Asus S82A User Manual page 87

Appendix
IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics)
IDE devices integrate the drive control circuitry directly on the drive itself, eliminating the need for a
separate adapter card (in the case for SCSI devices). UltraDMA/33 IDE devices can achieve up to
33MB/Sec transfer.
LPT Port (Line Printer Port)
Logical device name reserved by DOS for the computer parallel ports. Each LPT port is configured to
use a different IRQ and address assignment.
MMX
A set of 57 new instructions based on a technique called Single Instruction, Multiple Data (SIMD),
which is built into the new Intel Pentium PP/MT (P55C) and Pentium II (Klamath) CPU as well as
other x86-compatible microprocessors. The MMX instructions are designed to accelerate multimedia
and communications applications, such as 3D video, 3D sound, video conference.
North Bridge
The CPU to PCI interface, also contains the memory and cache controllers.
PCI Bus (Peripheral Component Interconnect Local Bus)
PCI bus is a specification that defines a 32-bit data bus interface. PCI is a standard widely used by
expansion card manufacturers.
Peripherals
Peripherals are devices attached to the computer via I/O ports. Peripheral devices allow your computer
to perform an almost limitless variety of specialized tasks.
POST (Power On Self Test)
When you turn on the computer, it will first run through the POST, a series of software-controlled
diagnostic tests. The POST checks system memory, the motherboard circuitry, the display, the key-
board, the diskette drive, and other I/O devices.
PS/2 Port
PS/2 ports are based on IBM Micro Channel Architecture. This type of architecture transfers data
through a 16-bit or 32-bit bus. A PS/2 mouse and/or keyboard may be used on ATX motherboards.
RAM (Random Access Memory)
There are several different types of RAM such as DRAM (Dynamic RAM), EDO DRAM (Extended
Data Output DRAM), SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM).
ROM (Read Only Memory)
ROM is nonvolatile memory used to store permanent programs (called firmware) used in certain com-
puter components. Flash ROM (or EEPROM) can be reprogrammed with new programs (or BIOS).
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