Toshiba Tecra A4 (PTA40) - Manual (Page 190)

Glossary-4 User’s Manual
Glossary
buffer: The portion of the computer’s memory where data is temporarily
stored. Buffers often compensate for differences in the rate of flow
from one device to another.
bus: An interface for transmission of signals, data or electric power.
byte: The representation of a single character. A sequence of eight bits
treated as a single unit; also the smallest addressable unit within the
system.
C
cache memory: High speed memory which stores data that increases
processor speed and data transfer rate. When the CPU reads data
from main memory, it stores a copy of this data in cache memory.
The next time the CPU needs that same data, it looks for it in the
cache memory rather than the main memory, which saves time. The
computer has two cache levels. Level one is incorporated into the
processor and level two resides in external memory.
card: Synonym for board. See board.
CardBus: An industry standard bus for 32-bit PC Cards.
capacity: The amount of data that can be stored on a magnetic storage
device such as a diskette (floppy disk) or hard disk. It is usually
described in terms of kilobytes (KB), where one KB = 1024 bytes
and megabytes (MB), where one MB = 1024 KB.
CD-ROM: A Compact Disk-Read Only Memory is a high capacity disk that
can be read from but not written to. The CD-ROM drive uses a laser,
rather than magnetic heads, to read data from the disk.
Centronics: The printer manufacturer whose method of data transmission
between a parallel printer and a computer has become an industry
standard.
CGA: colour/graphics adapter. A video display protocol defined by the IBM
colour/Graphics Monitor Adapter and its associated circuitry. This
protocol supports two-colour 640x200 and four-colour 320x200
graphics, and 16-colour 640x200 and 320x200 text modes.
character: Any letter, number, punctuation mark, or symbol used by the
computer. Also synonymous with byte.
chassis: The frame containing the computer.
chip: A small semiconductor containing computer logic and circuitry for
processing, memory, input/output functions and controlling other
chips.
CMOS: Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor. An electronic circuit
fabricated on a silicon wafer that requires very little power.
Integrated circuits implemented in CMOS technology can be tightly
packaged and are highly reliable.
cold start: Starting a computer that is currently off (turning on the power).
COM1, COM2, COM3 and COM4: The names assigned to the serial and
communication ports.