Acronyms

• AGP ACCELERATED GRAPHICS PORT

➢ A type of video interface
introduced in 1996 as an
improvement to PCI. It
has now been largely
replaced by PCI-e.

• AMD ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES

➢ AMD is the second-largest
supplier and only
significant rival to Intel
in the market for x86-
based microprocessors.

• ARPA ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECT AGENCY

➢ An agency of the United States
Department of Defense, ARPA
(Advanced Research Projects
Agency) underwrote development
for the precursor of the
Internet, known as ARPANET.
Initially a modest network of
four interconnected university computers,
ARPANET's initial purpose was to enable
mainly scientific users at the connected
institutions to communicate and share
resources.

• AT ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY

• ATX ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY EXTENDED

➢ It was the first major change in desktop
computer enclosure, motherboard and power
supply design in many years, improving
standardization and interchangeability of
parts.

• AVR AUTOMATIC VOLTAGE REGULATOR

➢ The automatic voltage regulator
is used to regulate the voltage.
It takes the fluctuate voltage
and changes them into a constant
voltage. The fluctuation in the
 voltage mainly occurs due to the variation
in load on the supply system.

• BIOS BASIC INPUT OUTPUT SYSTEM

➢ By whatever name, the BIOS
contains the most basic
information needed by the computer
at the hardware level to let it
know that it's a computer (rather
than, for example, a weed-
whacker), how to boot up, and how
to find the rest of its parts.

• BMP BITMAP

• CD COMPACT DISC
➢ A type of optical media, so called because
it uses light to read the data stored on the
disk.

• CD-R COMPACT DISC RECORDABLE

➢ A CD that can be recorded, but from
which data cannot be deleted so the
space can be re-used. You can
record on a CD-R multiple times,
but the remaining space will be
reduced by whatever's already
occupying space on the disk.

• CD-ROM COMPACT DISC READ-ONLY MEMORY

➢ Basically, the same as any other
CD, except referring
specifically to a disk that
contains computer data rather
than music.

• CD-RW COMPACT DISC REWRITABLE

➢ A CD that can be recorded multiple
times, and from which data can be
deleted and the space re-used.

• CGA COLOR GRAPHICS ADAPTER

➢ Was IBM's first graphics card
and first color display card
for the IBM PC. For this
reason, it also became that
computer's first color computer display
standard.
• CMOS COMPLEMENTARY METAL OXIDE SEMICONDUCTOR
➢ It's the name of a manufacturing
process used to create processors,
RAM, and digital logic circuits, and
is also the name for chips created
using that process.

• CPU CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT

➢ The Central Processing Unit, Microprocessor,
or simply Processor.

• DDR DOUBLE DATA RATE

➢ A type of memory that sends and
receives data twice every clock
cycle, and therefore is capable
of twice the data transfer rate
of standard SDRAM.

• DIMM DUAL IN-LINE MEMORY MODULE

➢ A type of memory chip that
uses a 64-bit bus, as
compared to SIMM chips,
which used a 32-bit bus.

• DIP DUAL IN-LINE PACKAGE

➢ Is an electronic component package
with a rectangular housing and two
parallel rows of electrical
connecting pins. The package may be
through-hole mounted to a printed
circuit board or inserted in a socket.

• DOS DISK OPERATING SYSTEM

➢ Is a computer operating system that can use
a disk storage device, such as a floppy
disk, hard disk drive, or optical disc.

• DRAM DYNAMIC RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY

➢ A type of RAM that stores
each bit of data on
separate capacitors.
• DV DIGITAL VIDEO
➢ A protocol for the storage and transfer of
audio-visual information, often used to
transfer information from a camcorder to a
computer, usually over a Firewire interface.

• DVD DIGITAL VIDEO DISC

➢ A type of optical media that allows far more
storage than a CD.

• DVD-R DIGITAL VIDEO DISC RECORDABLE

➢ A type of DVD that can be recorded, but from
which information cannot be deleted and the
space it occupied re-used.

• DVD-RAM DIGITAL VIDEO DISC RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY

➢ A DVD that can be written, erased, and re-
written, and which also are capable of
error-checking and other advanced sorts of
stuff that RAM can do, making them suitable
for us as RAM. They are much slower than
real RAM, however, and are starting to fade
from use.

• DVD-RW DIGITAL VIDEO DISC REWRITABLE

➢ A DVD that can be recorded, and from which
information can be deleted and the space it
occupied re-used.

• DVI DIGITAL VIDEO INTERFACE

➢ A type of digital video interface that can
be used by computers and other video
devices. It was an improvement over VGA, but
is starting to be obsolesced by HDMI.

• ECC ERROR CORRECTION CODE

➢ ECC Memory uses a parity
bit to ensure that data
has been transmitted
correctly. It is both
slower and more
expensive than non-ECC
memory, but it's more
reliable. In order to
use ECC memory, your
motherboard must support
 it, and all of the memory on-board must be
ECC. It's mainly used in high-end servers.

• EDO-RAM EXTENDED DATA OUT RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY

➢ EDO (extended data output)
RAM is a type of random
access memory (RAM) chip
that improves the time to
read from memory on faster
microprocessors such as the
Intel Pentium.

• EIDE ENHANCED INTEGRATED DRIVE ELECTRONICS

➢ EIDE was an improvement over
IDE, which used to be the
standard protocol for hard
drive communications in most
computers intended as
workstations (as opposed to
servers). EIDE supported data
transfer rates of up to 16.6 Mbps, which was
twice as fast as IDE, and required an 80-
conductor cable (as opposed to the 40-
conductor cables used for IDE). EIDE drives
are being obsolesced by SATA, but there are
still a bunch of them in service.

• EULA END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

➢ Is the contract between the licensor and
purchaser, establishing the purchaser's
right to use the software.

• FAQ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

• FAT FILE ALLOCATION TABLE

➢ Is a computer file system architecture and a
family of industry-standard file systems
utilizing it. The FAT file system is a
legacy file system which is simple and
robust. It offers good performance even in
lightweight implementations, but cannot
deliver the same performance, reliability
and scalability as some modern file systems.
• FDD FLOPPY DISC DRIVE
➢ Is a computer disk drive that
enables a user to save data to
removable diskettes.

• FSB FRONT SIDE BUS

➢ The part of a computer motherboard that
allows the computer's processor to
communicate with the RAM and the other
components on the motherboard.

• GPU GRAPHICS PROCESSING UNIT

➢ The chip on a video card that
processes graphics and video.
Sometimes integrated on the
motherboard, and sometimes on
the CPU itself.

• HDD HARD DISC DRIVE

➢ An array of magnetic disks that
store data until it is
intentionally deleted by the
user, the system, or a program.

• HDMI HIGH DEFINITION MULTIMEDIA INTERFACE

➢ A digital standard for
transmitting high-definition
video and audio using a
single cable. HDMI is rapidly
becoming the standard
interface for computers and
home entertainment devices.

• HDTV HIGH DEFINITION TELEVISION

➢ The over-the-air television
standard that replaced NTSC in the
United States. Tuners are available
that allow HDTV signals to be
captured and processed on a
computer, enabling the user to
watch TV on his or her computer.

• I/O INPUT/OUTPUT
➢ Kind of a generic term for data moving into
or out of a computer or component.
• IBM INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE
➢ IBM manufactures and markets computer
hardware, middleware and software,
and offers hosting and consulting
services in areas ranging from mainframe
computers to nanotechnology.
• IDE INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT; OR
INTEGRATED DEVICE ELECTRONICS

• IEEE INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS

➢ The highly-educated geeks who came up with
most of these standards and acronyms.
• IGP INTEGRATED GRAPHICS PROCESSOR
➢ A video processing unit or video "card"
that's integrated onto a computer
motherboard, or sometimes onto the CPU.

• INTEL INTEGRATED ELECTRONICS

• IRQ INTERRUPT REQUEST

➢ This gets complicated, but basically, it's a
way for a component of a computer to get the
processor's attention. Back in the old days,
we had to assign each component an IRQ.
Although there were standards that were used
by default, sometimes conflicts would arise
when two or more devices tried to share the
same IRQ, and we'd have to reassign IRQs to
eliminate the conflicts. Nowadays, it's all
pretty much automatic and pretty much
reliable; so, unless you're an engineer,
knowing about IRQs is mainly a nice way to
impress people.

• ISA INDUSTRY STANDARD ARCHITECTURE

➢ An obsolete expansion interface, which began
to be replaced by PCI and AGP in the mid-
1990's.

• JPEG JOINT PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPERTS GROUP

➢ Is a commonly used method of loss
compression for digital images, particularly
for those images produced by digital
photography.
• LAN LOCAL AREA NETWORK
➢ Network cards are sometimes
referred to as "LAN cards" or
"LAN interfaces."

• LCD LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY

➢ A type of solid-state display technology
used in computer monitors and other
electronic displays.

• LED LIGHT EMITTING DIODE

➢ A semiconductor that emits
light. Often used for
indicator lights, panel
lights, and to illuminate
LED computer monitors.

• LGA LAND GRID ARRAY

➢ Is a type of surface-mount packaging
for integrated circuits (ICs) that is
notable for having the pins on the
socket (when a socket is used) rather
than the integrated circuit.

• LUN LOGICAL UNIT NUMBER

➢ Used to identify SCSI devices.
Each device is assigned LUN
ranging from 0 to 7, which
identifies the device within
the particular computer. Can
also be used as an address for
a virtual hard drive partition
in a RAID array.

• MAC ADDRESS MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL ADDRESS

➢ The unique identification of
any network connection device,
such as a network card or
modem.
• MBR MASTER BOOT RECORD
➢ The section of the
hard drive located
in the boot sector,
which contains (at
a minimum) the
partition table and
the bootstrap code.

• MCA MICRO CHANNEL ARCHITECTURE

➢ An obsolete, IBM-
proprietary expansion
interface. Few devices
were manufactured for the
MCA interface because of
its proprietary nature.

• MODEM MODULATOR DEMODULATOR

➢ Is a network hardware that modulates one or
more carrier wave signals to encode digital
information for transmission and demodulates
signals to decode the transmitted
information.

• MPEG MOVING PICTURE EXPERTS GROUP

➢ Is a working group of authorities that was
formed by ISO and IEC to set standards for
audio and video compression and
transmission.

• NIC NETWORK INTERFACE CARD

➢ A network interface card
(NIC) is a circuit board or
card that is installed in a
computer so that it can be
connected to a network.

• NTFS NEW TECHNOLOGY FILE SYSTEM

➢ The preferred file system for
Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista,
and 7.
• NVRAM NON-VOLATILE RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY
➢ NVRAM retains its data even when
the computer is powered down.

• OEM ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER

➢ The company that manufactures a
computer (or some other thing).
If you build your own computer,
then YOU are the OEM.

• OSD ON SCREEN DISPLAY

➢ Information that is outputted via the
computer's monitor, such as the settings for
the monitor itself.

• PATA PARALLEL ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY ATTACHMENT

➢ Is a standard for connecting
hard drives into computer
systems. As its name implies,
PATA is based on parallel
signaling technology, unlike
serial ATA (SATA) devices that
use serial signaling technology.

• PCB PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD

➢ Generic term for any printed
circuit board, not just one in a
computer.

• PCI PERIPHERAL COMPONENT INTERCONNECT

➢ One of the expansion
interfaces that replaced
ISA. Many devices are still
available for PCI, and most
motherboards still contain
at least one or two PCI
slots. But slowly, PCI is
being replaced by PCIe.

• PCIe PERIPHERAL COMPONENT INTERCONNECT EXPRESS

➢ A newer expansion
interface designed to
replace the PCI, PCI-X,
and AGP interfaces. Not
to be confused with PCI-
Extended (PCI-X).
• PCI-X PERIPHERAL COMPONENT INTERCONNECT EXTENDED
➢ A higher-bandwidth, 64-bit
version of PCI used mainly in
servers. Not to be confused
with PCI-Express (PCIe).

• PCMCIA PERSONAL COMPUTER MEMORY CARD INT’L ASSOCIATION

➢ In practice, defines the
interface for laptop expansion
cards. In theory, was supposed
to set many other standards for
portable computers, but never
got around to most of them.

• PGA PIN GRID ARRAY

➢ Is a type of integrated circuit
packaging. In a PGA, the package
is square or rectangular, and
the pins are arranged in a
regular array on the underside
of the package. The pins are
commonly spaced 2.54 mm (0.1")
apart, and may or may not cover the entire
underside of the package.

• PMU POWER MANAGEMENT UNIT

➢ The circuitry on a Macintosh
computer than controls power-
related functions.

• PNG PORTABLE NETWORK GRAPHICS

➢ Is a raster graphics file format that
supports lossless data compression.

• POST POWER ON SELF-TEST

• PROM PROGRAMMABLE READ-ONLY MEMORY

➢ Read-only memory that is
programmed after manufacture.

• PS/2 PERSONAL SYSTEM /2

➢ An historical IBM designation
that still defines certain
computer hardware, most notable
the familiar purple and green
mouse and keyboard connectors.
• RAID REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISKS
➢ An array of disk drives that are
arranged to increase data access
speed (striping) and/or improve
fault tolerance (mirroring).

• RAM RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY

➢ This is memory that's writable
by the system and by programs,
that stores information while
it is needed for running the
system and for the execution
of programs.

• RDRAM RAMBUS DYNAMIC RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY

➢ A very fast, very
expensive, proprietary type
of RAM manufactured by a
company named Rambus.

• RGB RED GREEN BLUE

• ROM READ-ONLY MEMORY

➢ This memory is not easily
writable. It consists of
information that is necessary for
the system or component to
operate, which is usually called
an "instruction set." Some types
of ROM can be "flashed" by the user to
change or update the instruction set, but it
must be done deliberately.

• RPM REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE

• SATA SERIAL ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY ATTACHMENT

➢ A faster, more reliable interface
designed to replace the older PATA
technology used to connect ATA
hard drives to the computer's
motherboard.
• SCSI SMALL COMPUTER SYSTEM INTERFACE
➢ Pronounced "skuzzy." A very fast,
very reliable interface used to
connect hard drives to a
computer's motherboard. Usually
used only in high-end servers.

• SIMM SINGLE IN-LINE MEMORY MODULE

➢ An obsolete type of memory chip
that used a 32-bit bus, as
compared to DIMM chips, which
use a 64-bit bus.

• SMART SELF-MONITORING ANALYSIS AND REPORTING TECHNOLOGY

➢ A technology to monitor a hard drive's
performance and warn the user of any
problems.

• SO-DIMM SMALL OUTLINE DUAL IN LINE MEMORY

➢ The form-factor standard for
memory used in laptops and
other small form-factor
computers.

• SRAM STATIC RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY

➢ Pronounced "ESS-ram." A type of RAM
that holds data statically rather
than dynamically. Faster and much
more expensive than DRAM, SRAM is
used mainly as cache memory on hard
drives and processors.

• SRGB STANDARD RED GREEN BLUE

➢ The color standard now used by most image-
related hardware, such as monitors,
scanners, printers, and so forth.

• SSD SOLID STATE DRIVE

➢ A mass-storage device with
no moving parts, which
stores data in arrays of
flash memory. Better-quality
ones have better data access
speed than hard disk drives.
In addition, because they
are not sequential devices, there is no
degradation of access speed when the drives
 become fragmented. However, SSDs are more
expensive the HDDs, have a limited duty
life, and may be difficult to recover data
from in the event of failure.

• SVGA SUPER VIDEO GRAPHICS ARRAY

➢ Is a broad term that covers a wide range of
computer display standards.

• UPS UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SUPPLY

➢ Is an electrical apparatus that provides
emergency power to a load when the input
power source or mains power fails.

• USB UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS

➢ Is an industry standard that defines cables,
connectors and communications protocols for
connection, communication, and power supply
between computers and electronic devices.

• UTP UNSHIELDED TWISTED PAIR

• VGA VIDEO GRAPHICS ARRAY

➢ The analog interface standard for
attachment of monitors and other VDUs
to a computer.

• VDU VISUAL DISPLAY UNIT

➢ A monitor, projector, or other device used
to display or project a computer's visual
data.

• VRAM VIDEO RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY

➢ Memory used by the video processor to store
image data being processed and sent to the
monitor.

• XT EXTENDED TECHNOLOGY

• ZIF ZERO INSERTION FORCE