Ron McCarty <RON@psuvm.psu.edu> (06/04/91)
In article <1991Jun3.200654.29220@news.nd.edu>, dlc@totocc.nd.edu (David L. Cohn) says: > >Can anyone explain why Prentice-Hall recommends using Version 1.3 for an >introductory OS class rather than 1.5? Is it just that 1.3 is closer to the >version in the text? How hard is it to use 1.5 with the text? > I didn't realize that they did, but I would imagine that it is because the source code more closely matches that in the text. After my experiences using both I would say that it is not very good advice. I found version 1.5 much easier to work with and I did not find the disparity in the source code to be that much of a problem to deal with. The source code is all there on disk when the students need to work with it & I found that spending lots of lecture time closely scrutinizing the code is not that useful. Lectures need to deal with things at a higher conceptual level... you can really get bogged down looking at the code line by line. It would be helpful to have up to date listings in the book but I think the improvements in 1.5 and the material in the 1.5 User's manual are worth far more than the closer agreement between the source code in the text and 1.3. I wish P-H would sell the User's manual separately. I would gladly have my students buy the text and the User's manual but I can not realistically expect each of them to buy a copy of the software. The licence says I can freely copy the software for educational purposes but I can not copy (and do not want the headaches of copying) the User's manual. Ron McCarty Instructor, Computer Science Penn State - Erie
dlc@totocc.nd.edu (David L. Cohn) (06/04/91)
Can anyone explain why Prentice-Hall recommends using Version 1.3 for an introductory OS class rather than 1.5? Is it just that 1.3 is closer to the version in the text? How hard is it to use 1.5 with the text? Also, what are the disadvantages of 1.3? Does it support protected mode?
abc@brl.mil (Brinton Cooper) (06/06/91)
In article <91154.184454RON@psuvm.psu.edu> RON@psuvm.psu.edu (Ron McCarty) writes: >I wish P-H would sell the User's manual separately. I would gladly have >my students buy the text and the User's manual but I can not realistically >expect each of them to buy a copy of the software. The licence says I can >freely copy the software for educational purposes but I can not copy (and >do not want the headaches of copying) the User's manual. I agree. In fact, I find it such a hassle, that I'm thinking of using a different book and some recently-discovered freeware for OS projects. Students should use 1.5 for projects; it's just that much better. But this is not feasible without the manual. I hope that PH is listening. I've used Tanenbaum's book for several years, now, and may jump ship if some satisfactory solution isn't forthcoming. _Brinton Cooper -- _Brinton Cooper BRL - Where "Research" is our Middle Name.