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Toshiba Satellite M70 (PSM71) User Manual

Page 172

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Glossary-4

User’s Manual

Glossary

CRT: Cathode Ray Tube. A vacuum tube in which beams projected on a

fluorescent screen-producing luminous spots. An example is the

television set.

cursor: A small, blinking rectangle or line that indicates the current

position on the display screen.

D

DC: Direct Current. Electric current that flows in one direction. This type of

power is usually supplied by batteries.

default: The parameter value automatically selected by the system when

you or the program do not provide instructions. Also called a preset

value.

device driver: A program that controls communication between a specific

peripheral device and the computer. The CONFIG.SYS file contains

device drivers that MS-DOS loads when you turn the computer on.

dialog box: A window that accepts user input to make system settings or

record other information.

disk drive: The device that randomly accesses information on a disk and

copies it to the computer’s memory. It also writes data from

memory to the disk. To accomplish these tasks, the unit physically

rotates the disk at high speed past a read-write head.

display: A CRT, LCD, or other image producing device used to view

computer output.

DOS: Disk Operating System. See operating system.
driver: A software program, generally part of the operating system, that

controls a specific piece of hardware (frequently a peripheral

device such as a printer or mouse).

DVD-RAM: A Digital Versatile Disc Random Access Memory is a

high-capacity, high performance disc that lets you store large

volumes of data. The DVD-ROM drive uses a laser to read data

from the disc.

DVD-ROM: A Digital Versatile Disc Read Only Memory is a high capacity,

high performance disc suitable for play back of video and other

high-density files. The DVD-ROM drive uses a laser to read data

from the disc.

E

execute: To interpret and execute an instruction.

F

floppy disk: A removable disk that stores magnetically encoded data.