Glossary - Dell Precision 410 User Manual

Glossary

T
he following list defines or identifies technical terms,
abbreviations, and acronyms used in Dell
documents.
NOTE: Unless otherwise specified, these definitions
may not apply to operating systems other than
®
®
Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows NT
A
Abbreviation for ampere(s).
AC
Abbreviation for alternating current.
adapter card
An expansion card that plugs into an expansion-card con-
nector on the computer's system board. An adapter card
adds some specialized function to the computer by provid-
ing an interface between the expansion bus and a peripheral
device. Examples of adapter cards include network cards,
sound cards, and SCSI adapters.
ADI
Abbreviation for Autodesk Device Interface.
application program
Software, such as a spreadsheet or word processor, de-
signed to help you perform a specific task or series of tasks.
Application programs run from the operating system.
ASCII
Acronym for American Standard Code for Information In-
terchange. A text file containing only characters from the
ASCII character set (usually created with a text editor, such
as Notepad in Windows), is called an ASCII file.
ASIC
Acronym for application-specific integrated circuit.
ASPI
®
user
Advanced SCSI programming interface.
asset tag code
An individual code assigned to a computer, usually by a
system administrator, for security or tracking purposes.
®
.
attribute
As it relates to DMI, an attribute is a piece of information
related to a component. Attributes can be combined to
form groups. If an attribute is defined as read-write, it
may be defined by a management application.
autoexec.bat file
The autoexec.bat file is executed when you boot your com-
puter (after executing any commands in the config.sys file).
This start-up file contains commands that define the char-
acteristics of each device connected to your computer, and
it finds and executes programs stored in locations other than
the active directory.
backup
A copy of a program or data file. As a precaution, you
should back up your computer's hard-disk drive on a reg-
ular basis. Before making a change to the configuration of
your computer, you should back up important start-up files
from your operating system.
backup battery
The backup battery maintains system configuration, date,
and time information in a special section of memory when
the system is turned off.
base memory
Synonym for conventional memory. See also conventional
memory.
Glossary 1