TYAN TOMCAT I815E Manual page 54

Appendix
Glossary
CMOS Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductors are chips that hold the basic
start-up information for the BIOS.
Communication and Networking Riser (CNR) provides interfaces to support
multichannel audio, V.90 analog modem, telephone line-based home networking, and 10/
100 Ethernet-based networking, as well as expandability for future technologies.
The COM port is another name for the serial port, which is so-called because it
transmits the eight bits of a byte of data along one wire, and receives data on another
single wire (that is, the data is transmitted in serial form, one bit after another). Parallel
ports transmit the bits of a byte on eight different wires at the same time (that is, in
parallel form, eight bits at the same time).
DIMM (Dual In-line Memory Modules) are a faster and more capacious form of RAM
than SIMMs, and do not need to be installed in pairs.
DIMM bank DIMM banks are sometimes called DIMM sockets, because the physical
slot and the logical unit are the same. That is, one DIMM module fits into one DIMM
socket, which is capable of acting as a memory bank.
DMA (Direct Memory Access) channels are similar to IRQs. DMA channels allow
hardware devices (like sound cards or keyboards) to access the main memory without
involving the CPU. This frees up CPU resources for other tasks. As with IRQs, it is
vital that you do not double up devices on a single line. Plug and Play devices will take
care of this for you.
In Doze mode, only the CPU's speed is slowed.
DRAM Dynamic RAM is a widely available, very affordable form of RAM which has
the unfortunate tendency to lose data if it is not recharged regularly (every few
milliseconds). This refresh requirement makes DRAM three to ten times slower than
non-recharged RAM such as SRAM.
EDO RAM (Extended Data-Out RAM) speeds access to memory locations by
assuming that memory addresses are static: the next time it looks for a bit of data, it
will be at the same spot, or one nearby.
EEPROM Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM, also called Flash BIOS, is a
ROM chip which can, unlike normal ROM, be updated. This allows you to keep up
with changes in the BIOS programs without having to buy a new chip. TYAN's BIOS
updates can be found at: http://www.tyan.com/html/drivers.html
ESCD (Extended System Configuration Data) is a format for storing information
about Plug and Play devices in the system BIOS. This information helps properly
configure the system each time it boots.
Firmware is low level software that controls the system hardware.
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