| A |
AGP
|
Accerated Graphics Port - Provides the video controller card
with a dedicated path to the CPU. Found on all newer computers. |
| |
ANSI
|
Americam National Standards Institute - one of
several organizations that develops standards for the information technology
indusstry. |
| |
ASCII
|
American Standard Code for Information Interchange -
specifies a seven-bit pattern used for communications between computers and
peripherals. |
| |
AT
|
Advanced Technology - IBM's name for it's 80286 PC, which it
introduced in 1984. |
| |
ATA
|
Advanced Technology Attachment - the ANSI standard for IDE
drives. |
| |
ATAPI
|
ATA Packet Interface - The ANSI standard for EIDE drives.
|
| |
ATX
|
Advanced Technology Extensions - A system board form factor
that incorporates an accerlerated graphics port. It is designed for the
Pentium II and mounted vertically. |
| B |
BIOS
|
Basic Input Output System - A set of detailed instructions
for PC statrtup that usually are stored in ROM on the system board.
|
| C |
CD
|
Compact Disc - A plastic disk measuring 4.75 inches in
diameter that is capable of storing a large amount of digital information.
|
| |
CGA
|
Color Graphics Adapter - An IBM video standard that provides
low resolution text and graphics. |
| |
CMOS
|
Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor -
|
| |
CPU
|
Central Processing Unit - The main chip where instructions
are executed. |
| D |
DDE
|
Dynamic Data Exchange - |
| |
DIMM
|
Dual Inline Memory Module - |
| |
DIP
|
Dual Inline Package - |
| |
DMA
|
Direct Memory Access - |
| |
DOS
|
Disk Operating System - |
| |
DoS
|
Denial of Service - |
| |
DRAM
|
Dynamic RAM - |
| |
DVD
|
Digital Video Disc - |
| E |
ECC
|
Error Correction Code - |
| |
EDO (RAM)
|
Extended Data Output (RAM) - |
| |
EGA
|
Enhanced Graphics Adapter - |
| |
EIDE
|
Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics -
|
| |
EISA
|
Extended Industry Standard Architecture -
|
| |
EMI
|
Electromagnetic Interference - |
| |
ESD
|
Electrostatic Discharge - |
| F |
FAT
|
File Allocation Table - |
| G |
GUI
|
Graphic User Interface - |
| H |
HTML
|
Hypertext Markup Language - |
| I |
IDE
|
Integrated Drive Electronics - |
| |
IEEE
|
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers -
|
| |
IRQ
|
Interrupt Request - |
| |
ISA
|
IIndustry Standard Architecture -
|
| L |
LED
|
Light-emitting Diode - |
| |
LPX
|
Low Profile Extensions - |
| M |
MMX
|
Multimedia Extensions - |
| N |
NIC
|
Network Interface Card - |
| |
NTFS
|
New Technology File System - |
| O |
OS/2
|
Operating System 2, second generation -
|
| P |
PC
|
Personal Computer - |
| |
PCI
|
Peripheral Component Interconnect -
|
| |
PCMCIA
|
Personal Computer Memory Card Industry Association -
|
| |
PnP
|
Plug 'n' Play - |
| |
POST
|
Power on self-test - |
| R |
RAM
|
Random Access Memory - |
| |
ROM
|
Read-only Memory - |
| S |
SCSI
|
Small Computer System Interface -
|
| |
SIMM
|
Single Inline Memory Module - |
| |
SRAM
|
Static RAM - |
| U |
UART
|
Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter -
|
| |
UPS
|
Uninterruptible Power Supply - |
| |
USB
|
Universal Serial Bus - |
| V |
VFAT
|
Virtual File Allocation Table -
|
| |
VGA
|
Video Graphics Array - |
| |
VRAM
|
Video RAM - |
| |
VxD
|
Virtual Device Driver - |
| W |
WYSIWYG
|
What You See Is What You Get - |
| Z |
ZIF
|
Zero-insertion Force - |
US
