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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 15, 1988)
9 • December 15, 1988 • Portland Observer • Pag* / COMPUTERS & YOU What Is MS/DOS and PC/DOS by T. West Often times those ot us who use personal computer regularly lorget about the importance ot an operating system. In fact, there are many users in se veral businesses who do not know what an operating system is nor its purpose. MS/DOS means Mi crosoft Disk Operating System and PC/DOS means Personal Com puter Operating System. Both programs are oper ating systems. Without an operating system your computer hardware (the physical equipment) could not communicate with other devices such as disk drives, print ers, modems, scanners, etc. For the IBM compatible systems MS/ DOS is required before you can use such application programs as Lotus 123, DBASE III Plus, WordPerfect, and others. The operating system tell application programs how they must function - how information should be stored to the disk, how information should be sent to the printer, what disk drives are avail able, and other features such as copying, deleting, formatting disks, and backing up files. An operating system is like a traffic cop to the application programs instructing them as to what can or cannot be done. Prior to the 1950s there were no operating systems used with the most sophisticated system s. During the early 1950s General Motors Research Laboratories designed one of the first operating system sforusew iththelB M 701. In 1955 with the help of North American Aviation, General Motors wrote an operating system for what was at that time the most powerful computers of that era, namely the IBM 704. In fact, many of the early operating systems were designed by users, not the com puter manufacturers. AT&T's UNIX operating system is another good example of powerful operating systems being designed by non computer manufacturers. In the mid-1970s personal computers were introduced to the public and Digital Research designed the CP/M operating system for these microcomputers In 1982 Microsoft designed the Mb/ Congratulations Y 'p l ''- • r. * DOS operating system lor use in the new 16 bit IBM PCs. During the first six months of this introduction, IBM PCs were established as the stan d ard fo r the b u sin e ss environment, this automatically made M icrosoft and instant success. Soon thereafter, IBM designed and marketed their own operating system called PC/DOS, which was basically the same as MS/DOS but not precisely. You can run into problems trying to use MS/ DOS on an IBM PC. However, you can run PC/DOS on any 100% IBM .... ’Mur/ Ä.1.J if’ .'. V' Æ. The Evon G arlington Day Care Center Watch fo r upcom ing sto ry in ln » Portland Observer. compatible system, so there are some internal differences between the two operating systems. Before you can use any of your application programs the operating system must first be loaded into your computer’s memory. Usually when you purchase your computer you also receive a book, with the supportive disks containing the operating system. On these disks (usually called the systems disk, or boot disk) are the programs which make up the operating system. The computer is started by first inserting the disk containing such programs into your disk drive and turning your computer on. PORTLAND OBSERVER "The Eyes and Ears of the Community" 288-0033 4r V . i'X.'-' C-s O bserver or to T. W est a t 287-8511. One of the world's most famous real estate deals was completed on Dec. 20. 1803. when more than a million square miles of the Louisiana Territory was purchased by the United States from France. The French leader Napoleon sold the land for approximately $20 per square mile hl 1988 PM Editorial Services ,988 PM Editorial Services .............................. — - - G pand r Quuiuel Stop & Go Restaurant Twentv years have passed since the K em er Commission warned that American's,Kiels was unraveling along racial lines How much p ro g ie^ las been made m the economic struggle lor blacks in Oregon. I ind out i an S-part senes beginning next Sunday in Koko Bar-B-Q Spare Ribs & Chicken Full Meal Menu Chinese Toad ■ Seafood ■ Philadelphia ■ Hoagies ■ Bargers Com bo D in n e r $3.95 Pork Fried Rice ■ Pork Chow Mein • Fried Prawns TYv Our Philadelphia Chinese Steak! FREE Drawing Every Saturday ' vx-rc.' A ll responses or comments max be made to the December 19 marks the 30th anni versary of the first radio voice broad cast from space. Transmitted trom the U S Earth satellite Atlas, the mes sage was a recorded Christmas greet ing from President Dwight D. Eisen hower: -To all mankind. America's wish for peace on Earth and good will toward men everywhere III ». if. A FEW GOOD M EN-As regional accounting supervisor for McDonald s C orporation, Stephen A. Betts, left, keeps his eye on the com pany's bottom line. And David M. Moore, center, is vice president and co o w n er of Q uality Croutons, whose product top s M cDonald's garden salads. The two, however, have more in common than their McDonald's a ffilia tio n . They recently were named by Dollars & Sense magazine tw o of A m erica's Best and B rightest Young B usiness and Profes sio n al Men. Now in its second year, the "b e st" award salutes 60 of the n atio n 's m ost talented, well-educated and h ig hly-m otivated men between the ages of 25 and 40. Dollars and Sense pub lish e r Donald C. W alker, right, was on hand to congratulate B etts and Moore at a banquet held to celebrate the recipients The PC/DOS operating system is an area where many businesses do not place enough emphasis. Secretaries may know how to use WordPerfect and not know how to format a disk, backup files from the harddisk to floppy disks or tape, erase a group of files, configure the DOS configuration file, create subdirectories and manipulate between them, and other operating system features. It is vital that your firm's personnel be trained properly in the use of the operating system as well as application programs. The most efficiency of your business is not because it uses a computer, rather because the person who instructs the computer knows how to get every measure of power out of the existing operating system as well as the application programs. Training should be a part of the cost analysis study whenever your business consider purchasing a personal computer. Louisiana Purchase , •xv’ This Dumb computer has a mind of its o\ Christmas Greeting o Saluting.... To subscribí’, m il 2-I-H24O 283-9740 Tgke Qu( Qrders open : 11 a.m.-io p.m. 230 N. Killlnqsworth • Portland, OR . .. .• •• • tv ‘ b* * * ‘ » • » •» » * « "