Glossary
chip A flake of crystalline silicon (enclosed in a casing
with metal pins) on which circuits are engraved to
carry, store or process electrical signals
representing data within the computer.
CMOS CMOS memory (Complementary Metal Oxide
Semiconductor) stores the system parameters,
such as the number and types of disk drives,
options for password protection and other special
features.
compatibility The ability of a computer or item of hardware to
deal with information or hardware produced for
another.
COM1, COM2 Device names used by the system to identify the two
serial ports. COM1 is the standard serial port and
COM2 is normally used for the mouse.
communication
parameters
Baud rate, word length, parity and number of stop
bits: settings which must be the same for serial
devices sending data to each other.
configuration The selection of items of equipment used by your
computer and the way they are set up for use.
CPU (Central
Processing Unit)
The chip, which performs the central operations,
needed to carry out a program.
data Information sent to or received from the computer.
device driver Software which controls a device such as a printer
or a mouse.
disk A medium on which programs and data can be
magnetically encoded for storage and future use.
disk capacity The amount of information, which can be stored on
a disk, expressed in megabytes (MB) or kilobytes
(KB).
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