D6-IN System Board Manual
Glossary
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functions by spinning at high speed
while moving a device called the read/
write head across the disk’s surface in
order to read or write data in mag-
netic code.
DRAM - An acronym for Dynamic
Random Access Memory. A type of
memory chip that only keeps its
memory if supplied with regular clock
pulses and a chance to regularly re-
fresh its data. It is slower and more
cost effective than SRAM. See
SRAM.
ECC - An acronym for Error Check-
ing and Correction. ECC enables par-
ity checking and can detect and cor-
rect memory errors on the system
board.
ECP - An acronym for Extended Ca-
pabilities Port. A standard set by
Hewlett Packard and Microsoft Cor-
poration to expand the capabilities of
the parallel port.
EDO Memory - An acronym for Ex-
tended Data Out. A type of DRAM
with built-in cache for enhanced per-
formance.
EISA - An acronym for Extended In-
dustry Standard Architecture. EISA
is a bus design standard which is fully
backward compatible with the ISA
bus. Although it is a 32-bit bus, it only
runs at 8MHz. See PCI, VESA Local
Bus and ISA.
EPP - An acronym for Enhanced Par-
allel Port. A standard which increases
the capabilities of the parallel port.
EPROM - Acronym for Erasable Pro-
grammable Read Only Memory. A
type of ROM chip that can be pro-
grammed with relatively simple tools
that will retain its data until erased. It
can only be erased by exposing the cir-
cuitry in the chip to ultraviolet light.
See also Flash ROM.
Flash ROM - A type of ROM chip
that will retain its data until erased. It
can be erased or reprogrammed by
supplying it with +12V of voltage. See
ROM and EPROM.
Gigabyte - A disk storage capacity
measurement. Approximately one
thousand megabytes or 1,073,741,824
bytes.
IDE - An acronym for Integrated De-
vice Electronics. A standard for com-
municating between a hard drive and
a computer.
Internal Cache - Cache which is built
into the CPU. See Cache.
ISA - An acronym for Industry Stan-
dard Architecture. A well-established
bus standard that originated with the
IBM AT. See PCI, VESA Local Bus
and EISA.
Parallel - A form of data transmission
in which the data is sent one byte at a
time over several wires that each carry
one byte. In parallel transmission, all
the bytes arrive simultaneously, as op-
posed to serial transmission in which
bits arrive one by one.