GCC (Goddard Computer Club) : Spring 2005
Overview
We concentrated on three topics this semester
- the HARDWARE: what is inside a computer that makes it tick,
with the goal of learning to assemble a new
and better working computer from components, or a new computer alltogether.
And of course in the process learning to recognize faulty hardware (and
perhaps fix or upgrade) your own.
- the PYTHON programming language, as an example of a programming language
suitable for this age and much beyond. It works on Linux, Mac, and Windows.
Last science fair already showed one student using PYTHON to compute
many digits of PI.
- the KNOPPIX cd, which is a live CD linux boot. We used it for python
and a few other linux specific (did anybody say games?) things.
A website with links, pictures and more information is currently on
http://www.astro.umd.edu/~teuben/gcc/ but the intent is the
students will start their own.
Knoppix CD
Your KNOPPIX CD is a bootable CD. This means, as long as your computer
can boot from CD (see below) you can play with the software on the CD.
However, as soon as you turn the computer off, everything you did will be
lost. The CD will not write to, or touch, the hard drive, which presumably
has Windows, another Linux or both on it.
In order to boot the CD, the BIOS must be told to do so. Sometimes your
computer already does this (so just try), but
most computers as they come out of the box
do not. There are two ways to get your computer to boot from the CD:
- Temporarely, just for this session. Not all computers support this.
But for example Dell computers often will allow you to hit the F12 key
during a critial part of the boot procedure. You will see a small menu
on the screen and with the cursor key you can then select from what medium
to boot. What magic key the BIOS supports varies. Often you will briefly
see it displayed soon after the machine is turned on. Some computers
manufacturers try to hide even this feature to the user and put a big
fancy splash-screen in front of your eyes while it's checking memory
etc. before the boot.
- Permanently. For this you will need to enter the BIOS menus and find
the place where the boot order is defined, and change it such that
the CD has a higher preference that the hard drive. The floppy is not
important here, although you will often find it on the menu also.
To enter the BIOS you will need to find out that magic key. On Dell's
it often is the F2, but others use the Del key,
or the Esc key. It might
take you a few attempts to find the key and/or the right timing after
the machine is turned on. Warning: repeated trying many keys can result
in overflooding the BIOS read program and ignoring what you typed.
When you see the Knoppix: prompt you can either just hit
Enter to continue, or enter a so-called cheat code. Use
google to find what they are. You might need them if your computer
has trouble booting Knoppix. An example of a cheat code is
knoppix 2 ,
which boots Knoppix in text mode (useful for low-memory machines).
Warning: There is also a cheat code to put knoppix on the hard drive.
See for example http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Cheat_Codes
After
The latest version of this text can also be found on
http://www.astro.umd.edu/~teuben/gcc/overview1.html
This page was last modified on
02-Jun-2005
by teuben@astro.umd.edu