ASUS A7A266-E User’s Manual 91
7 . APPENDIX
Glossary
7. APPENDIX
IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics)
IDE devices integrate the drive control circuitry directly on the drive itself, eliminating the
need for a separate adapter card (in the case for SCSI devices). UltraDMA/33 IDE devices
can achieve up to 33MB/Sec transfer.
I/O (Input/Output)
The data transfers from the input devices like a keyboard, mouse, or scanner, to the output
devices like a printer or the monitor screen.
I/O Address
The specific memory location for a particular device. Two devices cannot share the same I/O
address space.
IrDA (Infrared Data Association)
An internaltional organization that creates and promotes inter-operable, low cost, infrared
data interconnection standards that support a walk-up, point-to-point model. The IrDA proto-
col is designed to support transmission of data between two devices over short-range point-
to-point infrared at speeds between 9.6Kbps and 4Mbps.
ISP (Internet Service Provider)
A company that provides customer access to the Internet and the World Wide Web for a fee.
The ISP also provides Internet utilities and services like e-mail, newsgroup, weather reports,
and a host of others. The user can connect to the ISP using a modem installed in the computer
and connected to a phone line.
LPT Port (Line Printer Port)
Logical device name reserved by DOS for the computer parallel ports. Each LPT port is
configured to use a different IRQ and address assignment.
MMX
A set of 57 new instructions designed to accelerate multimedia and communications applica-
tions, such as 3D video, 3D sound, video conference.
Modem
A device that allows a computer to talk to another computer through the phone system.
Network
An interconnected computer system linked by telephone wires, or other means.
OnNow
The OnNow design initiative is a comprehensive, system-wide approach to system and de-
vice power control. OnNow is a term for PC that is always ON but appears OFF and responds
immediately to user or other requests. The OnNow design initiative involves changes that
will occur in the Microsoft Windows operating system, device drivers, hardware, and appli-
cations, and also relies on the changes defined in the Advanced Configuration and Power
Interface (ACPI) specification.
PC100/133
This is an industry-standard designation for memory capacity as a measure of the speed of the
memory bus. New platform requirements ensure that memory does not become a bottleneck
to system performance.
PCI Bus (Peripheral Component Interconnect Local Bus)
PCI bus is a standard specification that defines a 32-bit data bus interface.
PCI Bus Master
The PCI Bus Master can perform data transfer without local CPU help and the CPU can be
treated as one of the Bus Masters. PCI 2.1 supports concurrent PCI operation to allow the
local CPU and bus master to work simultaneously.
POST (Power On Self Test)
Powering on the computer initiates the POST, a series of software-controlled diagnostic tests.
The POST checks system memory, the motherboard circuitry, the display, the keyboard, the
diskette drive, and other I/O devices