Microcomputer systems - Assignment instructions

The assignment is to

• Familiarize yourself with a distinct subject or technique on the field of microcomputer systems in greater detail than has been possible on the lectures..
• Learn elementary scientific writing.

There are three optional ways to do the assignment:

1. An essay dealing with a certain subject in detail. The written essay will be available in WWW for everyone to utilize.
2. A detailed WWW document on a hardware installation/expansion on your own computer.
3. Seminar presentation

Subjects for the assignment

You can do the assignment on either a given subject or one of your own. In either case note the following:

• You can do your assignment on a given subject. Every student on the course has been given a subject that can be found at:
  <URL: http://appro.mit.jyu.fi/laitteistot/harkka/aiheet.html>.

  Help for getting started with the given subject is available at the hint page. You don't have to get the given subject accepted but can start working on it immediately.

• In case you have some hardware-related interests of your own and you would like to know more of a certain subject, you can select that subject for the assignment instead of the given one. For getting your own subject accepted, send a brief description of it by using the form below.
• If you want to give a presentation on the seminar use the form below to get your subject accepted. The subject must be sent at latest November 9th 2001.
• And if you want to write a doucment on hardware installation use the form below to get your subject accepted.

Requirements for the contents of the document / report

The document has to be written in a fluent, understandable and pertinent language. The document has to be written such that a person without prelimimary knowledge on the subject is able to follow the text. Thus, start with a general description of the subject and give the necessary background information before a thorough discussion on the subject. The essay should give anwers at least to the following questions:

• An essay on a device or a technique has to answer at least to:
  • What does *** mean?
  • What is *** for?
  • Where is *** used?
  • How is *** used?
  • Are there other comparable devices / techniques?
  • Where can one get *** ?
  • How musch does *** cost?
  • How do one install *** ?
  • Are there any known problems in using *** ?
  • Where can one get further information on *** ?
• Document on hardware installation should include:
  • Need for the expansion or installation?
  • Are there other possible solutions for the update or installation?
  • The original hardware:
    • CPU (speed)
    • Mother board
    • Hard disc(s) (capacity)
    • CD-ROM/CD-R/CD-RW/DVD drives
    • Display driver (CPU, memory)
    • Sound card
    • Modem
    • Network card
    • Scanner
    • Printer
    • Other devices
    The producer and model of all devices should be mentioned as well as the bus used by the device. If there are WWW pages about the devices, links should be inluded.
  • Things you have to check before buying the device?
  • Description of the installation step by step. Especially possible problems have to be described in detail.
  • Did you have to change the BIOS settings?
  • Did you have to install new software? Did you have to install a driver? Where can one get the latest driver?
  • Did the installing of a new device cause any problems with the old devices? Did any of the old devices disturb the installed device? How was the problem solved?
  • Did the update meet your requirements? (For example: Was the benefit from the new device worth its price?)

Requirements associated with scientific writing

The assignment is also to practice elementary scientific writing. The list below contains the requirements briefly. Opinnäytteiden kirjoittaminen, lyhyt oppimäärä by Jukka-Pekka Santanen is a short and useful introduction to scientific writing (but it is in Finnish).

• The document has to be in correct English.
• The language has to be fluent.
• The references have to be marked in a certain way. For making the references see chapters List of references and References in the text.

List of references

The instructions below are from the article Opinnäytteiden kirjoittaminen, lyhyt oppimäärä by Jukka-Pekka Santanen.

References to the source of information on the document have to be made according to the practice in the field of information technology. Paragraphs based on a source have to include the reference and all the references are listed in the end of the document. The following form is used for the list of references:

• In the list of references a reference is given as follows (a book, for instance):
  • Last and first name of the author, "name of the book", publisher, domicile of the publisher, publishing year.
• In case of an article the reference is listed as follows:
  • Last and first name of the author, name of the article, journal, volume (year), pages.
• If the reference is found in information networks it is listed as follows:
  • Last and first name of the author, "name of the text", available in HTML-(PDF or another format) format at <URL: http://www.address.fi>, update date of the text.

When referring note the following:

• When the authors are more than one their names are given like this: Lastname Firstname, Lastname Firstname and Lastname Firstname
• If there is no update date on the document on the net, mark the date of referring (referred 3.11.2000)

References in the text

Inside the paragraphs of the document the references are made as follows:

• [5, page 28]
  • in case there is the ID [5] before the name of the author in the list of references.
• [Author, 1999, page 64]

If you include the reference in the text it makes it easier to read.

An example of references and a list of references

In the text below two different ways of referring are used for demonstration. However, use only one way of referring in your text.

In the press release of the Company [3] it is blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa [1, page7]. Blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa blaa [Santanen, 2000].

References:

• [1] Matti Meikäläinen, "Elämäkertani", Gummerus, Helsinki, 2000.
• [2] Santanen Jukka-Pekka, "Opinnäytteiden kirjoittaminen, lyhyt oppimäärä", available in HTML format at <URL: http://www.mit.jyu.fi/santanen/info/kirjoittamisesta.html> , 23.8.2000.
• [3] Company, "Press release about the Thing", available in HTML format at <URL: http://url_to_the_document_itself> , referred 20.10.2001.

More detailed instructions (in Finnish) are available at <URL: http://www.mit.jyu.fi/santanen/info/kirjoittamisesta.html> .

The latest information you need for the assignment is always available in WWW but literature and journals / magazines can also be utilized!

Structural requirements

• The document has to be placed on a public WWW server in HTML format. The HTML used has to be in accordance with the recommendations by W3C thus the document has to validate without errors at the W3C html validator.
• The document must include only one HTML file that is at least three A4 pages long excluding the images. The easiest way to check the length of the document is to select File | Print Preview on the browser window.
• You must not use any unnecessay WWW tricks like background images, a black-and-white document is expected. You must not use larger fonts or line spacing tricks to lenghten your document.
• The document has to be a simple and structurally correct HTML document where heading elements are used for headings and paragraph elements are used for normal text.
• In the beginning of the document there has to be a table of contents that contains links to the headings of the document.
• In the end of the document there has to be a list of references in the correct form. The list of references has to include links to the WWW pages used as references. The links have to lead straight to the page that contains the information, not to the front page of the site.
• The references in the text have to contain links to the list of references. In case of a long list of references, the link has to lead straight to the respective line on the list.
• If there is a list of additional information in the end of the document, links to the WWW pages listed are needed.

Supervision and delivery of the assignment

Ask for supervision in case of major problems. Appointment times are announced eslewhere but you can ask for an appointment with the supervisor any time you need it. Make the appointment beforehand by e-mailing your supervisor. Your supervisor is the same person who checks your assignment.

You can use the form below to deliver your assignment (Note the division of students!)

Assignments on paper are NOT accepted.

The deadline for delivering the assignment is November 30th 2001. An approved assignment that is delivered before the deadline gives one extra point to a passed exam.

The absolute deadline for delivering the assignment is December 14th 2001.

The supervisor will comment on your assignment within approximately two weeks (10 working days) from its delivery. In case you deliver your assignment on the last or the second last day, it can take up to three weeks to check it. After this ask for your assignment if you haven't got any comments on it!

Seminar presentation

The seminar presentations are given November 20th between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. if at least four persons are willing to present their work. One presentation takes 15 minutes and the students and lecturers of the course are the audience. A brief instruction for making a seminar presentaion is given below.

• The presentation takes 15 minutes (Try how long it takes before you present it to the audience!)
• The structure of the presentation has to be accepted by the lecturer.
• The presentation should deal with a device or technique in greater detail.
• Giving a seminar presentation gives two extra points to a passed exam.

Hints

You can start searching for information for your assigment by using the phrases and words associated with the subject as search terms at, for instance, <URL: http://appro.mit.jyu.fi/haku/>. Some good WWW encyclopaedias for terms of information technology are listed below. These can help you to start with your assignment.

• Webopaedia <URL: http://www.webopaedia.com/>
• Whatis.com <URL: http://www.whatis.com/nfindex.htm>
• FOLDOC <URL: http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/>

The link page of the course contains a variety of links to hardware related pages.

Also the IT magazines are worth checking:

• MikroPC <URL: http://www.mikropc.fi/>
• Tietokone <URL: http://www.tietokone.fi/>
• Prosessori <URL: http://www.prosessori.fi/>
• Mikrobitti <URL: http://www.mikrobitti.fi/>
• PC Mag <URL: http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/>
• PC World<URL: http://www.pcworld.com/>
• TechWeb <URL: http://www.techweb.com/>

The libraries may have some relevant literature:

• The Jyväskylä University Library <URL: http://jykdok.csc.fi/>
• Jyväskylän kaupunginkirjasto <URL: http://jkl226.jkl.fi:8001/Intro?formid=form1>

And by all means dig the sites of the producers etc!