Dell 6100 - Glossary

Glossary 1
Glossary
T
he following list defines or identifies technical terms,
abbreviations, and acronyms used in Dell
®
user
documents.
NOTE: Unless otherwise specified, these definitions may
not apply to operating systems other than MS-DOS
®
or
Microsoft
®
Windows
®
.
A
Abbreviation for ampere(s).
AC
Abbreviation for alternating current.
adapter card
An expansion card that plugs into an expansion-card con-
nector on the computer’s system board. An adapter card
adds some specialized function to the computer by provid-
ing an interface between the expansion bus and a peripheral
device. Examples of adapter cards include network cards,
sound boards, and SCSI adapters.
ADC
Abbreviation for analog-to-digital converter.
ADI
Abbreviation for Autodesk Device Interface.
AI
Abbreviation for artificial intelligence.
ANSI
Acronym for American National Standards Institute.
APIC
Acronym for Advanced Peripheral Interrupt controller.
application program
Software designed to help you perform a specific task, such
as a spreadsheet or word processor. Application programs
are distinct from operating system and utility software.
ASCII
Acronym for American Standard Code for Information In-
terchange. A text file containing only characters from the
ASCII character set (usually created with a text editor, such
as MS-DOS Editor or Notepad in Windows), is called an
ASCII file.
ASIC
Acronym for application-specific integrated circuit.
ASPI
Advanced SCSI programming interface.
autoexec.bat
file
When you boot your computer, MS-DOS runs any com-
mands contained in the text file, autoexec.bat (after running
any commands in the config.sys file). An autoexec.bat file
is not required to boot MS-DOS, but provides a convenient
place to run commands that are essential for setting up a
consistent computing environment—such as loading mouse
or network software.
backup
A copy of a program or data file. As a precaution, you
should back up your computer’s hard-disk drive on a reg-
ular basis. Before making a change to the configuration of
your computer, you should back up important start-up
files, such as autoexec.bat and config.sys for MS-DOS or
win.ini and system.ini for Windows.
base memory
Synonym for conventional memory. See also convention-
al memory.