NEC VXi manual Glossary

boot

To start up a computer. See cold boot and warm boot.

bus

An electronic circuit within a computer used for transmitting data or electrical power from one device to another.

byte

Group of eight contiguous bits.

C

CardBus

A 32-bit high-performance bus defined by the new PC Card Standard and released by the PCMCIA standards body and trade associations. CardBus offers wider and faster 32-bit bus and bus mastering operation for improved adapter performance and can operate at speeds up to 32-MHz.

CD

Compact disc. A polished metal platter capable of storing digital information. The most prevalent types of compact disks or those used by the music industry to store digital recordings and CDs used to store computer data. Both types are read-only, which means that once the data is recorded onto them, they can only be read or played.

CD audio

Also called digital audio, uses the same format as conventional music CDs. CD audio sounds have been digitized at a high sampling rate.

CD read/write drive

The CD read/write drive loads and starts programs from a compact disc (CD) or plays your audio CDs. It also writes information to a CD.

CD-ROM drive

Compact Disc Read-Only Memory. A computer-controlled device that reads high- capacity optical discs and sends the output to the computer.

clock

Electronic timer used to synchronize computer operations.

CMOS

Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor. A chip that contains nonvolatile memory in the Versa. CMOS is backed up by an internal battery that preserves clock/calendar data and system configuration parameters stored in CMOS.

2 Glossary