Glossary | 245 |
Terms |
modem — Short for “modulator/demodulator.” A device that converts information from digital to analog and back to digital, enabling information to pass back and forth between digital computers and analog telephone lines.
motherboard — The main circuit board in the computer. It contains the processor, memory, and other primary components.
multimedia — A combination of two or more media, such as sound, animation, and video in a computer program or presentation.
| Musical Instrument Digital Interface — See MIDI. | |
N | network — 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. | |
| ||
| each pixel of every line is refreshed as the electron beam scans across | |
| and down the screen. Compare interlaced. | |
| ||
O | used to start the computer. Compare system disk. | |
online — Available through the computer. Online may refer to | ||
| ||
| information being read from your own computer’s hard disk, such as | |
| online documentation or online help, or to information coming from | |
| another company on a company network or the Internet. | |
| operating system — A set of programs that controls how the computer | |
| works. Examples of operating systems are Windows 98 Second | |
| Edition and Windows 2000. | |
P | palette — See color palette. | |
parallel — Processes that occur simultaneously. In communications, it | ||
| ||
| means the transmission of more than one bit of information at a time. | |
| On your computer, the parallel port provides a parallel | |
| communications interface between the computer and an appropriate | |
| device. Most modern printers are parallel. Compare serial. | |
| password — A unique string of characters entered by a user to verify his | |
| or her identity to the computer or the network. |