F
* Faceplate
* Fax Machine
* Fax Modem
* FC-PGA: Flip Chip Pin Grid Array
* Feed Drive
* FET: Field-Effect Transistors
* Fiber Plant
* Fiber-Optic Cable
* Fiber Optics
* Fibre Channel
* File Server
* Filter
* Fixed-Frequency Monitor
* FLAC: Free Lossless Audio Codec
* Flash Memory
* Flatbed Scanner
* Flat-Panel Display
* Flip-Flop
* Floppy Disk
* FPM RAM: Fast Page Mode RAM
* FPU: Floating Point Unit
* FRAD: Frame Relay Assembler/Disassembler
* Framebuffer
* FSB: Front-Side Bus
* FTTC: Fiber-To-The-Curb
* FTTH: Fiber-To-The-Home
* Function Keys
faceplate
Faceplate is the plate installed over a switch or receptacle. The plate also covers the wall opening and thus protects the wiring. A motherboard faceplate is the plate that fits over a motherboard ports to supply a secure casing around the ports. A motherboard faceplate helps keep the motherboard enclosed within a PC and helps prevent dust from accumulating on the motherboard. Motherboard faceplates typically are installed into the back of a computer case.
fax machine
Fax machine, also known as facsimile machine, is a device that can send or receive pictures and text over a telephone line. A fax machine is essentially an image scanner, a modem, and a computer printer combined into a highly specialized package. The scanner converts the content of a physical document into a digital image, the modem sends the image data over a phone line, and the printer at the other end makes a duplicate of the original document.
fax modem
Fax modem is a computer device that allows for the transmission and receiving of documents as faxes. A fax modem may be installed inside the computer or present as an external modem. Some fax modems also function as regular modems. A fax modem is like a regular modem except that it is designed to transmit documents to a fax machine or to another fax modem. Some, but not all, fax modems do double duty as regular modems. As with regular modems, fax modems can be either internal or external. Internal fax modems are often called fax boards.
FC-PGA: Flip Chip Pin Grid Array
Flip Chip Pin Grid Array (FC-PGA or FCPGA) is the package of certain Intel Celeron, Pentium III, and Pentium 4 microprocessors. FC-PGA processors fit into Socket 370 or Socket 478 motherboard sockets. FC-PGA packages use chips that have been turned upside down and attached to the package or the board using solder balls instead of perimeter bonding wires. The solder balls are jointed directly to a set of solder balls on the substrate. The exposed core rests on the actual package, and the chips make direct contact with the heat sink. This allows for more efficient cooling to take place. Since the chips are placed directly on the board, FC-PGA packages have a high I/O density and shorter electrical connections than other types of packaging.
feed drive
Feed drive is a type of drive that grabs the media after it is partially inserted into the slot. All automobile CD players as well as CD-ROM drives in various Macintosh models are feed drives.
FET: Field-effect transistors
Field-effect transistors (FET), also called unipolar transistors, use only one of the two types of carrier (either electrons or holes, depending on the subtype of the FET). In FETs the main current appears in a narrow conducting channel with an insulating depletion zone at the side. The width of this insulating zone can be altered by varying the voltage applied to the gate terminal, enlarging or constricting the conducting channel and thereby controlling the main current.
Fiber Plant
Fiber Plant is an aerial or buried fiber optic cable that established connectivity between fiber optic transmission equipment locations.
Fiber-Optic Cable
Fiber-optic Cable is the physical medium capable of conducting modulated light transmission. Compared with other transmission media, fiber-optic cable is not susceptible to electromagnetic interference and is capable of higher data rates.
fiber optics
Fiber optics is the thin filaments of glass through which light beams are transmitted over long distances and which can carry enormous amounts of data. A fiber optic cable consists of a bundle of glass threads, each of which is capable of transmitting messages modulated onto light waves. Modulating light on thin strands of glass produces major benefits in high bandwidth, relatively low cost, low power consumption, small space needs, total insensitivity to electromagnetic interference, and great insensitivity to being bugged.
Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel, an ANSI standard, is a serial computer bus intended for connecting high speed storage devices to computers. It started for use primarily in the supercomputer field, but has become the standard connection type for storage area networks in enterprise storage. Despite its name, Fibre Channel signaling can run on both twisted-pair copper wire and fiber optic cables. The most prominent Fibre Channel standard is Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL).
File server
A file server is a high-capacity disk storage device or a computer that hosts files so that they may be accessed or retrieved by other computers on the same network. File server may also refers to a computer program, that allows different programs, running on other computers, to access the files of that computer.
filter
In the context of computer hardware, a filter is a device that accepts a certain type of data or signal (based on certan pre-defined physical parameters) as input, transforms it in some manner, and then outputs the transformed data.
fixed-frequency monitor
Fixed-frequency monitor is a type of computer monitor that can only accept signals in one frequency range. In contrast, multi-scanning monitors automatically adjust themselves to the frequency at which data is being sent. Most early analog monitors were fixed frequency. Most older SUN, SGI and other workstation monitors were of this type. Generally, these monitors are limited in their applications, since they require that the incoming video signal falls within narrow timing specifications.
FLAC: Free Lossless Audio Codec
Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) is a popular free audio compression codec that is lossless. Unlike lossy codecs such as MP3 and AAC, it does not remove any information from the audio stream and is suitable both for everyday playback and for archiving audio collections. "Free" means that the specification of the stream format can be implemented by anyone without prior permission, and that neither the FLAC format nor any of the implemented encoding/decoding methods is covered by any patent. The sources for libFLAC and libFLAC++ are available under Xiph.org's BSD license and the sources for flac, metaflac, and the plugins are available under the GPL.
flash memory
Flash memory is a form of EEPROM that allows multiple memory locations to be erased or written in one programming operation. Flash memory holds its content without the need of a power supply. The memory is commonly used in Memory cards, USB Flash drives, MP3 players, digital cameras and mobile phones. In some cases, a large flash device can be used instead of a disk drive. Although there is a theoretical limit to the number of times a flash memory can be erased and rewritten successfully, this limit is seldom reached in practice.
flatbed scanner
Flatbed scanner is a popular type of scanner for home use, which works when an original is placed face-down on a sheet of glass and an arm equipped with a light and an electronic sensor sweeps under the glass. Flatbed scanners are particularly effective for bound documents.
flat-panel display
Flat panel displays encompass a few technologies enabling video displays that are lighter and much thinner than traditional television and video displays using cathode ray tubes. The flat panel display echnologies include: Plasma displays, Digital light processing (DLPs), Liquid crystal displays (LCDs), Organic light-emitting diode displays (OLEDs), Field emission displays (FEDs), Liquid crystal on silicon (LCOSs), Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Displays (SEDs), Nano-emissive display (NEDs).
flip-flop
In the context of computer circuits, flip-flop is also called as a bistable gate. It is a type of circuit that is interconnected with like circuits to form logic gates in digital integrated circuits, such as memory chips and microprocessors. The name flip-flop comes from the circuit nature of alternating between two states when a current is applied to the circuit. A flip-flop will maintain its state indefinitely until it receives an input pulse, called a trigger, which forces it to alternate its state. Once the circuit changes state it remains in that state until another trigger is received.
floppy disk
A floppy disk is a data storage device that is composed of a circular piece of thin, flexible (i.e. "floppy") magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangular plastic wallet. Floppy disks are read and written by a floppy disk drive or FDD. Unlike most hard disks, floppy disks (often called floppies or diskettes) are portable, because you can remove them from a disk drive. Floppy disks are slower to access than hard disks and have less storage capacity, but they are much less expensive.
FPM RAM: Fast Page Mode RAM
Fast Page Mode RAM (FPM RAM), also known as page mode memory, is a type of Dynamic RAM (DRAM) that allows faster access to data in the same row or page. Page-mode memory works by eliminating the need for a row address if data is located in the row previously accessed.
FPU: Floating Point Unit
A floating point unit (FPU) is a part of a CPU specially designed to carry out operations on floating point numbers. Not all CPUs have a dedicated FPU. In the absence of an FPU, the CPU may use a microcode program to emulate an FPUs function using an arithmetic and logical unit (ALU). Computers equipped with an FPU perform certain types of applications much faster than computers that lack one. In particular, graphics applications are faster with an FPU.
FRAD: Frame Relay Assembler/Disassembler
Frame Relay Assembler/Disassembler (FRAD) is a communications device in a Frame Relay router which is used to interface a LAN with a frame relay WAN. FRAD breaks a data stream into frames for transmission over a Frame Relay network and recreates a data stream from incoming frames.
framebuffer
The framebuffer is a part of RAM in a computer allocated to hold the graphics information for one frame or picture. This information typically consists of color values for every pixel (point that can be displayed) on the screen. Typically the frame buffer is stored in the memory chips on the video adapter. In some instances, however, the video chipset is integrated into the motherboard design, and the frame buffer is stored in general main memory.
FSB: Front-Side Bus
Front-Side-Bus (FSB), also known as CPU bus, memory bus and system bus, is the bus between Processor (CPU) to system memory. The front side bus on a computer connects the processor to the north side bridge, which comprises the memory bus, PCI bus and AGP bus. In general, a faster frontside bus means higher processing speeds and a faster computer.
FTTC: Fiber-To-The-Curb
Fiber-To-The-Curb (FTTC) refers to the installation of optical fiber from a telephone switch of service provider to a home or enterprise, as a replacement for "plain old telephone service" (POTS) using wire. Optic fiber wiring would provide extremely high bandwidth and make possible movies-on-demand and online multimedia communications.
FTTH: Fiber-To-The-Home
Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH), also known as Fiber-To-The-Curb(FTTC), refers to the installation of optical fiber from a telephone switch of service provider directly into the subscriber's home.
Function keys
Function keys are some special keys on a computer or terminal keyboard which can be programmed so as to cause an operating system command interpreter or application program to perform certain actions. On some keyboards/computers, function keys may have default actions, accessible on power-on. Function keys are normally labeled F1 to F10 or F12 (or F15 on Macintoshes).