G-6
Appendix C: Glossary
System Disk. A system disk contains the core file of an operating system
and is used to boot up the operating system.
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). The
communications protocol used by the UNIX system and the Internet. TCP
checks for lost packets, puts the data from multiple packets into the correct
order, and requests that missing or damaged packets be resent.
USB (Universal Serial Bus). A 4-pin serial cable bus that allows up to 127
Plug-n-Play computer peripherals (such as keyboard, mouse, joystick,
scanner, printer, modem, and monitor) to share bandwidth through a host
scheduled token-based protocols. This allows attaching or detaching while
the host and other peripherals are in operation. Supports synchronous
and asynchronous transfer types over the same set of wires up to 12Mbit/
sec. USB 2.0 provides 40 times the transfer rate compared to USB 1.0 and
competes with the 1394 standard.
WAN (Wide Area Network). A geographically dispersed network formed
by linking several computers or Local Area Networks (LANs) together over
long distances. WANs usually use leased long-distance lines to connect
systems across towns, in different cities, or in different regions of the
world.