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AC Adapter
A device which converts the AC voltage from a wall outlet to the DC voltage needed to power your
notebook.
Active-Matrix Display
A type of technology for making flat-panel displays which has a transistor or similar device for every
pixel on the screen.
APM
Advanced Power Management.
Auto/Airline Adapter
A device which converts the DC voltage from an automobile cigarette lighter or aircraft DC power
outlet to the DC voltage needed to power your notebook.
BIOS
Basic Input-Output System. A program and set of default parameters stored in ROM which tests and
operates your notebook when you turn it on until it loads your installed operating system from disk.
Information from the BIOS is transferred to the installed operating system to provide it with information
on the configuration and status of the hardware.
Bit
An abbreviation for binary digit. A single piece of information which is either a one (1) or a zero (0).
bps
An abbreviation for bits per second. Used to describe data transfer rates.
Boot
To start-up a computer and load its operating system from disk, ROM or other storage media into RAM.
Bus
An electrical circuit which passes data between the CPU and the sub-assemblies inside your notebook.
Byte
8 bits of parallel binary information.
Cache Memory
A block of memory built into the micro-processor which ins much faster to access than your system
RAM and used in specially structured ways to make your overall data handling tine faster.
CardBus
A faster, 32-bit version of the PC Card interface which offers performance similar to the 32-bit PCI
architecture.
CD-ROM
Compact disc read only memory. This is a form of digital data storage which is read optically with a
laser rather than a magnetic head. A typical CD-ROM can contain about 600MB of data and is not
subject to be crashing into the surface and destroying the data when there is a failure nor to wear
from reading.
3 Glossary
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