ECS15 -- Fall 97 -- Lecture 15 Notes

© Nancy E. Reed, 1997 -- ECS 15 -- Fall 1997

Lecture 15 Notes
Midterm Review Session

Topics covered on the Midterm

A complete list of the topics and readings covered on the midterm (from the course schedule) are available at: Topics and Readings covered on the Midterm http://wwwcsif.cs.ucdavis.edu/~reedn/ecs15/s97/exams/midterm-topics.html (2 pages, html)

Summary

The midterm covers the first 15 lectures - the first half of the course. In that time, we have covered the four major categories of computer hardware components - input, output, processing and storage and how they work. We have also covered the Internet, and the history of computing.

The midterm covers the first 3 labs. In these labs, we have covered files, directories, and the DOS operating system including common commands. We have also covered the Windows95 operating system, wordprocessing with Microsoft Word, and Internet resources including the World-Wide Web (via Netscape), newsgroups, telnet (via Ewan or WinCRT), and FTP (via WS_FTP95). Look at the objectives for each lab assignment and the lab manual as a study guide for questions on labs.

A Comparison of recent Personal Computer capabilities

What $2000 would buy in a Personal Computer

We have been talking about how fast computers have changed. If we look at IBM PCs with Intel CPUs, the following data is what we discover. This data is shown in graphic form for viewing in class. It is plotted on a "log scale" and the lines appear almost straight (when plotted this way). What would the lines look like if they were printed on a linear scale instead of a log scale?

A comparison of components and performance for systems costing approximately $2,000 in the years 1982 to 1995 (from Intel). This information is plotted on a Log scale.

Year	CPU		RAM	Hard Disk Size	Performance*
----	---		---	---------	-----------
1982	8086		512 KB	20 MB		1 
1985	80286		1 MB	40 MB		3
1988	80386		2 MB	80 MB		10
1991	80486		4 MB	200 MB		28
1993	486/DX2/4	8 MB	500 MB		84
1995	Pentium		16 MB	1 GB		208

* Performance is based on the PC/XT = 1 (4.67 MHz)

You may also want to refer to the comparison of memory and storage devices from the previous lectures.

Solutions to the practice midterm are available today at:

Sample Midterm Solutions
http://wwwcsif.cs.ucdavis.edu/~reedn/ecs15/f97/exams/soln-practice-midterm.html (3 pages, html)

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