136 Glossary
logical drive—A section of a disk that is recognized by the
operating system as a separate disk drive. A system’s
logical drives may differ from its physical drives. For
example, a single hard disk drive may be partitioned into
two or more logical drives.
Mmemory—Typically refers to the computer’s main memory,
where applications are run and data is temporarily stored
and processed. Memory can be volatile and hold data
temporarily, such as RAM, or it can be nonvolatile and
hold data permanently, such as ROM. A computer’s
main memory is RAM. See also
RAM, ROM
.
microprocessor—See
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
.
MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)—A
standard for connecting musical instruments,
synthesizers, and computers. The MIDI standard
provides a way of translating music into a form
computers can use, and vice versa.
motherboard—The computer’s main circuit board that
contains the processor, memory, and other primary
components.
MS-DOS prompt—See
system prompt
.
multi-function drive—A DVD drive that can read and write
to CD and DVD media.
multimedia—A combination of two or more media, such as
sound, animation, and video in a computer application
or presentation.
Musical Instrument Digital Interface—See
MIDI
.
Nnetwork—A collection of computers and associated
devices that are connected by communications facilities.
A network allows you to share data and peripheral
devices, such as printers, with other users and to
exchange electronic mail.
non-interlaced—A method of refreshing a computer
screen, in which each pixel of every line is refreshed as
the electron beam scans across and down the screen.
Compare
interlaced
.