Low Voltage Differential (LVD) A robust design methodology that improves power consumption, data integrity, cable lengths, and support for multiple devices while providing a migration path for increased I/O performance.
M
main memory The part of a computer’s memory that is directly accessible by the CPU (usually synonymous with RAM).
mainboard A large circuit board that holds RAM, ROM, the microprocessor, custom integrated circuits, and other components that make a computer work. It also has expansion slots for host bus adapters and other
megabyte (MByte) A measure of computer storage equal to 1024 kilobytes.
motherboard See mainboard. In some countries, the term motherboard is not appropriate.
N
Glossary
pin-1 orientation
O
operating system (OS) A program that organizes the internal activities of the computer and its peripheral devices. An operating system performs basic tasks such as moving data to and from devices and managing information in memory. It also provides the user interface.
P
parity checking A way to verify the accuracy of data transmitted over the SCSI bus. One bit in the transfer is used to make the sum of all the 1 bits either odd or even (for odd or even parity). If the sum is not correct, an error message appears. SCSI uses odd parity for data transfer rates less than 160 MB/s.
peripheral component interconnect (PCI) A local bus specification that allows connection of integrated peripheral controller components, peripheral
peripheral devices A hardware device (such as a video monitor, disk drive, printer, or
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