Glossary-12
G
LOSSARY
restart
restart: Resetting a computer without
turning it off (also called ‘warm boot’
or ‘soft reset’). To restart the computer,
press Ctrl + Alt + Del while the com-
puter is on. See also boot.
RCA jack: A single-pin connector
that carries composite video signals,
which include both contrast and color
information. See also S-video.
RGB: Red, green, and blue. A device
that uses three input signals, each acti-
vating an electron gun for a primary
additive color (red, green, and blue) or
port for using such a device. See also
CRT.
RJ11: A modular telephone jack.
ROM: Read Only Memory: A nonvol-
atile memory chip manufactured to
contain information that controls the
computer’s basic operation. You can-
not access or change information
stored in ROM.
RS-232C: The Electronic Industries
Association (EIA) interface standard
that describes the 25-pin connector
interface and control, data, and status
signals that allow asynchronous com-
munications between computers, print-
ers, communications and other
peripheral devices.
S
SCSI: Small Computer System Inter-
face is an industry standard interface
for connection of a variety of periph-
eral devices.
serial: The handling of data bits one
after the other.
serial communications: A communi-
cations technique that uses as few as
two interconnecting wires to send bits
one after another.
serial interface: Refers to a type of
information exchange that transmits
information sequentially, one bit at a
time. Contrast: Parallel interface.
serial port: A communications port to
which you can connect devices, such
as a modem, mouse, or serial printer.
SIO: Serial Input/Output. The elec-
tronic methodology used in serial data
transmission.
soft key: Key combinations that emu-
late keys on the IBM keyboard, change
some configuration options, stop pro-
gram execution, and access the
numeric keypad overlay.
software: The set of programs, proce-
dures and related documentation asso-
ciated with a computer system.
Specifically refers to computer pro-
grams that direct and control the com-
puter system’s activities. See also
hardware.
stop bit: One or more bits of a byte
that follow the transmitted character or
group codes in asynchronous serial
communications.
subpixel: Three elements, one red, one
green and blue (RGB), that make up a
pixel on the color LCD. The computer
sets subpixels independently, each may
emit a different degree of brightness.
See also pixel.