|
Jargon
|
Explanation
|
| Ethernet |
A standard for linking computers
together to form a network.
To connect to an ethernet network, your PC must have a suitable ethernet
expansion card. |
| MP3 |
A standard for digitally compressing
music. This enables you to download
music files from the internet a lot more quickly. |
| OCR |
Optical Character
Recognition.
Software that can recognise and convert text
from a scanned file. For example, scanning text from a page that
can later
be edited by a word processor. |
| ISP |
Internet Service
Provider.
The company who you access the internet with.
Such as, AOL, Compuserve, Ukonline, Demon, UUUnet etc. |
| Pixels |
The smallest point in an image.
An image resolution is measured in pixels along
the x and y axis of your screen (vertically and horizontally). |
| Resolution |
The number of pixels on your
screen. The more pixels the sharper the screen. |
| USB |
Universal Serial
Bus.
These connectors are a recent standard for connecting
other devices such as printers, scanners etc more quickly to your PC. |
| WAP |
Wireless Access
Protocol.
A system for sending condensed simplified internet
pages which can be viewed on a mobile phone. |
| Firewire |
A fast data link between your
PC and devices such as a digital camcorder |
| Mhz |
Megahertz. A unit of measure
to calculate your processor speed. |
| Application |
A software program such as
Word, Excel etc. Applications usually have the file extension of .exe. |
| Data |
Any form of electronic information |
| DVD |
Digital Versatile
Disk.
Looks exactly like an ordinary cd, but can store huge
amounts of data on one disc. |
| Expansion Card |
A small circuit board that
plugs into a slot on your motherboard inside your computer |
| Motherboard |
The main circuit board of a
PC to which the main components are attached. |
| Multimedia |
The combination of text,sound,images
and video within a program. |
| Network |
Several computers connected
together sharing printer and file resources. |
| Parrallel Port |
Socket on your computer allowing
you to connect devices such as printers
and scanners. These are the long 25 pin sockets. |
| RAM |
Random Access
Memory.
The computers temporary storage area. The more you've got, the faster you
go.Windows eats RAM. If your using applications
like Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop figure at LEAST 64 megs.
If
you are running modern PC games then go for 128 megs. |
| Zip Drive |
A high capacity removable disk
designed by Iomega. Another innovation is
the LS-120. This looks like an ordinary floppy drive, but has the capabilty
of storing 120 megs of data on one disk. It will also take the standard
floppy
disk of 1.44 megs. |
| Heat Sink |
A fan-powered cooling device
which is used to prevent the processor from
overheating. |
| Inkjet Printer |
Prints by squirting tiny dots
of ink onto the page. |
| Laser Printer |
Prints using a laser beam to
fuse ink in powder form onto the page. |
| Modem |
A device that converts electronic
signals from your PC into sound signals that
can be transmitted over a phone line. Can be internal or external. |
| Capture Device |
A video card that goes into
your PCI slot on your motherboard and has input
and output sockets for digitising video. Also used for connecting digital
camcorders. |
| Serial Port |
Another port on the back of
your computer. Used for connecting modems,
palmtops and in some circumstances, a mouse. This port usually has
9 pins. |
| Windows CE |
A reduced version of windows
developed for use with palmtop computers.
It's reduced functionality means it does not take up as much space.
Do not
confuse this with Windows SE (Second Edition) |
| CD-R |
Compact Disk
- Recordable. Blank compact disks which can only be
recorded on once |
| CD-RW |
Compact Disk
- ReWritable format. Blank compact disks which can be
recorded on over and over again. |
| Gb |
GigaBytes. A
measure of storage space on your PC.
1,000,000 bytes = 1 megabyte 1,000 megabytes = 1 gigabyte |
| IDE |
Integrated Drive
Electronics.
Your PC uses this channel to access data on
devices such as a hard disk, floppy drive or cd-rom. The IDE cable
is a flat
wide cable which connects an internal device to your PC's motherboard.
This
is also referred to as a ribbon or signal cable. |
| Jumper |
Small metal pins found on cards
and motherboards which allow you to change
settings manually. Not recommended unless you know what you're doing. |
| MPEG |
Motion Pictures
Experts
Group. This is a file format for storing video images. |
| Macro |
This is a sequence of instructions
written in a programming language which
enables you to automate repetitive tasks. The macro is saved as part
of a file
such as a spreadsheet or word processor document. Visual Basic for
Applications is a common language used. |
| Operating System O/S |
The software that controls
the actions of different parts of your PC. In older
PC's it was reffered to as MS-DOS. Nowadays it is Windows 95/98.
An alternative to Windows is the Linux O/S which is free. |
| HTML |
Hyper Text Markup
Language.
The language used to create web pages. |
| Broadband |
Anything that transmits multiple
channels of data over a single link. |
| Kbps |
Kilobytes Per
Second.
The measurement of speed for a modem. 56kbps
is the current top speed available for modems. Faster speeds can be
obtained
by installing an ISDN line or cable modem.These operate on Mbps, which
stands for Megabytes Per second. |
