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User’s Manual Glossary-4
Glossary
CRT: Cathode Ray Tube. A vacuum tube in which beams projected on a
fluorescent screen-producing luminous spots. An example is the
television set.
cursor: A small, blinking rectangle or line that indicates the current position
on the display screen.
D
DC: Direct Current. Electric current that flows in one direction. This type of
power is usually supplied by batteries.
default: The parameter value automatically selected by the system when
you or the program do not provide instructions. Also called a preset
value.
device driver: A program that controls communication between a specific
peripheral device and the computer. The CONFIG.SYS file contains
device drivers that MS-DOS loads when you turn the computer on.
dialog box: A window that accepts user input to make system settings or
record other information.
disk drive: The device that randomly accesses information on a disk and
copies it to the computer’s memory. It also writes data from memory
to the disk. To accomplish these tasks, the unit physically rotates the
disk at high speed past a read-write head.
display: A CRT, LCD, or other image producing device used to view
computer output.
DOS: Disk Operating System. See operating system.
driver: A software program, generally part of the operating system, that
controls a specific piece of hardware (frequently a peripheral device
such as a printer or mouse).
DVD-RAM: A Digital Versatile Disc Random Access Memory is a high-
capacity, high performance disc that lets you store large volumes of
data. The DVD-ROM drive uses a laser to read data from the disc.
DVD-ROM: A Digital Versatile Disc Read Only Memory is a high capacity,
high performance disc suitable for play back of video and other
high-density files. The DVD-ROM drive uses a laser to read data
from the disc.
E
execute: To interpret and execute an instruction.
F
floppy disk: A removable disk that stores magnetically encoded data.
floppy disk drive (FDD): An electromechanical device that reads and
writes to floppy disks.
folder: An icon in Windows used to store documents or other folders.