Glossary
Glossary
16550 UART - A high speed chip for controlling serial ports. Although unnecessary for a mouse, it is required for modems that are 14,400 baud or faster.
486DX - A type of
486DX2 - A 486DX CPU where the internal speed of the CPU operates at twice the external speed.
486DX4 - A 486DX CPU where the internal speed of the CPU operates at three times the external speed.
486SX - A 486DX CPU with no math- coprocessor.
Asynchronous - Operations that do not require the clocks of communicating devices to be coordinated. See Synchro- nous.
Baby AT - A standard system board size measuring approximately 13.25” x 8.5”.
Bidirectional Parallel Port - A type of parallel port that can send and receive information.
BIOS - An Acronym for Basic Input/ Output System. Configures the system board and provides hardware information to the operating system.
Bit - A contraction of Binary digit. The smallest unit of information in a binary number system. A bit represents a choice between either zero or one.
Boot - To start up the computer and load the operating system software. See cold boot and warm boot.
Bus - A group of electronic paths used to send data between parts of the system. On a system board, the bus connects the peripheral cards with the microprocessor via the expansion slots.
Bus Mastering - The ability of an peripheral card to control the bus without requiring intervention of the CPU.
Byte - A group of adjacent bits treated as a unit. Eight bits are typically considered one byte. Also called a character.
Cache - A process where information is copied from the slower memory (DRAM) to the faster memory (SRAM). Information that is likely to be read or edited is stored in the cache providing significant performance increases.
Cache Hit - The percentage of request for data from memory that can be served from the cache.
Cache Miss - A memory access which cannot be supplied from cache.
Cold Boot - Starting the computer by turning on the power or pressing the RESET button. A cold boot makes the processor execute all of the diagnostics. See boot and warm boot.
CPU - An acronym for Central Processing Unit. A CPU performs arithmetic calculations, makes logical decisions, and directs the operation of the computer in conjunction with the operating system.
M54E2 System Board Manual |