Asus L7 User Manual

Page 85

Appendix

PS/2 Port
PS/2 ports are based on IBM Micro Channel Architecture. This type of architecture transfers data
through a 16-bit or 32-bit bus. A PS/2 mouse and/or keyboard may be used on ATX motherboards.

RAM (Random Access Memory)
There are several different types of RAM such as DRAM (Dynamic RAM), EDO DRAM (Ex-
tended Data Output DRAM), SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM).

ROM (Read Only Memory)
ROM is nonvolatile memory used to store permanent programs (called firmware) used in certain
computer components. Flash ROM (or EEPROM) can be reprogrammed with new programs (or
BIOS).

SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)
High speed parallel interface defined by the X3T9.2 committee of the American National Standards
Institute (ANSI) for connecting many peripheral devices.

SMB (System Management Bus)
The SMB is used for managing smart batteries, reading SDRAM configuration information, and
other miscellaneous system functions.

SMI (System Management Interrupt)
A non-maskable interrupt that causes the system to enter SMM. SMM functions include power
management, USB legacy keyboard control, security, hot keys, and thermal monitoring.

SMM (System Management Mode)
This is the mode of operation while SMI is active.

South Bridge
The PCI to ISA interface, also contains many legacy devices.

System Disk
A system disk contains the core file of an operating system and is used to boot up the operating
system.

UltraDMA/33
UltraDMA/33 is a new specification to improve IDE transfer rates. Unlike traditional PIO mode,
which only uses the rising edge of IDE command signal to transfer data, UltraDMA/33 uses both
rising edge and falling edge. Hence, the data transfer rate is double of the PIO mode 4 or DMA
mode 2. (16.6MB/s x2 = 33MB/s).

USB (Universal Serial Bus)
A new 4-pin serial peripheral bus that allows plug and play computer peripherals such as keyboard,
mouse, joystick, scanner, printer and modem/ISDN to be automatically configured when they are
attached physically without having to install drivers or reboot. With USB, the traditional complex
cables from back panel of your PC can be eliminated.