CompTIA® A+®: Exam 220-801

Course-specific Technical Requirements

Hardware

Software

For this course, each student and the instructor will require one computer. The class is designed for each pair of students to work at a station that consists of one desktop computer, one laptop/portable computer, and one printer. If you do not have enough laptop computers to have one per station, provide as many as you can and provide the remaining students with desktop computers. If you do not have enough physical printers to have one per station, provide enough printers so that students can have adequate hands-on access to the printer mechanisms and components.

You will also need to provide other hardware items for students to install. Wherever possible, provide enough components so that each lab station can install each device. If it is impractical to provide one of each component per student or per station, provide as many as you can. If necessary, you can perform some installation tasks as an instructor demonstration, or you can have students pass devices from one station to the next so that each station can have a turn installing a given device.

The specifications for the desktop and laptop computers, as well as a list of other hardware items you will need to provide, are listed below: You might find it convenient to locate any additional hardware in bins or drawers in a central location. In particular, any equipment that students will share should be accessible by students at all stations.

• Desktop computers should be ATX-based systems with PCIe slots. For demonstration purposes, additional bus types, such as ISA slots, are a plus. The system should also include the following ports: parallel, VGA, PS/2 keyboard port, PS/2 mouse port, serial, USB, and, if possible, sound ports including Line In, Line Out, Mic, and Game. Any additional ports are a plus. Desktop systems should have bootable DVD-ROM drives and floppy drives.
• Portable computers should have a CD/DVD drive (these can be swappable in a single drive bay, or separate components); at least one PC card slot; a mini-PCI card bay; and an empty memory slot.
• All computers should be 1 GHz Pentium® systems or higher.
• All computers should have 40 GB or larger hard disks.
• All computers should have 2 GB or more of RAM.
• All computers should have a keyboard and mouse.
• All computers should have a 800 x 600-capable display adapter and monitor.
• Laptop computers should have a docking station or port replicator to support the standard peripherals (keyboard, mouse, and monitor).
• All computers should have network adapters and appropriate network cabling.
• Provide printing devices of your choice. You might wish to have different printer types, such as laser printers and inkjet printers, if available.
• The instructor’s computer should have a projection system so the students can follow activities and demonstrations and so the instructor can display the course slide presentation.
• Each student should have a basic computer toolkit including an anti-static wrist strap, screwdrivers, tweezers and other small tools, and a multimeter. You may wish to provide other sample tools to the students, such as a power supply tester, as well as masking tape and pens. (Some of these items are included in the basic toolkit that is provided with the full courseware kit.)
• Each station should have a cleaning kit that includes monitor cleaning wipes, keyboard cleaning wipes, lint-free cloths, rubbing alcohol, cotton swabs, a lens cloth, window cleaner, toothpicks, a paint brush, a compressed air canister, and a computer vacuum.
• A classroom Internet connection.
• Each PC should contain the following internal devices that students can remove and reinstall, examine for troubleshooting purposes, or use to perform maintenance techniques: a hard disk; memory modules; power supply; one or more adapter cards; and cooling systems.
• If the computers do not have integrated sound support, install sound cards.
• Provide a second, compatible 20 GB hard drive and a cable that will enable a second hard drive to be added to student computers.If you do not provide a second hard drive for installation, then you must leave unallocated space on the hard drive during Windows installation; otherwise, it will be impossible to complete some of the activities in the Managing System Components lesson.
• Provide alternate input devices, such as different mice.
• Provide a multimedia device of some type for students to install.
• Provide spare laptop hardware, such as memory, for students to install.
• Provide the appropriate cabling for all devices.
• Provide as many other samples of different types of computer components as possible to display for the students. This can include adapter cards for various bus types; SCSI, PATA, and SATA storage devices; a variety of ports and cable; USB devices or hubs; multimedia devices such as digital cameras or microphones; gaming devices such as joysticks; various network cables and connectors; different display device types; different printer types; internal or external modems; examples of different motherboards, CPUs, and chipsets; portable drives; and so on. Although you cannot work hands-on with every conceivable type of PC component within the confines of the course, the more component types students can see and handle, the more beneficial their learning experience will be.
• Some activities and labs might require or suggest additional materials, so be sure to review the activity-specific setup requirements throughout the course prior to teaching this class.

• Windows® 7 Professional with appropriate licenses.
• Windows Server 2003 R2 or 2008 R2 with appropriate licenses.
• Classroom Internet access. Please configure Internet access and TCP/IP settings as appropriate for your learning environment.
• Device drivers and software manuals for each device the students will install. You should be able to obtain this live from the Internet during class; if not, you can download the drivers and burn them to a CD-ROM or place them on a network share, or provide the manufacturers’ original disks.