Dell PowerEdge 1400 User Manual page 111

support.dell.com
primarily influences the number of colors
that a program can display (with the ap-
propriate video drivers and monitor
capability).
* 
Video adapters normally support multiple
text and graphics display modes. Charac-
ter-based software (such as MS-DOS)
displays in text modes that can be defined
as x columns by y rows of characters.
Graphics-based software (such as Win-
dows) displays in graphics modes that can
be defined as x horizontal by y vertical pix-
els by z colors.
*  
Video resolution—640 x 480, for exam-
ple—is expressed as the number of pixels
across by the number of pixels up and
down. To display a program at a specific
graphics resolution, you must install the
appropriate video drivers and your moni-
tor must support the resolution.
* =.=> 
An operating mode supported by Intel386
or higher microprocessors, virtual 8086
mode allows operating environments—
such as Windows—to run multiple pro-
grams in separate 1-MB sections of
memory. Each 1-MB section is called a
virtual machine.
* 
A method for increasing addressable
RAM by using the hard-disk drive.
(MS-DOS does not support true virtual
memory, which must be implemented at
the operating-system level.) For example,
in a computer with 8 MB of RAM and
16-MB of virtual memory set up on the
hard-disk drive, the operating system
would manage the system as though it
had 24 MB of physical RAM.
*
A self-starting program designed to incon-
venience you. Virus programs have been
known to corrupt the files stored on a
hard-disk drive or to replicate themselves
until a system or network runs out of
memory.
The most common way that virus pro-
grams move from one system to another
is via "infected" diskettes, from which they
copy themselves to the hard-disk drive.
To guard against virus programs, you
should do the following:


Periodically run a virus-checking util-
ity on your computer's hard-disk
drive.


Always run a virus-checking utility on
any diskettes (including commer-
cially sold software) before using
them.
86%  ?
An abbreviation for VESA local bus. A
standard for local bus implementation de-
veloped by the Video Electronics
Standards Association.
86
Abbreviation for very-large-scale
integration.
8
Abbreviation for peak-point voltage.
8'
(
Abbreviation for video random-access
memory. Some video adapters use VRAM
chips (or a combination of VRAM and
DRAM) to improve video performance.
VRAM is dual-ported, allowing the video
adapter to update the screen and receive
new image data at the same time.
@
Abbreviation for watt(s).
< 
When you start Windows, it consults the
win.ini file to determine a variety of
options for the Windows operating envi-
ronment. Among other things, the win.ini
file records what printer(s) and fonts are
installed for Windows. The win.ini file
also usually includes sections that contain
optional settings for Windows application
Glossary 17