D Glossary - Creative BLASTER PCMCIA Card Getting Started

D
Glossary
This appendix explains the technical terms used in this manual.
Access point
A networking device that transparently bridges wireless computers and laptops to
a wired local network.
Ad-hoc mode
A small peer-to-peer network mode, in which wireless Notebooks are connected
to each other directly without using an access point. Some of the wireless
Notebooks are part of the network for a limited duration. They are also in close
proximity with the rest of the network. According to the IEEE 802.11b
specification, Ad-hoc mode is referred to as an independent basic service set.
American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII)
ASCII is the most common format for text files in computers and on the Internet.
In an ASCII file, each alphabetic, numeric, or special character is represented
with a 7-bit binary number (a string of seven 0s or 1s). 128 possible characters
are defined.
Antenna
A device that intercepts radio frequency (RF) waves from the atmosphere and
converts them to corresponding signal voltages.
Bandwidth
A measure of the maximum rate of data transfer. A higher bandwidth allows more
data transmission in a given period of time. For digital services, the bandwidth is
usually expressed in bits or bytes per second.
Basic Service Set (BSS)
A group of wireless stations and an access point using the same ID (SSID).
Binary
A number system that has only two digits, 0 and 1.
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