| A | B |
|---|
| Bus | A parrellel collection of conductors that carry data or control signals from one unit to another |
| Data Bus | A bidirectional pathway linking the CPU to memory and I/O devices |
| Address Bus | A pathway that carries data generated by the CPU to the various memory and I/O elements of the computer |
| PC Bus | The bus arcitectures used in the first IBM PCs, originally an 8-bit bus expanded to a 16-bit bus. |
| ISA | Idustry Standard Architecture. The 8- and 16-bit original connectors used in PCs. They run at a bus speed of 8MHz. You can plug an iSA expansion card into a ISA slot. Modems and sound cards are ISA cards due to their low bandwidth requirments. |
| EISA | Extended Idustry Standard Architecture. 16-bit ISA was extended to a 32-bit and they called it EISA |
| PCI | Peripheral system interconnect. A high-performance 32/64-bit bus. |
| Plug and Play (PnP) | This is a standard that was supposed to make adding peripheralsto your system as easy as plugging them in and using them |
| Bandwidth | A measure, in some amount of bits per-second, of the amount of data that can be sent over a particular cable, interface, or bus. |
| Bus Master | Any class of microprocessor unit withthat ability to take control of the system buses of a computer |
| Bus Speed | A measurement, usually in MHz, of how many times data can be transpfered over the bus per second |
| Expansion Slot | Refers to any type of slot in a computer that you can plug an expansion card into. Generally it's limited to ISA, EISA, PCI, and PCMCIA |
| Legacy | Describes older computer systems, hardware, software |
| Fire Wire | High speed serial bus, allows for connection of up to 63 devices primarilly used for digital video |
| Adaptor | A device that allows one system to connect to and work with another. An adaptor is often a circuit that converts one set of signals into another. |
| Interrupt | A signal that gets the attention of the CPU and is usually generated when I/O is required |
| Jumper | A small plug placed over pins (or removed from pins) to configure hardware settings |
| DMA | Stands for Direct Memory Access. Specialized cicuitry or dedicated microprocessor that transfers data from adaptors to memory without using the CPU |
| I/O address | On teh PCs, a three-digit hexadecimal number (2AB,2AO, and so on) used to identify and signal a peri[heral device like a serial port, parrellel port, or sound card. |
| AGP | Accelerated Graphics Port. Architecture that is based on teh PCI architecture and is designed specifically to speed up 3D graphics |
