Disk drive

The physical device that allows the computer to read from and write to a disk. A diskette drive has a disk slot into which you insert a diskette. A hard disk is sealed inside a protective unit.

Diskette

A flat piece of flexible plastic coated with magnetic material and used to store data permanently. Also called floppy disk.

Display adapter

The card that is installed in one of the computer’s option slots. The display adapter provides the interface to which you connect the monitor and controls the way the monitor displays text and graphics. Also known as video card.

DOS

The Disk Operating System that controls the computer’s input and output functions. See Oprating system.

Double-density

A type of diskette format that allows you to store twice as much data as the standard-density format. A 5 ¼-inch double-density diskette can store 360KB of data. A 3 ½-inch double-density diskette can store 720KB of data.

Drive designatorThe letter name of a disk drive, followed by a colon-for example, C : .EGA

Enhanced Graphics Adapter. A type of adapter that allows you to display high-resolution graphics on a color monitor. It can display up to 43 lines of text with 80 characters on each line, or it can display monochrome or 16-color graphics at up to 640 x 350 resolution.