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boot
To start up a computer. See cold boot and warm boot.
bus
An electronic circuit within a computer used for transmit-
ting data or electrical power from one device to another.
busy lamp
Indicator on the front of the diskette drive that lights when
the drive is writing to or reading from a diskette.
byte
Group of eight contiguous bits.
C
chip
A small piece of semiconductor material, usually silicon,
that contains miniaturized electronic circuits.
CD-ROM reader
(compact disc, read-only memory) A device that uses laser
technology to read data or play audio stored on a CD.
clock
Electronic timer used to synchronize computer operations.
CMOS
Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor. A chip that
contains nonvolatile memory. CMOS is backed up by an
internal lithium battery that preserves clock/calendar data
and system configuration parameters stored in CMOS.
Glossary-2
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