Appendix
Glossary
Firmware is low level software that controls the system hardware.
Form factor is an industry term for the size, shape, power supply type, and external connector type of the PCB (personal computer board) or motherboard. The standard form factors are the AT and ATX, although TYAN also makes some
A Global timer is an onboard hardware timer, such as the Real Time Clock.
Handshaking is a form of encryption. One system, typically the server, sends an encryption scheme to another agent, typically a client. Thus, the client’s data is protected during transmittal to the server.
HDD stands for Hard Disk Drive.
IC (Integrated Circuit) is the formal name for the computer chip.
IDE Integrated Device (or Drive) Electronics is a simple,
IDE INT (IDE Interrupt) is a hardware interrupt signal that goes to the IDE. I/O Input/Output is the connection between your computer and another piece of hardware (mouse, keyboard, etc.).
IRQ An Interrupt Request is an electronic request that runs from a hardware device to the CPU. The interrupt controller assigns priorities to incoming requests and delivers them to the CPU. It is important that there is only one device hooked up to each IRQ line; doubling up devices on IRQ lines can lock up your system. Happily, Plug and Play operating systems take care of these details for you.
ISA stands for Industry Standard Architecture. ISA is a slower 8- or
Latency is the amount of time that one part of a system spends waiting for another part to catch up. This is most common when the system sends data out to a peripheral device, and is waiting for the peripheral to send some data back (peripherals tend to be slower than onboard system components).
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