| A | B |
|---|
| IDE | Integrated Drive Electronics. A method of disk drive manufacturing that allocates the required controller circuitry in the drive interface for PC's |
| Enhanced IDE (EIDE) | Allows for two IDE channels that can each support two devices |
| AT Attachment (ATA) | Commonly known as IDE. AT refers to the IBM-AT computer where this interface was first used. Also known as ISA bus. 16-bit bus. |
| ATA-33 | An extension to the ATA interface (IDE) that will effectively double the top data transfer speed up to 33 Mbps. AKA Ultra IDE. |
| SCSI | Small Computer Standard Interface. A standard data pathway used mostly for hard drives and CD-ROM drives, but also a common interface for scanners and sometimes printers |
| Millisecond | One thousandth of a second. Ussually used to measure the access speed of hard drives. |
| System Hang | When a program fails. Can occur with or without error messages.POST |
| POST | Power on self test. A group of ROM BIOS diagnostic tests that are performed on the system each time it is powered up. |
| Cold Boot | To turn on a computer, or to restart a computer by turning it off, waiting a few seconds and turning it on again. |
| Warm boot | To restart a computer by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del |
| Boot Disk | A write-protected floppy disk that contains the computer's system and startup files. |
| Boot sector | A portion of a disk that contain the coded instructions for the operating system to start the computer. |
| Safe Mode | Windows 95 mode automatically loaded if Windows 95 crashes during boot up. Can be accessed by pressin F8 key when screen reads "Loading Windows 95" |
| Scanner | A device used to copy an image from a physical source (such as a photograph) into a computer. |
| LPT1 | The label used in MS-DOS assigned to parallel port 1. |
| COM1 | The label used in MS-DOS assigned to serial port 1. |
| MTFB | Mean time between failures. This is a time, normally given in hours, that predicts the faliure of a device. |
| Drive interface | A collection of electrical and logical connections between a hard drive and a PC |
| LUN | Logical Unit Number is a unique identifier for sub-device assigned to a single SCSI ID. |
| Display Adapter | A PC expansion board that converts the images created in the computer to the electronic signals required by the monitor. |
| VGA | Video Graphics Array. The minimum standard for PC video display, which originated with IBM's PS/2 models in 1987. |
| AT commands | The modem command set developed by the hayes company for use on it's modemsand now used on most modems. |
| Asynchronous | A bit synchronization transmission technique that uses start and stop bits. |
