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PCI-to-PCI bridge: allows you to connect multiple PCI devices onto one PCI slot.
PnP (Plug-n-Play): a design standard that has become ascendant in the industry. Plug-n-
Play devices require little set-up to use. Devices and operating systems that are not Plug-
n-Play require you to reconfigure your system each time you add or change any part of
your hardware.
RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks): a way for the same data to be stored
in different places on many hard drives. By using this method, the data is stored
redundantly and multiple hard drives will appear as a single drive to the operating system.
RAID level 0 is known as striping, where data is striped (or overlapped) across multiple
hard drives, but offers no fault-tolerance. RAID level 1 is known as mirroring, which
stores the data within at least two hard drives, but does not stripe. RAID level 1 also
allows for faster access time and fault-tolerance, since either hard drive can be read at the
same time. RAID level 0+1 is both striping and mirroring, providing fault-tolerance,
striping, and faster access all at the same time.
SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic RAM): called as such because it can keep two sets of
memory addresses open simultaneously. By transferring data alternately from one set of
addresses and then the other, SDRAM cuts down on the delays associated with non-
synchronous RAM, which must close one address bank before opening the next.
Serial port: called as such because it transmits the eight bits of a byte of data along one
wire, and receives data on another single wire (that is, the data is transmitted in serial
form, one bit after another).
Sleep/Suspend mode:
in this mode, all devices except the CPU shut down.
SRAM (Static RAM): unlike DRAM, this type of RAM does not need to be refreshed in
order to prevent data loss. Thus, it is faster and more expensive.
SMBIOS: The system management specification addresses how motherboard and system
vendors present management information about their products in a standard format by
extending the BIOS interface on Intel architecture systems.
Standby mode: in this mode, the video and hard drives shut down; all other devices
continue to operate normally.
UltraDMA-33/66/100: a fast version of the old DMA channel. UltraDMA is also called
UltraATA. Without a proper UltraDMA controller, your system cannot take advantage of
higher data transfer rates of the new UltraDMA/UltraATA hard drives.
USB (Universal Serial Bus): a versatile port. This one port type can function as a serial,
parallel, mouse, keyboard or joystick port. It is fast enough to support video transfer, and
is capable of supporting up to 127 daisy-chained peripheral devices.