Glossary
E
Energy Star Computers Programme
An energy conservation programme launched by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the primary aim of promoting the manufacture and marketing of energy-efficient office automation equipment. Companies joining this programme must be willing to commit themselves to manufacturing one or more products capable of going into a low -power state (< 30 W) either after a period of inactivity or after a predetermined time selected by the user.
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L
LCD Liquid Crystal Display
An alphanumeric display using the unique properties of liquid crystal to form characters. The latest flat-panel displays comprise a matrix of hundreds or thousands of individual LCD cells that generate text and colorful graphics on a screen. They consume little power though they do require external lighting to make them legible to the user.
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U
USB or Universal Serial Bus
A smart plug for PC peripherals. USB automatically determines resources (like driver software and bus bandwidth) required by peripherals. USB makes necessary resources available without user intervention.
●USB eliminates "case angst" -- the fear of removing the computer case to install add-on peripherals. And USB also eliminates adjustment of complicated IRQ settings when installing new peripherals.
●USB does away with "port gridlock." Without USB, PCs are normally limited to one printer, two Com port devices (usually a mouse and modem), one Enhanced Parallel Port add-on (scanner or video camera, for example) and a joystick. More and more peripherals for multimedia computers arrive on the market every day. With USB, up to 127 devices can run simultaneously on a computer.
●USB permits "hot plug-in." There's no need to shut down, plug in, reboot and run set-up to install peripherals. And no need to go through the reverse process to unplug a device.
In short, USB transforms today's "Plug-and-Pray" into true Plug-and-Play!
Hub
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