The program that would not start
A designer asks for a new drawing program. The technician installs it on her old laptop. It takes ten minutes to open and then crashes.
Nobody checked what the program needs. A two minute check would have saved her a day.
Key words
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| System requirements | what a computer must have to run a program well |
| RAM | the memory that holds programs while they run |
| Storage space | room on a drive to keep the program and its files |
| Processor | the part that does the calculations |
| Compatibility | whether a program works with the other parts and software |
| Core | one working unit inside a processor |
| Resource | a part a program can use, such as memory, storage or processor time |
| Operating system | the program that runs a computer and its other programs |
| Virtual machine | a computer made by software inside another computer |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can check a computer against a program's requirements and say how to set up resources for good speed.
Starter
Have a go
Starter
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
The five things to check
Every program lists its system requirements. Five matter most.
Storage space: is there enough free room? RAM: is there enough memory? Compatibility: will it work with the other software and hardware? Processor: is the processor fast enough, with enough cores? Operating system: is the right type and version installed?
A requirements check
| Requirement | The program needs | This PC has | Pass? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storage space | 20 GB free | 100 GB free | Yes |
| RAM | 8 GB | 4 GB | No |
| Compatibility | Works with the finance program | Works | Yes |
| Processor | 4 cores | 8 cores | Yes |
| Operating system | Windows 11 | Windows 10 | No |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
How many processor cores?
nprocA command for the lesson’s lab terminal. It is shown here and not run.
How much memory is there?
free -m | head -2A command for the lesson’s lab terminal. It is shown here and not run.
How much space is free?
df -h / | tail -1A command for the lesson’s lab terminal. It is shown here and not run.