Computer Systems
Time
16.3 hrs
Difficulty
Advanced
Prerequisites
Teardown & Rebuild (PC)
Departments
Human Technologies
Authors
Ross Parker
Groupings
Individual
Minimum Year Group
None
Blurb
You use computers every day: now is the time to learn how they work, and why they behave the way that they do.
License
This work is shared under the following license: Creative Commons BY-SA-NC
Outline
| The Pitch Why should I bother learning this?
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| Resources What is needed to run this unit?
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Interdisciplinary Links Do not try and force this. What areas of other subjects might this reflect and/discuss language. For IB, links with ToK. |
| Teacher Reflection What was successful? What needs changing? Alternative Assessments and Lesson Ideas? What other Differentiation Ideas/Plans could be used? |
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| Credits Any CC attribution, thanks, credit, etc.
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5 mins
It's Your Computer
The Pitch
- You use computers every day: now is the time to learn how they work, and why they behave the way that they do.
- Want to be able to fix your computer when it breaks? Understand why it lags? Make it do what you want?
20 mins
Introduction
The Big Picture
- In this unit you will have a chance to consider how computers, and computer systems, work: from hardware on up.
- We will use the 4 Layer Model v2 to structure how we think about computer systems:
- By the end of this unit you will have produced an essay on how computer systems function. I suggest you take notes and photos as we go, but will leave this up to you!
- For now, spend a little time researching the meaning of the words hardware, software and network.
45 mins
PC Teardown Refresher
Hands On
- You will already have done a PC Teardown, and if you remember the details, you can skip this section. If you need a refresher, keep going.
- REMEMBER! Electricity is a powerful force: IT CAN KILL YOU!
- AT NO POINT IN THIS UNIT ARE YOU TO WORK ON YOUR COMPUTER'S COMPONENTS WHEN IT IS PLUGGED IN
- The power supply is especially dangerous. NEVER TAKE THE COVER OFF! When removing it from the case, undo only the screws holding it to the case, not the screws holding it together:
- If your power supply ends up with no cover, you are in big trouble!
- Keeping this warning in mind, get a desktop computer, and tear it down enough to identify and look at the main components:
- Case
- Power supply
- Motherboard
- CPU
- Storage (aka hard disk drive)
- Memory (aka RAM)
- Consider taking some photos of the computer and its components to use in your essay.
140 mins
Hardware: How Does It Work?
Theory
- Hardware are the tangible parts of a computer system (e.g. the parts you can touch).
- Spend some time now researching online, to try and work out the following about hardware:
- What does each of the 6 main hardware components do?
- How do the 6 main components work together?
- What other components might you have in a computer, beyond the main 6?
- Where do instructions and data live within the computer?
- What part of the computer processes instructions, and thus makes the computer work?
- How is it that RAM makes your computer run faster?
- Why exactly does your computer run slower when the RAM is full?
- Take notes, in your own words, as you go. Record links of where your information comes from, so you are ready to cite your sources later on.
- Some of the videos below might help you in understanding some of these ideas, and more. The last one is university level, and so likely goes into more detail than you need, but for those who are interested, it might be useful.
70 mins
Software: What Is It?
Theory
- Software consists of instructions that tell a computer what to do.
- Software is intangible (even if you can touch the disk that the software is stored on, you can't directly touch the software itself).
- Software is generally stored in a hard drive and transfer to the CPU for processing. The CPU might transfer a result back to the hard drive once it is finished.
- Software can be written directly in binary code, but usually we write it in a more sophisticate (aka higher level) programming language, such as assembly, Java, C, PHP, etc.
- Software can fit into three different categories:
- Firmware
- Operating System
- Application
- Spend some time now researching (using a variety of sources) to learn more about software and the keywords used above.
140 mins
Software: Installing An OS
Hands On
- You will now spend some time installing an operating system into a virtual machine (a fake computer inside your own computer).
- We will use a type of operating system called Linux, in particulate a distribution called Ubuntu. The video below gives a brief introduction:
- When installing the OS, we are copying the OS files from a CD (a virtual CD in this case) to the computer's hard drive, and then giving the computer software to find and start the OS at boot.
- Use this time to use the instructions below to install your new OS
- During download and installation, you can use wait time to make notes for your end-of-unit essay.
- Inside our virtual box, we will run the desktop version of Ubuntu Linux, which is also free and open source. Download Ubuntu Deskto and save the resulting .iso file on your desktop.
- Most downloads are done over HTTP, which is OK.
- But, if you want to get a faster download you can try BitTorrent: if there are lots of people sharing the same file, it will be super quick.
- If you want to use BitTorrent, try the Transmission client for Mac.
- Please note, BitTorrent is fine to use for downloading freely shared materials (e.g. open source, Creative Commons, public domain, etc), but it is illegal to use it to share copyrighted materials.
- The video below might help you in your installation.
70 mins
Networking: Setting Up A LAN
Hands On
- A network is a collection of computers that can communicate with each other.
- A common format for a network is a local area network (LAN), using the Ethernet standard.
- Ask you teacher for a switch and some network cables, and set up your own LAN with two computers on it.
- Each computer will have an IP address, assigned by the switch. Can you discover the IP addresses for each of the two computers?
- Using the IP addresses, can you use Terminal to run the commands ping and traceroute to learn more about your network?
70 mins
Note Taking
Recap
- Spend this time going back over the content above, and doing further research, in order to make sure you have notes covering the main concepts covered so far.
- Make sure your notes are written in your own words, to avoid issues with plagiarism in the future.
70 mins
Networking: The Internet
Theory
- We all use the Internet every day...but most people have no idea what it is. Let's try and change that. Using online and other resources, try and answer the following questions. Ask your teacher if you need help. Some resources and keywords (highlighted in orange) are included for you.
- What is the Internet? What does it look like?
- Network of networks
- Internet Structure Diagram
- Internet Map Visualisation
- Where "is" the Internet? Or where does the Internet live?
- Who owns the Internet?
- Who controls the Internet?
- Where did the Internet come from?
- What's the difference between the Internet and the Web?
- How does the Internet work?
- Packet switching
- TCP IP
- What is the Internet? What does it look like?
- If you can answer these questions, you have a good understanding of what the internet is.
- Ask your teacher if you need any clarification, help or extension.
- This Ars Technica article gives some ideas, at a technical level, of how the Internet works behind the scenes.
- In addition the TCP/IP Guide goes into a crazy level of detail.
70 mins
The People Layer
Big Questions
- In the 4 Layer Model v2, the People layer is semi-transparent. This is not because it is less important that the others, but because it is so hard to define.
- The People layer includes any interaction between humans and computer technology, and there are potentially many issues within this layer.
- Choose two of the following questions, and spend some time thinking about it minutes discussing it.
- How do humans benefit from computer use?
- What are the costs of computer use?
- Why do we find computers so compelling to use (for some people to the point of addiction)?
- Computers are a disruptive technology: they have forced us to change the way we do things in most areas of our lives? Why is disruption good? Why is disruption bad?
- How do we distinguish between productive and destructive uses of computers?
- Computer use is causing more and more environmental pollution. How can we justify this, when it is harmful to ourselves and the plants and animals around us?
- To what extent are computers are changing the way that we think, live and interact with each other?
- Once you have some ideas on how to answer the question, approach your teacher to discuss those ideas.
30 mins
Limitations Of The Model
Thinking
- The 4 Layer Model v2 is a very simple model: it makes complex reality easier to understand by striping away detail.
- This means the model, like all models, has certain limitations, including:
- Too few layers, and not detailed enough (software can have 3 sub layers, networks 7)
- Layers might not be the best model anyway (hardware is more like a web, people is just crazy)
- Where is the most important part of computers...data?
- For your essay, start thinking of how you could structure the model in a better fashion.
250 mins
Essay
Finishing Up
- You should now start working on your end of unit essay, which will:
- Introduce the 4 Layer Model v2 as a simplified way to understand how computers and computer systems function.
- Explain how computers function, in terms of the 4 Layer Model
- Explain the limitations of the 4 Layer Model, and suggest how to make a better model (this is the conclusion)
- Be between 900 and 1200 words.
- Be written in Pages or Word
- Include citations to any reference materials used.
- Use only Creative Commons licensed materials (cited materials do not need to be under a CC license, just those included in the work itself).
- Include a CC license showing how the work can be used, and attributions for any included materials.
- MOST IMPORTANT: your language must be formal, impersonal, grammatically correct, free of spelling mistakes and correctly capitalised.
- As an example essay, check out this work by Joaquin dela Cruz.
- Submit your complete essay as evidence of your learning.
Links
- Ars Technica article
- 4 Layer Model v2
- Internet Structure Diagram
- Internet Map Visualisation
- TCP/IP Guide
- check out this work by Joaquin dela Cruz
- Download Ubuntu Deskto
- Transmission
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hIQjrMHTv4
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scWj1BMRHUA
Images
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