Toshiba M500D User Manual page 210

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Glossary
L
laser disc: Reflective-optical videodisc, recorded and read by laser light.
legacy device: (1) A peripheral device or card that does not have Plug
and Play capability built into it. (2) In networking, a device that is
designed to work with proprietary communication protocols instead
of conforming to open standards.
light-emitting diode (LED): A semiconductor device that emits light
when it receives an electric current. Used for indicators like disk
activity lights.
liquid crystal display (LCD): A type of display that uses a liquid
substance between two transparent electrode panels. By selectively
turning the electrodes on and off, the LCD creates the images you
see on the screen.
load: To move information from a storage device (such as a CD-ROM)
into memory, making it available to the computer for processing.
local bus: A type of bus that connects devices directly to the
microprocessor. Because there are no wires between the CPU and
the device, information is passed at a much greater speed than
through the system bus. See also bus.
logical drive: A section of a disk that is recognized by the operating
system as a separate disk drive. A system's logical drives may differ
from its physical drives. For example, a single hard disk drive may
be partitioned into two or more logical drives.
M
macro: A named sequence of instructions within a programming
language or application. A macro may be predefined in the language
or application, or you may define your own macros for procedures
you use frequently. The macro name enables you to call up the
sequence of instructions when you need them.
main board: See motherboard.
math coprocessor: A special processor that performs arithmetic
calculations on exponential numbers. Since a computer's main
processor calculates with integers, a math coprocessor can greatly
improve system speed if you work with large spreadsheets or some
graphics programs. Some processor chips include a built-in math
coprocessor.