Micron Technology Transport LT Conventional memory Hard drive, Disk cache, Floppy disk

Appendix D - Glossary

Conventional memory Hard drive

The first 640 KB of system memory. Operating systems and application programs can directly access this memory without using memory-management software.

Disk

The device used by the computer to store and retrieve information. Disk can refer to a floppy disk, hard disk, or CD- ROM disk.

Disk cache

A software device that accumulates copies of recently used disk sectors in RAM. The application program can then read these copies without accessing the disk. This, in turn, speeds up the performance of the application.

A cache is a buffer for transferring disk sectors in and out of RAM. Data stored in a disk cache is a copy of data already stored on the physical disk.

DMA (Direct Memory Access)

A method of transferring data from a device to memory without having the data pass through the microprocessor. Using DMA can speed up system performance.

DPMS

Display Power Management Signalling. Displays or monitors that comply with this can be managed by the Power Management features found in the system setup.

Floppy disk

A removable disk, also called floppy or diskette.

Also called fixed disk. A hard drive is connected to the computer and can be installed or removed. Data written to a hard drive remains until it is overwritten or corrupted.

The 2.5-inch hard drive in your computer was designed for use in a notebook computer. Because hard drives in notebook computers are smaller than those in desktop computers, their maximum storage capacity may be less than that of desktop hard drives. However, because of their smaller size, the drives handle shock and vibration better than larger drives, which is important for a notebook computer.

I/O (Input/output)

Refers to peripheral devices, such as printers, that are addressed through an I/O address.

I/O address

I/O stands for input/output. Peripheral devices, such as printers, are addressed through the I/O port address.

IRQ (Interrupt Request Line)

The IRQ is a hardware line that a device uses to signal the microprocessor when the device needs the microprocessor’s services. The number of IRQs is limited by industry standards.

LCD (Liquid-Crystal Display)

The LCD screen on your computer differs from the display screen of a desktop monitor. Most desktop monitors use CRT (cathode-ray tube) displays, which work by moving an electron beam across phosphor dots on the back of the screen. The phosphor dots light up to show the image. LCDs use a liquid-crystal solution between two sheets of polarizing material. Electric current passing through the liquid aligns the crystals so that light can or cannot pass through them, creating an image.

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