Computer Fundamentals for Teachers
Competency # 1 Computer Operation Skills
Module #1.15.1

All operating systems are not created equal!


Getting there

Here is the way it works.  There are 2 common operating systems for personal computers these days (MACOS and WINDOWS95).  There is also an operating system that is very common in Web servers (called UNIX).  Finally, there are still many computers that use the old DOS operating system.  Below is a comparison:

Issue

DOS

UNIX

MacOS

Win95

interface

command line

command line

graphic

graphic

optional components

specified by the person

specified by the administrator

automatically recognized

automatically recognized

Hardware

IBM compatible

Mainframe style

Macintosh only

IBM compatible

Disk access

commands

commands

find icons on disks

menu

Disk usage

only DOS disks

rarely available

Mac, DOS and Windows

DOS and Windows

Publisher

Microsoft

Many free versions

Apple Corporation

Microsoft

File-names

8 characters and 3 character extension

Long names

Long names

Long names

File names

case insensitive

case sensitive

case sensitive

case sensitive

Menu bar locations

none

none

top of screen

top of window

printing

by individual program

by operating system

by operating system

by operating system

location of "print", "save", "open", and "exit" commands

by program

by program

FILE menu

FILE menu

Location of "cut", "copy", and "paste" commands

by program

by program

EDIT menu

EDIT menu

location of SHUTDOWN comand

N/A

command line

SPECIAL menu

START Button

access to control panels

N/A

N/A

Apple Icon

START Button

Ability to run multiple programs

rarely

by special commands

yes

yes

Have you had enough yet?


Copyright 1998 Christopher I. Cobitz
Questions regarding this page may be sent to Christopher I Cobitz