Toshiba Tecra A4 (PTA40) - Manual (Page 196)

Glossary-10 User’s Manual
Glossary
M
main board: See motherboard.
MDA: Monochrome Display Adapter. A video display protocol defined by
the IBM Monochrome Display Adapter and its associated circuitry
for direct drive TTL displays that supports a monochrome 720x350
text mode.
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.
MMX: Refers to microprocessors with additional instructions beyond the
x86 standard. The instructions were developed on the basis of
multimedia code requirements and thus improve the performance of
multimedia applications.
mode: A method of operation, for example, the boot mode or the resume
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 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.
MPEG: Moving picture coding expert group is an industry standard
architecture for compression of video signals.
N
non-system disk: A formatted diskette (floppy disk) you can use to store
programs and data but you cannot use to start the computer. See
system disk.
nonvolatile memory: Memory, usually read-only (ROM), that is capable of
permanently storing information. Turning the computer’s power off
does not alter data stored in nonvolatile memory.
numeric keypad overlay: A feature that allows you to use certain keys on
the keyboard to perform numeric entry, or to control cursor and page
movement.