Appendix B Glossary - Fujitsu 420D User Manual

A p p e n d i c e s

Appendix B Glossary

AC Adapter
A device which converts the AC voltage from a
wall outlet to the DC voltage ne eded to power
your notebook.
Active-Matrix Display
A type of technology for making flat-panel dis-
plays which has a transistor or similar device
for every pixel on the screen.
ATA
Asynchronous Terminal Adapter.
Auto Adapter
A device which converts the DC voltage from
an automobile cigarette lighter to the DC volt-
age needed to power your notebook.
BIOS
Built-in Operating System.A computer pro-
gram and set of default parameters stored in
ROM which tests and operates your notebook
when you turn it on until it loads the installed
operating system from disk. Information from
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the BIOS is transferred to the installed operat-
ing system to provide it with information on
the configuration and status of the hardware.
Bit
An abbreviation for binary digit.A single
piece of information which is either a one
(1) or a zero (0).
bps
An abbreviation for bits per second. Used
to describe data transfer rates.
Boot
To start-up a computer and load its operating
system from disk, ROM or other storage media
into RAM.
Bus
An electrical circuit with at least as many wires
as there are bits in the words which passes data
between the CPU and the sub-assemblies inside
your notebook.
Byte
8 bits of parallel binary inf ormation.
Cache Memory
A block of memory built into the micro-
processor which is very much faster to access
than the system RAM and is used in sp ecially
structured ways to make the overall data
handling time faster.
CD-ROM
Compact disc read only memory. This is a form
of digital data storage which is read optically
with a laser rather than with a magnetic head.
A typical CD-ROM can contain about 600MB
of data and is not subject to heads crashing
into the surface and destroying the data when
there is a failure nor to wear from reading.
CHS Translation
Cyl i n der, h e ad and sector tra n s l a ti on .
Convers i on of h a rd disk access ad d ressing to the
c yl i n der, h e ad and sector form . The term i n o l ogy
is historical left from the days wh en data was
s tored on a series cyl i n d rical dru m s . The head