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Toshiba Tecra A2 User Manual

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User’s Manual

Glossary-9

Glossary

L

level 2 cache: See cache.
Light Emitting Diode (LED): A semiconductor device that emits light

when a current is applied.

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD): Liquid crystal sealed between two sheets

of glass coated with transparent conducting material. The viewing-

side coating is etched into character forming segments with leads

that extend to the edge of the glass. Applying a voltage between the

glass sheets alters the brightness of the liquid crystal.

LSI: Large Scale Integration.

1) A technology that allows the inclusion of up to 100,000 simple

logic gates on a single chip.

2) An integrated circuit that uses large scale integration.

M

main board: See motherboard.
megabyte (MB): A unit of data storage equal to 1024 kilobytes. See also

kilobyte.

megahertz: A unit of wave frequency that equals 1 million cycles per

second. See also hertz.

menu: A software interface that displays a list of options on the screen.

Also called a screen.

microprocessor: A hardware component contained in a single integrated

circuit that carries out instructions. Also called the central

processing unit (CPU), one of the main parts of the computer.

mode: A method of operation, for example, the boot mode, standby mode

or the hibernation mode.

modem: Derived from modulator/demodulator, a device that converts

(modulates) digital data for transmission over telephone lines and

then converts modulated data (demodulates) to digital format where

received.

monitor: A device that uses rows and columns of pixels to display

alphanumeric characters or graphic images. See also CRT.

motherboard: A name sometimes used to refer to the main printed circuit

board in processing equipment. It usually contains integrated

circuits that perform the processor’s basic functions and provides

connectors for adding other boards that perform special functions.

Sometimes called a main board.

MP3: An audio compression standard that enables high-quality

transmission and real-time playback of sound files.

N

non-system disk: A formatted floppy disk you can use to store programs

and data but you cannot use to start the computer. See system disk.