A Glossary on Computer Hardware
IEEE 1394 is also known as fire wire. It is a standard used on digital video
1394 (IEEE)
cameras for capturing footage as digital video
A Ampere. A unit of electricity.
ACPI Advanced Configuration and Power Interface
ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
AGP Accelerated Graphics Port
AMD Advanced Micro Devices: a manufacturer of CPU's and other devices
AMD64 AMD's 64-bit technology (see AMD)
APIC Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller
APM Advanced Power Management
American Standard Code for Information Inter-change: a Digital code for
ASCII
printed characters
ATA Advanced Technology Attachment
ATAPI Advanced Technology Attachement Packet Interface
Athlon A CPU made by AMD (Advanced Micro Devices)
Binary A number system using two digits: a 0 and a 1
BIOS Basic Input/Output System
A specification for wireless communication of data and voice information.
Bluetooth Based on a low-cost short-range radio link it provides protected ad-hoc
connections for mobile and stationary communication environments.
Bus or System Bus A way to transmit data from one component to another
Cache A repository for temporary storage of data likely to be used again.
CAS Column Address Strobe
CD ROM Compact Disk: Read Only Memory
Celeron A low cost CPU manufactured by Intel
Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor: A chip able to operate from a
CMOS
small amount of electricity provided by a battery.
CPU Central Processing Unit
CRT Refers to the traditional style of monitor. CRT stands for Cathode Ray Tube
DDR (RAM) Double Data Rate Random Access Memory
DIMM Dual Inline Memory Module
DMA Direct Memory Access
Duron AMD Processor
DVD Digital Versatile Disk
DVI Digital Video Interface
Ethernet See LAN
File Allocation Table (can be 16 or 32bit). This was the standard file
FAT
systems used with Win9x and ME
FDD Floppy Disk Drive
Firmware Computer instructions which are permanently stored in the circuitry.
FLOPs Floating Operations Per second
FPU Floating Point Unit
FSB Front Side Bus
GB Gigabyte (1024MB = 1GB)
Ghz Gigahertz (1000mhz = 1ghz)
Gigabyte See GB
GPU Graphics Processing Unit
GUI Graphical User Interface (pronounced gooey)
HDD Hard Disk Drive
Hyper Transport technology is a high-speed, low latency, point-to-point link
designed to increase the communication speed between integrated circuits
HT in computers, servers, embedded systems, and networking and
telecommunications equipment up to 48 times faster than some existing
technologies.
This is a common wiring point used to network computers together, allowing
Hub information to be distributed through one location to any other computer
connected to the network.
Hz Hertz
Input/Output. Usually used to describe the flow of information to and from
I/O
the CPU.
IDE Integrated/Intelligent Drive Electronics
IEEE Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers
Intel Manufacturer of popular Pentium processors
IP Internet Protocol
IP Address A number that uniquely identifies your computer on the internet
IRC Internet Relay Chat
IRQ Interrupt Request Line
ISA Industry Standard Architecture
ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network
ISO International Organization for Standardization
ISP Internet Service Provider
IT Information Technology
KB Kilobyte (1024Bytes = 1KB)
Kbps Kilobits Per Second
Kilobyte See KB
LAN Local Area Network
LCD Liquid Crystal Display
LED Light Emitting Diode
Media Access Control address, a hardware address that uniquely identifies
MAC Address
each node of a network.
MB Megabyte (1024KB = 1MB)
Megabyte See MB
MHz Megahertz (1000 hz = 1mhz)
MODulator/DEModulator converts digital to analog and vice versa for
MODEM
communication between computers.
Motherboard The main circuit board that other computer components plug into.
Network Address Translation. Secure method of giving "private" IP
NAT
addresses to equipment on a network. Uses only 1 public IP address.
NIC Network Interface Card
Node In networks, a processing location
OCR Optical Character Recognition
Original Equipment Manufacturer, this is a brand name PC (i.e. HP, Dell,
OEM
Compaq, etc.)
OLED Organic Light Emitting Diode
P4 Pentium 4 processor
The parallel port is a 25-pin RS-232C connector. It is also know as the
Parallel Port Printer port and transfers information 8x faster than a Serial Port (see Serial
Port)
PCB Printed Circuit Board
PCI Peripheral Component Interconnect
PCM Pulse Code Modulation
PCMCIA Personal Computer Memory Card International Association
PDA Personal Digital Assistant
PnP Plug and Play
POST Power On Self Test (as in POST screen when your computer boots)
PPPoE Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet
PSU Power Supply Unit
RAID Redundant Array of Independent Disks
RAM Random Access Memory
Random Access Memory Digital-to-Analog Converter: RAMDAC is a
microchip that resides on a VGA card. This translates digital information into
RAMDAC an analog signal that your monitor can interpret. The faster the RAMDAC
(MHz) the larger the refresh rates your graphics card will support at each
resolution.
RAS Row Address Strobe
RGB Red, Green & Blue
ROM Read Only Memory
A router "routes" information from a LAN (see LAN) to a phone line. Routers
Router can also handle errors, produce stats and can determine whether a user is
authorized or not.
S.M.A.R.T. Self-Monitoring Analysis & Reporting Technology
S/PDIF Sony/Philips Digital Interface
SATA Serial Advanced Technology Attachment
SCSI Small Computer Systems Interface (pronounced scuzzy)
SD (RAM) Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
Sempron Advanced Micro Devices' Budget CPU (see AMD)
Also known as a COM or RS-232 port. This is a 9 pin port usually featured
Serial Port
on most ATX motherboards.
SLI Scalable link interface
SVGA Super Video Graphics Array
Is similar to a Hub (see Hub) but is more intelligent as it can sort and
Switch
distribute data packages according to the device it came from.
System Bus See Bus
TB Terabyte (1024GB = 1TB)
TCP/IP Transfer Control Protocol / Internet Protocol
Acronym for Technology Without An Interesting Name! This is an OCR
TWAIN
Standard.
UPS Uninterruptible Power Supply
Universal Serial Bus. A standard connection allowing easy connectivity for
USB
external devices
V Volt. A unit of electricity.
VDU Visual Display Unit
VGA Video Graphics Array
VOIP Voice Over IP (see IP)
Virtual Private Network, a network that is constructed by using public wires
VPN
to connect nodes.
W Watt. A unit of electricty.
WAN Wide Area Network
Wireless Fidelity: A name decided by the Wi-Fi Alliance to describe wireless
WiFi
local area networks.
WLAN Wireless Local Area Network
WYSIWYG What You See Is What You Get
XGA Extended Graphics Array