Toshiba Magnia 3135R User Manual page 194

byte: A sequence of eight bits. A byte is the smallest addressable unit of data. Each byte
represents an integer up to 255 in decimal (11111111 in binary, or FF in
hexadecimal), or a character (such as a letter, numeral, or other symbol). See
also binary, bit, gigabyte, hexadecimal, kilobyte, megabyte.
C
cache: An area of very fast memory in which frequently used or recently accessed
information is duplicated for quick retrieval. Accessing data from cache is
faster than accessing it from system RAM. See also disk cache.
cache buffer: A block of memory in a file server used as temporary storage for data being
transferred to and from a workstation. File server performance is greatly
increased with cache buffers which allow workstations to access data from
memory rather than disk.
capacity: The amount of information that can be stored in a computer's memory or on a
storage device such as a hard disk, diskette, or CD-ROM. Capacity is usually
measured in terms of kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB). See
also gigabyte, kilobyte, megabyte.
CD (Compact Disc): Audio format in which sound is digitally encoded on a 12 cm disc.
An optical laser encodes and decodes the digital data to produce exceptionally
pure sound. It's durable, portable and has random access.
CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory): A high-capacity (approximately 600 MB)
storage medium that uses laser optics instead of magnetic means for reading
data. The system can read data from these discs, but cannot write data to the
discs.
central processing unit (CPU): The chips where all the computing takes place. The CPU
is often referred to as the "brain" of the computer. It takes information from
outside sources, such as memory or keyboard input, processes it and sends
the results to another device that uses the information.
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