Acronym Definition/comments
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2D Two
dimensional ;- 3D = three dimensional
AGP Accelerated Graphics Port
ALU Arithmetic Logic Units
(within CPU chips)
API Application Program
Interface
APT Advanced Packaging
Technology
ASPI Advanced SCSI Programming
Interface
ASCII American Standard Code for Information
Interchange
ATM Adobe type Manager, - scanner
application
ATP Advanced Technology Program
BIOS Basic Input/Output System
BLER Block Error –modem error in data or protocol blocks
BOOT Start up of the computer
BUS Set of data ,address lines
for transfer within the computer
Busmaster An intelligent service to perform
duties outside the CPU
BYTE Character –8 bits
CACHE Small fast local storage to
facilitate processor
CCD Charge Coupled Device
CD Compact Disk - 650 Mb capacity (unformatted)
CDROM Compact Disk Read-Only Memory
CGA Color Graphics Array
display 320 or 640 x 200
CMOS Complementary Metal Oxide
Semiconductor
CPU Central Processing
Unit - a chip
CVF Compressed Volume File -
used with 'Drive-space" program
DB Data Base
DCF Digital Camera File system – design rule
DIMM Dual In-Line Memory Module 2x32
= 16MB (Pentium)
DMA Direct Memory Access
DMI Desktop Management Interface
DOS Disk
Operating System
dpi Dots per Inch
DPMS Display Power-Management Signal
specification ( monitors)
DPOF Digital Print Order Form -
rule
DRA Dynamic Resource Allocation
- reduces conflicts between drivers
DRAM Dynamic Random Access Memory
–requires periodic refreshment
DSP Digital Signal Processor
DVD Digital Video (Versatile)
Disk
EBD Extract Boot Disk
ECC Error Checking and
Correction
EIDE Extended Integrated Drive
Electronics - hard disks
EISA Extended Industry Standard
Architecture
eg. for example
EGA Enhanced Graphics Adapter –
video card 640x350 pixels
ELF Extremely Low
Frequency - includes 60 Hz
EMC Electromagnetic Compatibility
EMF Enhance Meta-File - spooling
printer
EMS Expanded Memory - additional
memory beyond 640Kbytes
ESD Emergency Startup Disk (Win
98)
EXABYTE 1024 Terabytes
FAT File Allocation Table
FAT32 Windows 95 disk storage method
(version 2.)
FAQ Frequently Asked Questions
FCBS File Control Block
FED Field Emission Display - flat panel monitors
FTP File Transfer Protocol
GUI Graphic User Interface
GB GIGABYTE = 1024
Megabytes (common usage can be 109)
HDTV High Definition Television
Hz Hertz;
= cycle per second; kHz = 1000 cycles
/sec.
IC Integrated Circuit
ie. that is,
IDE Integrated Drive
Electronics
IFS Installable File System -
IBM's hi-performance file System
IRQ Interrupt Request
ISA Industry Standard
Architecture
KB KILOBYTE = 1024 bytes
LBA Logical Block
Addressing , 8.4 GB
LCD Liquid Crystal Display or Diodes –
flat panel monitor
Li-Ion Lithium –Ion Battery - better capacity
MB Megabyte,
1024 Kilobytes
Mb Megabit
Mbps Megabits per sec.
MCI Media Control Interface
MFLOPS Millions of Floating Point
operations per sec.
Midi Musical Instrument Digital
Interface
Mips Millions of instructions per
sec.
MMX Multi-Media Extensions,
smoother, faster video
MDA Monochrome Display Adapter – video card
MPEG Moving Picture Experts Group -
a Standard for movie images
Mpixels Millions of pixels per second
MVP Most
Valuable Professional – news groups.
NC Network Computer
NIC Network Interface Card
NTFS Microsoft’s NT File System
for hard disk storage
OCR Optical Character
Recognition
OLE Object Linking and
embedding
OS Operating System
(computer)
OSD On Screen Display
PC Personal Computer
PCB Printed Circuit Board
PCI Peripheral Component
Interconnection
PCL Printer Control Language
PCMCIA Personal Computer Memory Card
International Association.- Stds.
PDA Personal Digital Assistant
PENTIUM Intel 64bit computer chip series
PIN Personal Identification
Number
pixel The smallest dot possible
on the Monitor screen
point font size unit = 1/72 inch
qv. which see. – ie. go to
RAM Random Access Memory
RAS Remote Access Support
RIA Recording Industry
Association
RMA Return Material Authorization
ROM Read Only Memory
RTF Rich Text Format - word
processing files
SCSI Small Computer System
Interface
SDMI Secure Digital Music
Initiative
SDRAM Synchronous Dynamic Random Access
Memory
SIMM Single In-line Memory Module –
2x32 = 8Mb
SMT Surface Mount Technology -
board construction
SRAM Static Random Access Memory (no
refresh needed)
SREJ Selective REJect – Modem
property,
SSE Streaming extension - eg.
instruction flow in CPU chip
stds. Standards
SVGA Super Video Graphics Array –
Basic - 640x480 pixels +
Tb TERABYTE = 1024 Gb
TFT Thin Film Transistor panels
– flat monitors
TSR Terminate and Stay Resident
twip font size unit = 1/144 inch
UMB Upper Memory Blocks
USB Universal Serial Bus
VAR Value Added Reseller
VESA Video Electronic Standards for
better resolution than VGA
VGA Video Graphics Array display
– video, analog, 643 colors
VL-Bus a Vesa Local-BUS, 32bit words up to 40 mHz
VLF Very Low Frequency - low kHz
VRAM Video Random Access Memory, -
with monitor adapters
XGA Extended Graphics Array
–1024x768 pixels higher speed
XMS Extended Memory Specification
Y2K Year 2000 – possible
problem w. date recognition
Updated 8/28/2001