by Coral1
A collection of terms and slang you will run across. Most will need more study for full a understanding of what they mean.
Check back here once in awhile. Words are still being added.
A
- AT
- generally refers to what is now an "older" style of motherboard and how things connect to it. Easy to recognize by the big round 5 pin keyboard port and 12 pin single inline motherboard power supply header and 2 piece (6 wires each) connectors coming from the power supply. Also does not support software OFF.
Actually it is the IBM specs for all post 8-bit computers. The 16/32/64 bit standards, starting with the 286. - ATX
- Next generation AT. Can be recognized by the PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports. Has 20 pin dual row power connectors. Allows software OFF.
Comes in several different flavors now. see: form factor
B
- BIOS
- Basic Input/Output System. A program that tells the computer hardware how to talk to each other at a basic level. Usually stored on a read-only chip (CMOS). Higher level functions are added by the use of software drivers.
- BSOD
- Blue Screen Of Death. This is what happens when you or a program does something that Windows does not like, and gives you nothing but a blue screen to look at. also see Freeze and Crash
- Benchmark
- A way to tell how fast the various subsystems, and your computer as a whole, performs.
C
- Capacitors
- A thingy that holds an electrical charge to keep voltage level stable. Two types.
Pancake: Flat, round, different diameters. With 2 wires coming out of the edge. A positive and a negative.
Tin can: Cylindrical, different lengths and diameters. Two wires coming out of the bottom. Positive and negative. - CFM
- Cubic Feet per Minute. The volume of air a fan is rated as being able to move. Average flow rates run from 25-35 CFM for an 80mm fan, to 75CFM and up for a 120mm.
- Clusters
- A group of sectors. The number of sectors in a cluster depends on the OS and filesystem you are using.
- CMOS
- Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor. A type of chip that runs with only a small voltage. In a computer it is used to hold the Time/Date and System Configuration Information (BIOS).
- Crash
- What happens when you or a program does something that Windows does not like, and the monitor goes blank and/or the computer turns off.
- CrossFire
- ATI's method of hooking two PCI-E video cards together as one.
- CPU
- Central Processing Unit. The Big Boss chip and brain of the system.
D
- DDO
- Disk Drive Overlay. A program that will let a newer harddrive work in an older systen that does does not support it.
- De Facto
- Existing in fact. Something that is true.
- Defrag
- To use a program that puts related files close together and/or moves all files to the front of the hard drive to remove any empty space.
- DIN
- Any of the round plugin connectors on a computer. Mostly refers to keyboard and mouse plugs. The old PC/XT and early AT mobo's used a large 5 pin DIN. Since the Pentium, mobo's use a 6 pin mini-DIN (aka: PS/2).
After years of wondering why round plugs were called DIN, I finally found out. It stands for - Deutsche Industrie Norm (German Industrial Norm). This is the committee that sets the German dimensional standards. - DIP chips
- Dual Inline Pin chips. Usually refers to an old type of memory, before they put them on their own card. Had SHARP metal legs on 2 sides of the chip and had to be carefully inserted into sockets. If you look at the black things on a sdram or ddr(2) memory module, you will get the idea. A lot of CMOS chips are still DIPs.
E
- End Users
- The people that keep us neck deep in work.
- ESD
- Electro Static Discharge. That shocking feeling you get when you run on carpet in your stocking feet in the wintertime, and then grab something metal. A charge small enough that you don't feel it, will take out that new "whatever" you just bought yourself with the kids collage fund.
- Ethernet
- One of the oldest network protocols. Also now used as a generic word for a network. also see: nic, network, wan, lan
F
- Filesystem
- The method an OS uses to keep track of stored data. For Windows it can be: FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS. Linux usually uses Ext2, thought it can use the others.
- Fire(d) up
- To turn On a system, or to Startup a program.
- Form Factor
- The way a mobo's components are layed out. AT, Baby AT, ATX, NLX are a few examples. Also used to define other things (like PSU's).
- Freeze
- what happens when you or a program does something that Windows does not like, and it leaves whatever program you are working in, on your monitor. But the computer will no longer do anything.
- FSB
- Front Side Bus. The path between the cpu, memory and chipset.
G
- GPU/VPU
- Graphic Processing Unit/Video Processing Unit. The chip on the video card that does all the heavy graphic work. You could even call it CPU Jr.
H
- HD
- short for Harddrive.
- Header(s)
- Header Pins. A group of pins that cables or wires plug into.
- HSF
- HeatSink/Fans. One way to dissipate heat from CPU's, Video cards, and other chips so they stay cool.
I
- In Situ
- In place. Where it currently is.
- I/O
- Input/output. Mostly refers to keyboards/mice (input) and monitors (output). But also includes printers, microphones, speakers, modems, and anything else that sends data into or out of the computer.
J
- Jumper Pins
- The pins that you either put Jumper Caps ON to, or take them OFF of, to enable/disable different functions.
- Jumper Caps
- small plastic covered pieces of metal that go on Jumper Pins.
K
- Keyed
- When one thing can be plugged into something else in only one way.
- Keyword(s)
- A word or phrase that is used in the Search or Find function.
L
- LAN
- Computers networked together that are relativity close together. Same room, building, or town (but that is stretching it).
- LED
- Light Emitting Diode. The little lights used on the computer to indicate the status of different functions. Also being used for their decorative effects.
- LCD
- Liquid Crystal Display. Small displays used to show numbers or messages. If you have a digital wristwatch, that's the part that shows the time.
M
- Modder
- Modifier. Anybody who is not happy with a "standard" computer. And takes pride (and some say demented pleasure) in doing things to their systems.
- memory
- Also called Ram or Ram stick. The work area of the computer. Current types are: SDRam, DDR, and DDR2.
N
- NAS
- Network Attached Storage. An external harddrive storage device, that is connected to the computer by high-speed ethernet cables, instead of SCSI, USB, Firewire, etc.
- Network
- Also called LAN (local area network), WAN (wide area network) or Ethernet. A way to hook multiple computers together for work and/or play. Includes several types of wired and wireless methods.
- Newbie
- A beginner. Someone just starting. Web version of Rookie. It is not meant as an insult. <see: noob>
- NIC
- Network Interface Card. see: network
- Noob
- Or noobie. This can be an insult. Usually refers to a newbie that has shown they are "just plain rude and/or stupid". While there might be some hope for a noobie, a noob will usually wind up being ignored or told to take a long walk on a short pier.
O
- OC
- Over Clock. Anything you do to a computer that makes it run faster than what it is suppose to.
- OS
- Operating System. DOS, Windows, Linux, and Unix are all OS's.
P
- Pinouts
- A diagram that tells what each pin position is.
- PITA
- Pain In The After-region. Applys to a wide range of people and hardware.
- PSU
- Power Supply Unit. The thing that converts the AC current from the wall socket to what ever flavor the device wants, so it will work.
- PCB
- Printed Circuit Board. The flat resin boards that all electronics components are mounted to. Usually green, but more colors are coming out now.
Q
R
- RAR
- One of several kinds of compression types. see: Zip
- RTFM or RTM
- READ THE (FREAKING) MANUAL. Something told to newbies. A lot.
Also the best way I know of to avoid trouble. Even if you have done it a 100 times. Number 101 will have a small twist added to it, just to mess you up. - RPM
- Revolutions Per Minute. How fast something spins. Fans run in the 1000 to 5000rpm range. Harddrives in the 5400 to 10,000rpm range.
S
- SAN
- Storage Area Network is a high-speed subnetwork of shared storage devices. A storage device is a machine that contains nothing but a disk or disks for storing data.
- Sectors
- The way the harddrive groups bytes together so it can use them.
- SLI
- Scalable Link Interface. nVidia's method of hooking two PCI-E video cards together as one.
- Subsystems
- The different areas that all work together to make up what we call a computer. Input/output, video, FSB, memory are some examples.
T
- TAR
- One of several kinds of compression types. see: Zip
U
- UBCD
- Ultimate Boot CD. One of several cd disks that you can boot from. It has a bunch of programs on it to help fix a misbehaving computer.
V
- Video card
- What turn the stuff in your computer into something you can see on the monitor. There are cards for most bus types, ISA, PCI, AGP, PCI-Express (PCI-E). So far AGP is the only one that can be tricky, as there are 3 different voltages for it.
W
- WAN
- Wide Area Network. Computers or LAN's connected together over long distances. The Internet is the ultimate WAN.
- Wasted Space
- The Sectors at the end of a Cluster, that are not used by a file.
X
Y
- Yammer Head
- Has several definitions, none of which are nice. Mostly used to describe people that talk a good game (book learning), but have little or no field experience (get their hands dirty).
Z
- ZIP
- One of several kinds of file compression types. Used to shrink files for archiving, alone or in groups, so they take up less space. Also to group multiple files for sending over the Internet, using just one name. Example: Sending a bunch of book reports you did last year, to your cousin, hundreds of miles away, who needs them this year. Instead of sending each file by itself, you zip them up and send just one file: BReports.zip. <if you get caught doing anything like this... you are on your own>
NS,NR!!
