Acronymns Flashcards
AC
alternating current
(an electric current that reverses its direction many times a second at regular intervals, typically used in power supplies.)
ACPI
advanced configuration and power interface
(specifies how a computer’s basic input/output system, operating system, and peripheral devices communicate with each other about power usage.)
ACT
activity
measurable amount of work performed to convert inputs into outputs.
ADSL
asymmetrical digital subscriber line
(a type of digital subscriber line (DSL) technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines rather than a conventional voiceband modem can provide.)
AGP
accelerated graphics port
(a high-speed point-to-point channel for attaching a video card to a computer system, primarily to assist in the acceleration of 3D computer graphics. It was originally designed as a successor to PCI-type connections for video cards.)
AMD
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
(an American multinational semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California, United States, that develops computer processors and related technologies for business and consumer markets.)
AMR
audio modem riser
(a riser expansion slot found on the motherboards of some Pentium III, Pentium 4, Duron, and Athlon personal computers. It was designed by Intel to interface with chipsets and provide analog functionality, such as sound cards and modems, on an expansion card.)
APIPA
automatic private internet protocol addressing
(a feature of Windows-based operating systems (included in Windows 98, ME, 2000, and XP) that enables a computer to automatically assign itself an IP address when there is no Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server available to perform that function.)
APM
advanced power management
(an API developed by Intel and Microsoft and released in 1992 which enables an operating system running an IBM-compatible personal computer to work with the BIOS (part of the computer’s firmware) to achieve power management.)
ARP
address resolution protocol
(a protocol used by the Internet Protocol (IP) [RFC826], specifically IPv4, to map IP network addresses to the hardware addresses used by a data link protocol. The protocol operates below the network layer as a part of the interface between the OSI network and OSI link layer.)
ASR
automated system recovery
(a feature of the Windows XP operating system that can be used to simplify recovery of a computer’s system or boot volumes. ASR consists of two parts: an automated backup, and an automated restore. The backup portion can be accessed in the Backup utility under System Tools.)
AT
advanced technology
(a technology that is still immature but promises to deliver significant value, or that has some technical maturity but still has relatively few users. Among current examples: artificial intelligence, agents, speech and handwriting recognition, virtual reality and 3D visualization, smart cards, real-time collaboration, enhanced user authentication, data mining, and knowledge management.)
ATA
advanced technology attachment
(a standard physical interface for connecting storage devices within a computer. ATA allows hard disks and CD-ROMs to be internally connected to the motherboard and perform basic input/output functions.)
ATAPI
advanced technology attachment packet interface
(a protocol that has been applied to Parallel ATA and Serial ATA that allows a greater variety of devices to be connected to a computer than ATA would allow.)
ATM
asynchronous transfer mode
(a switching technique used by telecommunication networks that uses asynchronous time-division multiplexing to encode data into small, fixed-sized cells. This is different from Ethernet or Internet, which use variable packet sizes for data or frames.)
ATX
advanced technology extended
(a motherboard configuration specification developed by Intel in 1995 to improve on previous de facto standards like the AT design.)
BIOS
basic input/output system
BNC
Bayonet-Neill-Concelman or British Navel Connector
BRI
basic rate interface
BTX
balanced technology extended
CCD
charged coupled device
CD
compact disc
CD-ROM
compact disc-read-only memory
CD-RW
compact disc-rewritable
