Computer Architecture Week 3

This week had us examine Operating Systems.


OS Activities—Ron Mork


2pts - Install an OS:

I have installed several operating systems. They are all Windows systems. I upgraded my hard drives on my old IBM several times and with each one I installed Windows 98. These installs were easy and effortless. There was never a problem doing so. I have also installed Windows XP twice. One time was when replaced a hard drive. This install went 95% fine. I could not get all the drivers to work, especially the NIC driver; the system was not fully functional, so I switched it and used it as a slave drive. Then I had a hard drive crash and I needed to install a new one anyway. I ran into the same problems. I was unable to get a few of the drivers to work. However, this time I was more diligent and after an afternoon of trial and error, along with searching help forums, I was able to track down the missing drivers through the system information directory and activate all the hardware on the computer. As much as it was a pain in the backside, I was gleeful in my ability to not give up and call overpriced support and solve the problems myself.



1pt - Upgrade or install an OS patch, Service Pack or Upgrade for your OS:

I can only say that I have received updates from Microsoft and I oversee the process of installing updates. I do not allow my system to automatically install them. I want to know what is being installed and perhaps why. The latest SP3 from Microsoft for Windows XP was a disaster for me. There were stories circulating that the install of the OS Service Pack caused problems for a few individuals. Well I was one of them. I decided to install the SP3 to my desktop last August and was trapped in an endless loop while trying to reboot. My computer was inoperable. One thing I like to do is to try and solve my own problems on the computer. Well I spent the better part of 6/7 hours scouring the help forums for an answer to my problem. I tried several methods before realizing that I needed to disconnect all my USB connected devices, well that includes keyboard, mouse , and just about everything on a new computer. Most new computers so not have PS/2 ports for mouse and keyboard operation, everything is USB. The long and short of it was I needed to get into a SAFE mode on startup and I did but couldn’t navigate without a mouse and keyboard (USB), so I ended up rigging them through my USB ports on my monitor and getting in through the side door. Once there I was able to restore my system to a time before the SP3 install and repair all the damage. My desktop still doesn’t work properly and I am re-imaging to a factory state over Christmas break. I will not install SP3. I can’t wait for the next OS by Windows. As Bill said in Pirates of Silicon Valley…we need to make people need us…well I need Bill and MS.



2pts - Pirates of the Silicon Valley:

To me it was a real treat watching this movie. Truthfully, I never knew it existed. I thought it quite interesting how these two individuals and their respective companies were so intertwined, yet so distinctly different, just as they are today. The thing I liked about it was that I was alive and kicking during this whole process. I was 18 in 1976. I thought back to what I was doing during this time and how the elements of the growth of both companies triggered memories. As far as the two men involved, Steve and Bill, well the movie seemed to paint them as synergistic opposites. Steve in his god-like nirvana and Bill in his nerd-like egoism almost seem to be yin and yang; both having a narcissistic drive to propel their companies toward success. I do not know how totally accurate the portrayals were but the seemed to peg the individuals fairly accurately. I thought it interesting that Steve seemed to reject his daughter Lisa, being that he was adopted himself; if this rejection is true at all. My favorite part was when Steve and Bill confronted each other after the Super Bowl commercial and Bill telling Steve that he just stole first; they both realized that they were guilty of stealing ideas together from Xerox. Once again, how true this is I don’t know. I do remember the commercial though. The movie left me wondering that with Steve’s intense loyalty-seeking drive toward a cult-like family would mean that Apple’s employees would have drank Jonestown Kool-Aid for him. I did like watching this movie after watching Triumph of the Nerds. The factual documentary really filled in the content needed to truly understand what was happening. Great movie!