expandable to 256K
• 160KB Floppy Drive
• Optional Colour Monitor
• All for USD1,565!
• Compare this to machines today

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Using the Grove House PC

• Operating Systems Windows 98/NT/2000

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Using the Grove House PCs

• You will all be given individual accounts on the
  PCs within the next few weeks
• 02CooperC
• Year of start Surname First Initial
• ...Until then, there is a guest account
• You will eventually be allotted space on the
  server to store files
• You should still keep proper backups of all your
  work - dont rely on the server always being
  available

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Using the Grove House PCs

• For general help in using PCs, there are some
  online tutorials
• Alternatively, you can try using Windows Help (by
  pressing F1 on your keyboard when inside an
  Explorer window)
• Grove House also has several Mac Labs, running
  Apple OS X

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Organising your Files

• Use directories (also known as folders) to
  organise your work

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Organising your Files

• Name your files and directories sensibly, and try
  to keep a coherent structure

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Virii

• Be careful of computer virii!
• Dont open strange executable files in e-mail
• Use a Virus Checker and ensure that you keep it
  up-to-date
• Ensure you have backups of work!!

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Practical Work

• Ensure you are familiar with using the Grove
  House PC by the end of this week
• Using the Web, investigate the anatomy of a PC
  ready for next week
• Specifics can be found on the MSG at
• http//mercury.tvu.ac.uk/pct/

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Next Week

• Week 2, 3 lectures by Dr. Amer Salman
• Basic components
• Motherboard
• Processor