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IT Support - terminology > General > Flashcards

General Flashcards

1
Q

Bit

A

A “letter” in binary; a single 0 or 1

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2
Q

Byte

A

A “word” in binary; there are 8 bits in a byte (which gives us 256 possible bytes)

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3
Q

ASCII

A

Older type of character encoding; each byte represented a letter or character

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4
Q

UTF-8

A

Type of character encoding most commonly used today; uses combinations of multiple bytes to represent characters, so we can have more than 256 options

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5
Q

RGB

A

Type of character encoding specifically used to represent colors

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6
Q

Logic gates

A

Give direction to a computer’s transistors about where (or whether) to send an electrical signal

Examples: AND, OR, XOR, NOT

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7
Q

CPU

Central Processing Unit

A

Part of a computer that does calculations; the “brain” of the computer

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8
Q

RAM

Random Access Memory

A

Part of a computer; short-term memory

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9
Q

Hard drive

A

Part of a computer; long-term data storage

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10
Q

Motherboard

A

Part of a computer; holds the other parts in place, distributes power to parts that need it, and allows communication between parts

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11
Q

EDB

External Data Bus

A

Part of a computer; wires that transmit binary data between other parts

Can be 8-bit (only transmits 1 byte at a time) up to 64-bit

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12
Q

Registers

A

Parts of a CPU; each register can hold one byte of incoming data or the result of one calculation

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13
Q

MCC

Memory Controller Chip

A

Part of a computer; bridge between CPU and RAM

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14
Q

Address bus

A

Part of a computer; sends requested data’s location from CPU to MCC (memory controller chip), then MCC finds the data in RAM and sends it through EDB (external data bus) to the CPU

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15
Q

Cache

A

Data storage separate from (and faster than) RAM; it’s for data that we use frequently

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16
Q

Clock cycles

A

Used to describe the speed of a CPU; measured in gigahertz (ghz)

Ex: 3.4 ghz = 3.4 billion clock cycles per second

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17
Q

Overclocking

A

Exceeding the advertised speed of your CPU; can make your computer run faster, but comes with risks such as possibly overheating your CPU

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18
Q

Land grid array vs. Pin grid array

A

Types of CPU; in land grid, pins extend from the motherboard; in pin grid, the pins are on the CPU

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19
Q

Heat sink

A

Part of a computer; needed to keep your CPU from overheating

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20
Q

32-bit vs 64-bit

A

Usually refers to the architecture of your CPU; a 64-bit CPU has 64-bit registers, which can hold any of 2^64 different values

21
Q

DIMM sticks

Dual Inline Memory Module sticks

A

The type of RAM sticks usually used today; each stick holds multiple RAM chips

22
Q

DRAM (dynamic RAM)

SDRAM (synchronous DRAM)

DDR SDRAM (double data rate SDRAM)

A

Types of RAM, increasing by speed; SDRAM increases speed by being synchronized to the system’s processing speed; DDR4 (the 4th and current version of DDR SDRAM) is faster, uses less power, and has higher capacity than older versions of RAM

23
Q

Northbridge vs. Southbridge

A

Chipsets that are part of a computer’s motherboard; northbridge handles things like RAM and memory cards, and is sometimes part of the CPU instead of a standalone thing; southbridge handles I/O (input/output) devices like hard drive and USB

24
Q

ATX vs. ITX

Advanced technology extended; information technology extended

A

Form factors for a computer’s motherboard; ATX is larger and common in desktop computers; ITX is smaller and used for portable devices

25
Q

KB

Kilobyte

A

1 KB = 1,024 bytes (2^10)

Then multiply by 1,024 again to get megabytes (MB), gigabytes (GB), and terabytes (TB)

26
Q

HDD vs SSD

Hard disc drive; Solid state drive

A

Two types of hard drives; HDD uses a spinning disc; SSD stores data on microchips and has no moving parts

27
Q

SATA

Serial ATA

A

Cable-based interface for connecting a hard drive (usually HDD) to the motherboard

(SSD is usually connected through an expansion slot; SATA’s cables can’t keep up with it)

28
Q

AC vs. DC

Alternating current; Direct current

A

The power company supplies AC; computers use DC and so come with a power adapter

29
Q

PSU

Power supply unit

A

Part of a computer; usually a largish box that includes a cable to connect to the wall outlet, cables to connect to the motherboard, and a fan

30
Q

Voltage

A

Basically the pressure that “pushes” electricity out of your wall socket

Too much can be dangerous. You can plug a 220V device into a 120V outlet and the device just won’t work at full capacity…but you don’t want to plug a 120V device into a 220V outlet!

31
Q

Amperage

A

The amount of electricity a device can “pull” from a power source; measured in amps

A charger that uses 2.1 A will charge your device faster than one that uses 1.0 A.

32
Q

Wattage

A

Amount of power required to operate a device (amps X volts)

500 watts is usually good for standard desktop computing; you might need more for gaming or other specialized uses

33
Q

SoC

System on a chip

A

Technology for very small mobile devices that can include CPU, RAM, and sometimes data storage on a single chip

34
Q

Charge cycle (of a battery)

A

One full charge and discharge; battery’s life span is measured in charge cycles

35
Q

Peripherals

A

Things that attach to a computer, such as keyboard, mouse, USB drive

36
Q

USB

Universal serial bus

A

Multiple versions; USB 3.1 is fastest (unless a new version has come out in last couple of years); speeds measured in gigabits per second (Gb/s)

37
Q

Driver

A

Set of instructions that tells your computer’s CPU (through the BIOS) how to run a peripheral (like a mouse or keyboard)

38
Q

BIOS

Basic Input/Output Services

A

Software involved with starting your computer; stored on the motherboard on a read-only memory chip (ROM)

39
Q

UEFI

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface

A

Newer version of BIOS (or more like a replacement for it), that has better compatibility with newer types of hardware

40
Q

POST

Power On Self Test

A

Process of the computer testing things as it boots up; if computer has a speaker, you can use the motherboard’s manual to learn error code of double-beeps or any other unusual beep patterns

41
Q

CMOS chip

Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor chip

A

Round chip on motherboard; stores basic info for starting the computer (date, time, start-up settings); BIOS uses it, and you can access and change the settings in the CMOS menu or BIOS menu

42
Q

Reimage a computer

A

Wipe and reinstall a copy of the operating system; use the BIOS menu to tell the computer to boot from the USB (or other drive) where your OS copy is

43
Q

SSH

Secure shell

A

Protocol used to securely access one computer from another

Need SSH client on your computer, and SSH server on the remote machine (which automatically runs in the background on many computers), and need the host name or IP address of the remote machine

44
Q

VPN

Virtual private network

A

Allows you to connect securely to a private network over the internet

45
Q

PuTTY

A

Free, open-source software that allows you to make secure remote connections; includes several options, including SSH

46
Q

Modulation and line coding

A

Modulation - varying voltage of charge across a copper cable

Line coding - specific type of modulation that allows computers to understand that a certain voltage is a 0 or a 1

47
Q

Hexadecimal

A

Number system that uses 16 digits, 0-9 and A-F (compared to binary, which uses only 2)

48
Q

IANA

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority

A

Non-profit that helps manage IP address allocation (and probably other things)

IT Support - terminology (4 decks)

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