Glossary
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Glossary
This glossary provides a brief list of commonly used technical terms and their definitions.
10BaseT/100BaseT. Standard local area networking protocols, which run at speeds of 10Mbps and 100Mbps, respectively. Most older networks use 10BaseT, while newer networks use 100BaseT.
Access point. The bridge between a wired network and wireless devices.
Access rate. The speed at which users connect to the network. This is generally measured in bits per second, kilobits per second, or megabits per second.
Adapter card. A device that provides network communication capaibilites when installed in a computer. Sometimes called a “network interface card.”
Bit. A single unit of data. See byte and gigabyte.
BOOTP (Bootstrap Protocol). An Internet protocol that allows a diskless workstation to discover its own IP address.
Broadband. A
Browser. A computer program that opens and displays Web pages, including Microsoft® Internet Explorer and Netscape Communicator. You need a Web browser to access the Web.
Byte. On almost all modern computers, a byte is equal to 8 bits. Large amounts of memory are indicated in terms of kilobytes (1,024 bytes), megabytes (1,048,576 bytes), and gigabytes (1,073,741,824 bytes). See bit and gigabyte.
Data stream. A sequence of digitally encoded signals used to represent information in transmission.
DHCP (dynamic host configuration protocol). A protocol for assigning dynamic IP addresses to devices on a network that allows a device to have a different IP address every time it connects to the network.
Download. To copy a file from a computer on the Internet to your personal computer. All Web pages are downloaded from the Internet. When you enter a URL into your Web browser, the files that accompany that URL are copied and sent to your computer, where they are displayed using your Web browser.
Driver. Software that enables the operating system to recognize and operate devices installed in or attached to the computer, such as a printer.
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