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A:
- A drive on your IBM computer usually the 3.5 floppy
drive but can also be the 5.25 inch drive, this is usually your firs boot
drive that way if something goes wrong with your computer you can boot
off a disk and hopefully fix it.
A+
- Refer to A-Plus.
A-B
Box - Usually used if you have more then
one parallel device such as a scanner,
printer, monitor.
It is highly recommended if you get a A-B box that you contact your
printer manufacture to insure
getting such a device does not damage or void warranty.
A-Cable
- Term used for standard SCSI Cable.
A-Plus
- Certification Program created by the
Computer Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) and administrated by
Drake Parametric covering both hardware and software.
ABIOS(Advanced
Bios, Advanced Basic Input/Output System)Protected
- For the IBM PS/2 computers that allows the user to run in mode for
accommodating multitasking/ reserved RAM
by a specific program.
Abort
- Terminate a active computer command.
Abort,
Ignore, Retry, Fail - A DOS
error when trying to access a drive that is not readable by either not
having a disk in the drive or having a disk that is protected or a disk
that is destroyed.
About
- Windows option that when ran identifies the registered user of the
program, and any other important information.
Absolute
cell reference - A cell
in a spreadsheet.
Absolute
coding- A way of programming that uses direct
addressing rather then indirect addressing to specify the location of
data in memory.
Absolute
coordinates - Points on a plane or grid for point
to origin.
AC
- Electrical current that reverses or alternates its direction of travel.
One cycle or hertz, is when the current has made two complete direction
changes. The measurement of the switching is in Hertz or cycles per
second. Usually a normal wall outlet in the United States is 110 volts
transmiting currents at 60 hertz per second. European power systems use
220 volts alternating current at 50 Hz.
Accelerator
- Usually a device that makes a device faster usually a CPU execrator
such as making a 486SX to a 486DX also Video accelerator is a good
example.
Access
- To obtain a open channel of communication with software or hardware
device such as a modem.
Access
arm - A arm like a record player inside of
a hard drive that allows you to
read/write.
Access
number - A number that allows you to access
another modem.
Access
path - A directory or subdirectory that
tells the computer that there is a important file in there for example if
you type in win the win command is not actually a command its just in the
c:\windows directory and your path tells to look in there when you type
some command it looks in the windows directory to see if there is a
executable file named win if there is it runs it.
Access
rights - Tells the computer if you have
rights to look/read/write at certain files and if you don't then it will
not allow you to look/read/write at the files.
Access
server - Networked computer that gives rights
to computers that are not a part of the network.
Access
time - The time it takes the computer to
read data from memory usually the time is measured in ns or nanoseconds
Account
- In communications a account with a multi user network or a Online
service that keeps track of your time and days and rights.
Accounting
machine - A non-electrical computer system
used in 1940's that calculated financial data for large companies.
Acoustic
coupler - A old communication device that
allowed the computer to connect to other computer's transmitting at a
speed of 300 baud and was not digital signals but actually sound that has
been transferred from digital, the computer user would actually have to
hold the phone over the device so that the other computer could hear it.
ACPI
- Refer to Advanced Configuration &
Power Interface.
Action
statement - A command used in different
languages that performs a action.
Active
- Describes that a application is open or
operational.
Active
cell - A cell
in a spreadsheet that is open for
data manipulation.
Active-Matrix
display - A flat-panel display (like a
monitor) used for notebook computers, were each pixel
is controlled and adjusted by its own transistor.
Active
Partition - One partition on a hard drive that
contains the Operating system currently in use.
Active
Window - The current window that is in front
of all the other windows.
Actuator
- Motor that moves the access arm, there are two types of actuator's
there is a stepper motor that moves the access arm across the disk in a
series of steps, and the newer voice coil which creates a fluid movement.
Ada
- Computer language created by the U.S. Department of Defense in 1970
which is capable of designing missile quidence systems.
Adapter
Card - A card that enables your computer to
communicate with another peripheral such as a joystick.
Add-on
- Component that increases the capabilities of your computer such as RAM
,CPU, modem.
Address
- The location of data on a storage device also if talking about the
internet it could be a IP Address.
Address
bus - Circuits that carry data signals to
and from locations in memory.
Address
register - Part of memory that keeps track of
the location of memory.
Advanced
BIOS - Lets the computer run in protected
mode.
Advanced
Configuration & Power Interface - ACPI
defines a flexible and abstract hardware interface that provides a
standard way to integrate power management features throughout a PC
system, including hardware, operating system, and application software.
This enables the system to automatically turn peripherals on and off,
such as CD-ROMs, network cards, hard disk drives, and printers, as well
as consumer devices connected to the PC such as VCRs, televisions,
telephones, and stereos. With this technology, peripherals can also
activate the PC. For example, inserting a tape into a VCR can turn on the
PC, which could then activate a large-screen television and high-fidelity
sound system.
If when booting Windows 98 you ret a
red or blue screen with an ACPI error code:
RED screens indicate that the problem
is probably related to a hardware or BIOS problem. BLUE screens indicate
that the problem is probably related to software or is an obscure
problem.
Advanced
Graphics Port (AGP) - Advanced port especially
designed for Video cards. Designed by Intel, August of 1997. AGP is based
on PCI, but is designed for the special needs of 3-D graphics. AGP
introduces a dedicated point-to-point channel so that the graphics
controller can directly access the system memory. The AGP channel is 32
bits wide and runs at 66 MHz. This translates into a total bandwidth of
266 MBps, as opposed to the PCI bandwidth of 133 MBps. AGP also supports
two optional faster modes, with throughputs of 533 MBps and 1.07 GBps. In
addition, AGP allows 3-D textures to be stored in main memory rather than
video memory.
AGP
- Refer to Advanced Graphics Port.
AI
- Artificial Intelligence
AIX
(ADVANCED INTERACTIVE EXECUTIVE) - IBM's
version of UNIX
Algorithm
- List of instructions.
Alias
- Alternative name for a computer, object, person, or group. Usually used
to replace long names or to keep your own name private.
Aloha
- Protocol for satellite and terrestrial
radio transmissions. In pure Aloha, a user can transmit at any time but
risks collisions with other users' messages. "Slotted Aloha"
reduces the chance of collisions by dividing the channel into time slots
and requiring that the user send only at the beginning of a time slot.
Aloha was the basis for Ethernet, a local area network protocol.
Alphanumeric
- Both numbers and letters.
Alpha
testing - Testing of final products of
different hardware usually conducted in a house.
Alternate
Current (AC) - Current that regularly changes the
directions of travel.
ALU
- Refer to Arithmetic Logic Unit.
American
Standard Code for Information Interexchange (ASCII)
- An industry standard, which assigns letters, numbers, and other
characters within the 256 slots available in the 8 bit code.
The ASCII table is divided in 3
sections:
·
Non printable system codes between 0
and 31.
·
"Lower ASCII" between 32 and
127. This part of the table originates from older, American systems,
which worked on 7 bit character tables. Foreign letters, like Ø and Ü
were not available then. Shown
Below.
·
"Higher ASCII" between 128
and 255. This part is programmable, in that you can exchange characters,
based on which language you want to write in. Foreign letters are placed
in this part.
Amperes
- The unit of measurement for electrical
current in coulombs (6.25 * 1018 electrons)
per second. One ampere is the result of a circuit with one ohm resistance
and one volt is being applied.
Amplitude
- The high points through out a wave usually measured in volts.
Analog
- Device that unlimited variables to measure or represent the flow of
data such as a radio.
Analog
Loopback - Modem self-test in which data from the
keyboard or an internal test pattern is sent to the modem's transmitter,
turned into analog form, looped back to the receiver and converted back
into digital form.
Analog
monitor - Monitor capable of displaying an
infinite rage of colors, such as VGA.
Answer
Mode - Modem settings that allows the modem
to answer any incoming calls.
Analog
Signals - Variety of signals and wavelengths that
can be transmitted over communications lines such as the sound of a voice
over the phone line.
Anti
Static Device - Any device that minimizes static
electricity, such as a wrist strap, floor mat.
Anti
static mat- Floor mat that reduces the risk of
electricity.
Anit
vibration mount - Locks the hard drive in one
place so that the read/write heads are protected from being jarred from
movement.
Antivirus
program - Program made by a company that
allows your computer to be protected against viruses also if viruses are
found usually has the capability of cleaning it. See also our Virus
Info Page.
Any
key - Means any key on the keyboard space
bar enter.....
Apple
Menu - Like the Alt key on the PC computers
but a special key on the Macintosh/Apple computers that allows the user
to do different functions.
Apple
Macintosh - Computer introduced in 1984 became
popular with the schools fast because the had a graphic interface
allowing school children not having to memorize commands in DOS.
Applet
- Special kind of program on the internet that interfaces with Java, such
as a game.
Application
File - Executable file that allows the user
to run the program usually ending in BAT, EXE, COM on the IBM.
Application
Icon - Picture that is like a shortcut for
the program so that the user does not have to memorize were the program
is they can just click and it will do the hard work for you, like a
macro.
Archive
- A site that holds Various information pertaining to different topics
from which you can download or find.
Archival
backup - Backup that just backs up anything
that has changes since the last backup/
Archive
Attribute - A file that is marked for a Archival
Backup used with DOS and OS/2.
Also see MS-DOS page.
ARCNET
- First commercially network developed in 1977 used coaxial cables which
could only transfer at 2.5MB per sec with the most of 256 computers.
Arithmetic
Logic Unit (ALU) - Performs math logic and decision
operations in a computer. There is an ALU inside all microprocessors to
make decisions.
ARQ
- Reefer to Automatic Repeat Request
Array
- Related data values.
AS/400
- Short for Application System/400. The
AS/400 is a line of IBM minicomputers introduced in 1988 and still very
popular today.
Ascender
- Part of a lower case letter that rises above the else such as eat the t
is above the e and a.
Ascending
order - Orders information from lowest to
highest such as 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 or A,b,c,d,e,f.........
ASCII
- Refer to American Standard Code for
Information Interchange.
ASCII
String - ASCII values ending with a null
character.
ASDL
- Refer to Assymetric Digital Subscriber
Line.
Assembly
- Translates the program written in a language to
machine language so that the program can be understood by the computer.
Association
- Tells the operating system such as Windows95 or DOS that the three
letter extension such as a TXT is associated with a particular program
such as Notepad or Write.
Asterisk
- * Usually called the star Usually used for a wild card meaning that if
you put *.TXT then it looks for any file that is ending with a TXT and
nothing else.
Assymetric
Digital Subscriber Line - Method of communicating with the
internet. The rate of transfer is higher incoming than outgoing. An ADSL
line bypasses the phone company switchboard and communicates directly
with the ISP, therefore making communication faster.
Category 5 Patch Cable: Patch cable is
the type of cable that is commonly used with RJ-45 type connections. The
category number is a rating of quality, one being a low rating, five
being a high rating.
Asynchronous
Transmission - Data transmission in which the
length of time between transmitted characters may vary.
AT
Bus - Used for the IBM AT and compatible
computers to transfer information from on component to the other.
AT
Keyboard - The standard keyboard used with the
IBM AT computer which just had one ctrl one alt key and the functions
keys on the right hand side of the computer.
Attachment
Unit Interface (AUI) - Portion of Eithernet standards
that specifies how a cable is going to connect to a Ethernet card. AUI
specifies a coaxial cable connected to a tranceiver that plugs into a
15-pin socket on the network interface card.
ATX
- Designed by Intel and released in 1995,
the new type motherboard with a specific physical design like the
traditional board (30.5 cm X 19 cm) shifted 90 degrees for a better
placing of the units. The I/O connectors COM1, COM2 and LPT, keyboard,
mouse and USB are mounted directly on the motherboard. The ATX board
requires specifically designed chassis's with an I/O access opening
measuring 1¾ by 6¼ inch. The ATX motherboard includes advanced control
facilities, where the BIOS program continually checks the CPU temperature
and voltages, the cooling fans RPM, etc. If over heating occurs, the PC
will shut down automatically. The PC can also be turned on by for example
modem signals, since the power supply is controlled by the mainboard. The
on/off button will turn the PC "down" without turning it
completely off. The computer will also not be able to be turned off while
the computer boots up, if however the computer freezes as it is turning
on to turn the computer off you must press and hold the power button for
5 seconds and it will turn off.
AUI
- Refer to Attachment Unit Interface.
Auto
restart - Feature that allows the computer to
restart then automatically start back up again like hitting alt + ctrl +
del or hitting the reset button but Auto restart is software.
AUTOEXEC.BAT
- Abbreviated form of automatically executed batch file, used in DOS
operating system which holds runs other programs that are listed inside
of it, such as c:\windows\win which will run windows automatically.
Executed when the computer is first boot up.
Automatic
Repeat reQuest (ARQ) - General term for a function that
automatically allows your modem to detect flawed data and retransmit it.
Auto
Answer - Modem term to set the modem to pick up
the phone line when it detects a certain amount of rings.
AutoSave
- Feature with some programs that will automatically save your file that
you are working on just incase the computer freezes or if the power goes
out, Usually this program will run once every 5 min or wanted amount of
time.
Auxiliary
Device (AUX., ACCESSORY) - Device that you hook up to
your computer that is really not needed but useful such as a printer.
Avatar - SUPERUSER in a Unix
environment once logged on able to go anywhere and do anything also
referred to as root.
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