Chapter 2 - Turning the Computer On, Booting the System
You must turn on the computer and load an operating system into the RAM before you can work. All recent models are equipped with a hard drive that is turned on when the computer is turned on. The hard drive contains the system and the computer will automatically load the system from the hard drive when the computer is turned on.
In addition, the monitor must be turned on. The on - off switch for the computer is most often found at the lower right side of the computer. The monitor switch is usually found at the back of the monitor on the lower right hand side. Find out how to turn the computer on and off.
When the computer is turned on you will hear a bing and see a happy face. This means that the computer has carried out a check of the electronics and found everything ready to go. If you see a question mark the operating system is not loading. Call the instructor.
After the computer is booted, you will see a screen that looks something like this:
2.2 For First Time Computer Users
You can skip section 2.2 if you know how to use a mouse, open programs, select programs or documents, use open and close buttons, scroll documents, edit text and save documents.
The mouse is found attached to the computer by a cord. It is usually on the right hand side. When you move the mouse you will see a little arrow move on the computer screen. Move the mouse until it is pointing to the icon (little picture) of the Admin Server.
and click the mouse quickly two times. The Admin Server should open and the desktop should now look something like this:
Next move the mouse so that the arrow points to the icon of a folder called Applications
and click the mouse quickly two times. The folder should open and the desktop should now look something like this:
Next move the mouse so that the arrow points to the icon of a folder called Simulations and Tutorials and click two times, and finally move the mouse to the folder labeled Macintosh 7200 tutorial and the desktop should look like this.
Finally double click on the icon Macintosh Tutorial Part 1 and follow the instructions.
In this section you will format a floppy disk so that it can be used by the Macintosh to store information. Today there are two types of floppy disks in common use for the Macintosh. They are both 31/2 inches square. One of these holds 800 Kilobytes (or 0.8 Megabytes or 0.8 Mbytes) of information, the other holds 1.2 Mbytes. The 800 K disk has a single hole in the upper right hand side. The 1.2 Mbytes disk has holes in the upper right hand side and the upper left hand side. Older Macs, such as the Mac SE and the Mac Plus, can not work with the 1.2 Mbytes disk. All Macintosh computers will accept the 800 Kbytes disk.
Because these disks can be used by other types of computers, (IBM and IBM clones) it is necessary to put electronic marks on the disk so that it can be used by a Macintosh computer. This is called initializing the disk. All of the new Macintosh computers have a program called ÒPC Exchange.Ó This program allows Macintosh computers to read from and write to other computers.
For this course I recommend you buy 31/2 DS,HD disks, because most of the computers on this campus can read these disks and, if formatted correctly, can be used on both Macintosh and IBM (and IBM clones).
Insert a disk and initialize it.
The boxes you will see may look slightly different than those show below. If you have problems, ask the instructor or your neighbor.
Place a new disk in an empty drive.
If the disk is formatted, it will appear in the upper right hand side of the desk top. Shown below is a 3.5 inch floppy with the name 1996. If you want to change the name of your disk, click on the name and keep the mouse over the name for a few seconds. The name will be selected, and you may type in any name you like.
If the disk is formatted as an IBM disk the icon will appear like this:
Notice the letters PC on the disk which tells you the disk is formatted for IBM and IBM clones.
As an exercise, If you have an PC disk format the disk as a Macintosh disc or if you have an Macintosh disk format the disk as a PC disc. Start by clicking on the disk to select it, and then choosing Erase Disk... from the Special Menu. You will see a dialog box that looks like this:
Notice that the name in the Name box is selected. That is, the letters appear in white on a black background. When you type in the name you want to give to the disk, the selected portion will disappear, and the letters you type will appear. You might want to title this disk Òboot disk 1-your name,Ó but any title will do.
Next, from the Format box choose the new format of the disk, Macintosh, DOS or ProDOS, and click on Erase. The computer will format the disk to the new format. When it is finished, the icon of the disk will change to indicated how the disk is formatted.
If the disk is not formatted you will see dialog boxes with a set of commands. The first box looks something like this:
If you choose Initialize, you will get a series of dialog boxes similar to those described above. NEVER INITIALIZE A DISK THAT HAS INFORMATION ON IT THAT YOU WISH TO SAVE. The process of initialization erases all the information on the disk!. If your disk is damaged, it may be possible to recover some or all of the information on it by advanced techniques.
After you initialize a disk, take out your initialized disk by clicking on the disk to select it, holding the mouse down and dragging the icon of the disk to the icon of the trash can in the lower right hand corner of the screen. This ejects the disk from the computer, and also removes any information about the disk from RAM. In other words, the computer will no longer remember anything about the disk. Most (about 99%) of the time, you will remove a disk by dragging it to the trash. IN GENERAL, DO NOT EJECT THE DISK BY GOING TO THE MENU AND CHOOSING EJECT OR BY USING THE COMMAND AND E KEYS UNLESS YOU WANT THE COMPUTER TO REMEMBER INFORMATION STORED ON YOUR DISK.
2.4 Copying a disk on a new Macintosh
Because there is one disk drive in the new Macintosh computers, you must eject the disk you wish to copy from in order to insert a blank disk. You do this by clicking on the disk you wish to copy from. This action selects the disk and the icon of the disk turns black. Then press the command key (it has a cloverleaf on it) and the ÒEÓ key at the same time. This action will eject the disk in the computer, but the computer will remember the information that was on the disk you ejected. Next you need to put in a blank disk and initialize the blank disk. Once the blank disk is initialized, drag the icon over the disk you want to copy from over the icon of the blank disk. The computer will start the process of copying the disk. From time to time the computer will request a disk. Follow the instruction given to you until you have completed the task of copying the disk. This process is slow, but will make and exact copy of your disk.
An alternative to this process is to double click on the disk you are going to copy from to open it. This will display the contents of the disk. Next, click on the open disk and drag over the items you wish to copy. They are selected and will turn black. Next drag all of the items from the disk you wish to copy to the hard drive, eject the disk you are copying from and insert the disk you will copy to. Open the hard drive and reverse the process.
There are many ways the information that is stored on your disk can be lost. Electrical fields, magnetic devices, magnets, extremes of heat, dust, dirt, grease, moisture, or excessive use may all change or distort the information on the disk. If you have worked for three weeks preparing a term paper for a course, and you left the disk that contained the term paper in your car on a hot day, all of the information on the disk would be lost. Sometimes the information on the disk is lost for no apparent reason. If you do not care to keep the information on the disk, there is no reason to back it up. Large companies keep and maintain three to six backup copies of important information. Some of these are maintained in protected off-site storage facilities. You may want to keep more than one copy of your work in more than one place.