A
* A/D Converter: Analog/Digital Converter
* Abrasive
* Accelerator Board
* Access.Bus
* Acoustic Coupler
* ACR: Advanced Communications Riser
* Active Component
* Active Hub
* Active Matrix Display
* ActiveMovie
* Adapter
* ADB: Apple Desktop Bus
* Address Bus
* Advanced Intelligent Tape (AIT)
* AGP Pro
* AGP: Accelerated Graphics Port
* AIDC: Automatic Identification and Data Capture
* Allocated Memory
* Alpha Processor
* Alpha Test
* Alpha version
* ALU: Arithmetic Logic Unit
* AMBA: Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture
* AMD64
* American Wire Gauge
* Amplifier Repeater
* Analog Monitor
* Answer-Only Modem
* Antistatic Mat
* ANVM: Active Nonvolatile Memory
* Archimedes
* Architecture
* Archive Site
* ARM Architecture
* Array Processor
* Arrow Keys
* Artificial brain
* ASE: Amplified Spontaneous Emission
* ASIC: Application-Specific Integrated Circuit
* Aspect Ratio
* ASPI: Advanced SCSI Programming Interface
* Associative Memory
* Associative Storage
* AT Bus
* AT Keyboard
* ATA: Advanced Technology Attachment
* ATAPI: AT attachment Packet Interface
* Athlon
* AUI: Attachment Unit Interface
* AUX: Auxiliary Devices
* AVI: Audio Video Interleave
Analog/Digital Converter
Analog/Digital Converter (A/D converter or ADC), a hardware device, can read an analog signal (such as voltage) and converts the resulting percentage to a digital value after comparing it to a reference signal. A D/A Converter is just performing the reverse function.
Abrasive
Abrasive is any of a number of hard materials, such as aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, and diamond, that are powdered and carefully graded according to particle size, and used to shape and/or finish optical elements, including the end-faces of optical fibers and connectors. For finishing the end-faces of optical fiber connectors, abrasive particles are adhered to a substrate of plastic film, in a fashion after that of sandpaper. The film is, in turn, supported by a hard, flat plate. The connector is supported by a fixture that holds it securely in the proper position for finishing. The grinding motion may be performed manually or by a machine
Accelerator Board
Accelerator board, also known as accelerator card, is a type of expansion board that makes a computer faster by adding or replacing a faster CPU or FPU. Most modern computers are designed to have a socket in the motherboard that can easiely remove the CPU and replace it with a faster model, without replacing the entire motherboard.
Access.bus
ACCESS.bus (or A.b) is a peripheral-interconnect computer bus developed by Philips in the early 1990s. It is similar in purpose to USB, in that it allows low-speed devices to be added or removed from a computer on the fly. While it was in use earlier than USB, it never became popular, largely due to considerably less corporate backing in the industry. A.b is a physical layer definition that describes the physical cabling and connectors used in the network. The higher layers, namely the signaling and protocol issues, are already defined to be the same as Philips' I²C bus.
Acoustic coupler
The acoustic coupler is a hardware device that allows a computer to connect to other computers. Users transmit data over phone lines commonly using a modem to connect to other computers or networks instead of the acoustic coupler because of the dependability, speeds and ease of use.
ACR: Advanced Communications Riser
Advanced Communications Riser (ACR) is a form factor and technical specification for PC motherboard expansion slots. It is meant as a supplement to PCI slots and a replacement for AMR slots. The ACR specification provides a lower cost method to connect certain expansion cards to a computer, with an emphasis on audio and communications devices. sound cards and modems are the most common devices to use the specification.
Active component
Active component is a device that adds intelligence in some way to the signal or data that passes through it, in contrast to passive components which simply permit signal passage without affecting the data in any manner.
Active hub
Active Hub, also known as a repeater, is a multiported network device that amplifies LAN transmission signals, in addition to forwarding the signals. Contrast with a passive hub, which only forwards the signals to all ports.
Active matrix display
A type of flat-panel display technology based on a technology known as TFT (thin film transistor). It is brighter and may have better resolution than an older passive matrix display technologies.
Active Movie
ActiveMovie, a multimedia streaming technology developed by Microsoft, enables users to view multimedia content distributed over the Internet, an intranet, or CD-ROM. It is build into the Internet Explorer browser and supported by Windows operating systems.
Adapter
Generally, an adapter or adaptor is a device used to match the physical or electrical characteristics of two different things so that a connection may be made between them. In the computer hardware context, many types of adaptors are required to have systems connected with each other. For example, video adapters enable the computer to support graphics monitors, and network adapters enable a computer to attach to a network. Adapters can be built into the main circuitry of a computer or they can be separate add-ons that come in the form of expansion boards.
ADB: Apple Desktop Bus
Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) is a type of communications pathway built into all pre-G4 versions of the Apple Macintosh computers. It is used to connect low-speed input devices such as the keyboard and mouse. A single ADB port can support as many as 16 simultaneous input devices.
Address bus
Address bus is an internal channel from the CPU to memory across which the addresses of data are transmitted. The number of lines or wires in the address bus determines the amount of memory that can be directly addressed as each line carries one bit of the address. For example, if the address bus contains electrical lines, the processor can address up to 2**n unique locations. No actual data is carried on this bus, rather memory addresses, which control the location that data is either read from or written to, are sent here. The speed of the address bus is the same as the data bus it is matched to.
Advanced Intelligent Tape (AIT)
Advanced Intelligent Tape (AIT) is a form of magnetic tape and drive using AME developed by Sony for storing large amounts of data. AIT features high speed file access, long head and media life, the ALDC compression algorithm, and a MIC chip. There are a few types of AIT tapes: AIT-1, AIT-2, AIT-3, AIT-4 and S-AIT, each has different capacities and speeds.
AGP Pro
AGP Pro is an extension to the Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) specification to provide additional electrical power to the graphics add-in cards in the advanced graphic workstation. The AGP Pro definition includes an extended connector, thermal envelope, mechanical specifications for cards, I/O brackets, and motherboard layout requirements.
AGP: Accelerated Graphics Port
Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) developed by Intel based on PCI, is an interface specification for the throughput demands of 3-D graphics. Rather than using the PCI bus for graphics data, AGP introduces a dedicated point-to-point channel so that the graphics controller can directly access main memory. The AGP channel is 32 bits wide and runs at 66 MHz with a total bandwidth of 266 MBps. AGP also supports two optional faster modes, with throughputs of 533 MBps and 1.07 GBps. In addition, AGP allows 3-D textures to be stored in main memory rather than video memory.
AIDC: Automatic Identification and Data Capture
Automatic Identification and Data Capture (or Collection) (AIDC) is a general term describing the process of capturing or collecting data via automatic means, for example, using Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID), bar code scanning, smart cards, OCR or magnetic strips to collect data, and then storing that data in a microprocessor-controlled device, such as a computer.
Allocated memory
Allocated memory is the amount of RAM allocated to different programs and applications. Memory could be allocated statically when the program is installed with a fix amount or dynamically during run time when needed.
Alpha Processor
Alpha Processor is RISC processor developed by Digital Equipment Corporation (now part of HP) and used in their workstations and servers.
Alpha test
Alpha test is the first formal test of a newly developed hardware or software product by internal people. The key objectives of the alpha test are functionality confirmation and bug identification. When the first round of bugs has been fixed, the product goes into beta test with actual users and customers.
Alpha version
Alpha version is an early version of a software or hardware product, which passed the Alpha test. Alpha version may not contain all of the features that are planned for the final release. Typically, software goes through two stages of testing before it is considered finished. The first stage, called alpha testing which is done by internal users. The second stage, called beta testing , generally involves a limited number of external users.
ALU: Arithmetic Logic Unit
Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) performs all arithmetic computations, such as addition and multiplication, and all comparison operations. The ALU is a basic component of the CPU (central processing unit).
AMBA: Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture
Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture (AMBA) was introduced in 1996 and is widely used as the on-chip bus for Advanced RISC Machine (ARM) processors. AMBA is designed for use in System-on-a-chip (SoC) systems. The important aspect of a SoC is not which components or blocks it houses, but how they are implemented. AMBA is a solution for the blocks to interface with each other.
AMD64
The AMD64, also known as AMD x86-64 or x64, is a 64 bit processor architecture invented by AMD. It is a superset of the x86 architecture, which it natively supports. The AMD64 Instruction set is currently used in AMD's Athlon 64, Athlon 64 FX, Athlon 64 X2, Turion 64, Opteron and later Sempron processors. AMD64 instruction set is a straightforward extension of the x86 architecture to 64 bits, motivated by the fact that the 4GB of memory directly addressable by a 32 bit CPU is no longer sufficient for all applications.
American Wire Gauge
American Wire Gauge is a standard method of denoting wire diameter, especially for nonferrous, electrically conducting wire.
Amplifier repeater
An amplifier repeater is a device in wire or wireless network that will amplifer signal and forward them to the next distinations. It cannot distinguish between a data signal and noise and will amplify and forward both.
Analog monitor
Analog monitor is a video monitor that accepts analog signals from the computer or antana. It may accept only a narrow range of display resolutions; for example, only VGA or VGA and Super VGA, or it may accept a wide range of signals including TV. The traditional type of display screen such as CRT that has been used for years in televisions and computers are all analog monitors.
answer-only modem
Answer only modem is a type of modem that can receive messages but cannot send them.
antistatic mat
A antistatic mat absorbs static electricity which might otherwise damage electronic components. It is used while repairing a computer or adding expansion cards to prevent damage.
ANVM: Active Nonvolatile Memory
Active Nonvolatile Memory(ANVM) is a type of nonvolatile memory which can retain their contents when power is turned off. ANVM contains the software currently used by the network element.
Archimedes
Archimedes is a series of personal computers using RISC architecture developed by Acorn Computers, Cambridge, UK.
Architecture
Architecture, in computer hardware, is a framework or structure that provides the form of a hardware system and the conventions, policies, and mechanisms for composing itself with subsystems, or component parts, that can populate the architecture. The architecture defines how the parts relate to each other including constraints governing how they can relate. If a system is divided into parts and components, then there are interfaces that define how the parts intercommunicate or interface.
Archive site
Archive site is a computer where stored files are available for download via the Internet via FTP, Gopher, World Wide Web, or other services.
ARM Architecture
The ARM (Advanced RISC Machine) architecture is a 32-bit RISC processor architecture that is widely used in a number of embedded designs. Due to their power saving features, ARM CPUs are dominant in the mobile electronics market, where low power consumption is a critical design goal.
Array processor
Array processor, also called a vector processor, is a microprocessor or computer that is capable of performing simultaneous computations on elements of an array of data in some number of dimensions. Common uses of such processor include analysis of fluid dynamics and rotation of 3D objects as well as data retrieval, in which elements in a database are scanned simultaneously that executes one instruction at a time but on an array or table of data at the same time rather than on single data elements.
Arrow keys
Most computer keyboards contain four arrow keys for moving the cursor or insertion point right, left, up, or down. When combined with the Shift, Function, Control, or Alt keys on the keyboard of the PC, the arrow keys can have perform different functions.
Artificial brain
Artificial brain is the research to develop hardware that has cognitive abilities similar to the human brain. Very different approaches have been popularly as termed artificial brains by researchers or the popular press. Some approaches include artificial neurons on a parallel platform.
ASE: Amplified Spontaneous Emission
Amplified Spontaneous Emission (ASE) is a type of light noise produced by spontaneous emission when a laser gain medium is pumped to produce a population inversion.. ASE is added to an optical signal when it is amplified. This noise (or ASE) accumulates and builds in optical spans that have multiple optical amplifiers between regenerators. Feedback of the ASE by the laser's optical cavity may produce laser operation if the lasing threshold is reached. Excess ASE is an unwanted effect in lasers, since it disipates some of the laser's power. In optical amplifiers, ASE limits the achievable gain of the amplifier and increases its noise level.
ASIC: Application-Specific Integrated Circuit
Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) is an integrated circuit custom-designed to perform a specific set of functions. An ASIC-based device typically has better performance and lower cost over a similar design with standard chips. ASICs are commonly used in high-speed switches and routers. A typical device designed using standard chips typically has many individual components, and runs many functions in software. A device/system based on ASIC can consolidate the function of all of those chips, and even the software, onto a single chip.
Aspect ratio
In computer graphics, the ratio of the horizontal and vertical sizes is called aspect ratio.
ASPI: Advanced SCSI Programming Interface
Advanced SCSI Programming Interface (ASPI) is a standard SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) software interface that acts as a communication link between a host adapter board and SCSI device drivers. ASPI enables host adapters and device drivers to share a single SCSI hardware interface.
Associative Memory
Associative memory is not on a traditional Von Neumann computing architecture because each address in an associative memory has a small amount of computing power. This allows such operations as "Do any of you memory locations contain this data?" to execute in just a few cycles rather than the approach of searching through all memory locations for the data that is necessary with traditional architectures. Content addressable memory (CAM) is a type of Associative Memory.
Associative Storage
Associative Storage is a storage device or process that the storage locations are identified by their contents, or by a part of their contents, rather than by their names or positions. This is also known as content-addressable storage.
AT bus
AT bus, also known as ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) bus, is a 16-bit bus started with the IBM-AT (Advanced Technology) systems. It is still the standard interface for most PC expansion cards. The bus is the collection of wires and electronic components that connect all device controllers and add-in cards. The controllers are the components that attach to peripheral devices. The bus, therefore, is the main highway for all data moving in and out of the computer.
AT keyboard
AT key board is an 84-key keyboard introduced with the PC /AT (Advanced Technology) by IBM. It was later replaced with the 101-key Enhanced Keyboard.
ATA: Advanced Technology Attachment
Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA), also known as AT attachment or AT attachment Packet Interface (ATAPI), is a standard interface for connecting storage devices such as hard disks and CD-ROM drives inside personal computers. Many terms and synonyms for ATA exist, including abbreviations such as IDE, ATAPI, and UDMA. ATA standards only allow cable lengths up to 18 inches (up to 450 mm) although cables up to 36 inches (900 mm) can be readily purchased, so the technology normally appears as an internal computer storage interface. It provides the most common and the least expensive interface for this application.
ATAPI: AT attachment Packet Interface
AT attachment or AT attachment Packet Interface (ATAPI), also known as Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA), is a standard interface for connecting storage devices such as hard disks and CD-ROM drives inside personal computers. Many terms and synonyms for ATA exist, including abbreviations such as IDE, ATAPI, and UDMA. ATA standards only allow cable lengths up to 18 inches (up to 450 mm) although cables up to 36 inches (900 mm) can be readily purchased, so the technology normally appears as an internal computer storage interface. It provides the most common and the least expensive interface for this application.
Athlon
Athlon is the brand name applied to a series of different x86 processors designed and manufactured by AMD. The original Athlon, or Athlon Classic, was the first seventh-generation x86 processor and, in a first, retained the initial performance lead it had over Intel's competing processors for a significant period of time. AMD has continued the Athlon name with the Athlon 64, an eighth-generation processor featuring AMD64 technology.
AUI: Attachment Unit Interface
An Attachment Unit Interface (AUI) is a 15 pin connection that provides a path between a node's Ethernet interface and the Medium Attachment Unit, sometimes known as a transceiver. It is the part of the IEEE Ethernet standard located between the MAC and the MAU. An AUI cable may be up to 50 metres long, although frequently the cable is omitted altogether and the MAU and MAC are directly attached to one another.
AUX: Auxiliary devices
Auxiliary devices (AUX) are peripheral devices to support computers to do its job such as printers, scanners, and modems.
AVI: Audio Video Interleave
Audio Video Interleave (AVI) is the file format for Microsoft's Video for Windows standard.