HP P Class 733/800/866MHz / 1GHz Administrator's Manual page 112

Glossary
interrupt A signal that suspends a
program temporarily while
transferring control to the operating
system when input or output is
required. Interrupts are given priority
levels such that higher priority
interrupts are processed first.
I/O Input/Output.
I/O Mapped The NIC registers are
located in the I/O address space.
I/O Port or I/O Address An
addressable location on the Intel 386
microprocessor to and from which
hardware control information can be
written and read.
IPX Internet Packet Exchange. IPX
is Novell NetWare's native transport
protocol. It is used to transfer data
between server and/or client
programs running on different
network nodes. IPX packets are not
related to packets used in other
systems such as Ethernet or token
ring.
IRQ Interrupt Request. An IRQ is a
computer instruction used to
interrupt a program for an I/O task.
Each hardware device raises
interrupts on a predetermined IRQ
(numbered 0 through 15). The
microprocessor associates specific
interrupts with different interrupt
service routines (ISR).
ISA Industry Standard Architecture.
The ISA bus is the system bus
originally used on the IBM PC/XT and
IBM PC/AT computers. The version of
the bus used on the AT is often
referred to as the AT bus. The XT bus
is 8 bits wide and the AT bus is 16 bits
wide. The AT bus has become a de
facto industry standard.
ISR Interrupt Service Routine. A
sequence of software instructions
that are executed as a result of a
hardware interrupt.
jumper A plastic and metal shorting
bar that slides over two or more
electrical contacts to set certain
conditions. Older (legacy) ISA
network adapter cards require the
user to set the DMA channel and IRQ
using jumpers on the card itself.
Newer network cards no longer
require the user to set jumpers. The
DMA channel, IRQ, and so on, can be
set with software or are set
automatically using Plug and Play.
keyword A word reserved for
special use by a program.
kilobyte A unit of information
consisting of 1,024 bytes.
Abbreviation: KB.
LAN Local Area Network. A general-
purpose communications network
that interconnects a variety of devices
within a limited geographical area. A
LAN might connect computers on
adjacent desks, within a building, or
within several buildings of a campus.
English 112