| A | B |
|---|
| Bus | a parallel collection of conductors that carry data or control signlas from one unit to another |
| Data Bus | a bidirectional pathway linking the CPU to memory |
| Address Bus | a pathway that carries data generated by the CPU to the various memory and I/O devices |
| PC Bus | the bus architectures used in the first IBM PCs, originally an 8-bit bus expanded to a 16-bit bus |
| ISA | the 8- and 16-bit original connectors used in PCs. They run at a bud speedof 8MHz. |
| EISA | 16-bit ISA was extended to 32-bits and they called it EISA |
| PCI | a high-performance 32/64-bit bus |
| PnP | this is a standard that was supposed to make adding peripherals to your system as easy as plugging them in and using them |
| Bandwidth | a meause, in some amount of bits per second, of the amount of data that can be sent over a particluar cable, interface, or bus |
| Bus Master | any class of microproccesor unit with the ability to take control of the system buses of the computer |
| Bus Speed | a measurement, ususally in MHz, of how many times data can be transferred 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 limited to ISA, EISA, PCI, and PCMCIA |
| Legacy | describes older computeers systems hardware and software |
| FireWire | high speed serial bus allows for connection of up to 63 devices primarily used for digital video |
| Adapter | a device that allows one system to connect to and work with 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 removedfrom pins) to configure hardwarre settings |
| DMA | specialzed circuitry or a dedicated microprocessor that transfers data from adapters to memory without using the CPU |
| I/O Address | on PCs, a three-digit hexadecimal number (2AB, 2A0, and so on) used to identify and signal a peripheral device lik a serial port, parallel port, or sound card |
| AGP | archiecture that is based on the PCI architecture and is designed specifically to speed up 3D graphics |
