Dell PowerEdge 6400 - Manual (Page 29)

video adapter
The logical circuitry that provides —in combination with the monitor or display—your computer's video capabilities. A video adapter may support
more or fewer features than a specific monitor offers. Typically, a video adapter comes with video drivers for displaying popular application
programs and operating environments in a variety of video modes.
On most current Dell computers, a video adapter is integrated into the system board. Also available are many video adapter cards that plug into an
expansion-card connector.
Video adapters can include memory separate from RAM on the system board. The amount of video memory, along with the adapter's video
drivers, may affect the number of colors that can be simultaneously displayed. Video adapters can also include their own coprocessor chip for
faster graphics rendering.
video driver
Graphics-mode application programs and operating environments, such as Windows, often require video drivers in order to display at a chosen
resolution with the desired number of colors. A program may include some "generic" video drivers. Any additional video drivers may need to
match the video adapter; you can find these drivers on a separate diskette with your computer or video adapter.
video memory
Most VGA and SVGA video adapters include VRAM or DRAM memory chips in addition to your computer's RAM. The amount of video memory
installed primarily influences the number of colors that a program can display (with the appropriate video drivers and monitor capability).
video mode
Video adapters normally support multiple text and graphics display modes. Character-based software (such as MS-DOS) displays in text modes
that can be defined as x columns by y rows of characters. Graphics-based software (such as Windows) displays in graphics modes that can be
defined as x horizontal by y vertical pixels by z colors.
video resolution
Video resolution —640 x 480, for example—is expressed as the number of pixels across by the number of pixels up and down. To display a
program at a specific graphics resolution, you must install the appropriate video drivers and your monitor must support the resolution.
virtual 8086 mode
An operating mode supported by Intel386 or higher microprocessors, virtual 8086 mode allows operating environments —such as Windows—to
run multiple programs in separate 1-MB sections of memory. Each 1-MB section is called a virtual machine.
virtual memory
A method for increasing addressable RAM by using the hard-disk drive. (MS-DOS does not support true virtual memory, which must be
implemented at the operating system level.) For example, in a computer with 8 MB of RAM and 16 MB of virtual memory set up on the hard-disk
drive, the operating system would manage the system as though it had 24 MB of physical RAM.
virus
A self-starting program designed to inconvenience you. Virus programs have been known to corrupt the files stored on a hard-disk drive or to
replicate themselves until a system or network runs out of memory.
One way that virus programs move from one system to another is via "infected" diskettes, from which they copy themselves to the hard-disk drive.
To guard against virus programs, you should do the following:
l Periodically run a virus-checking utility on your computer's hard-disk drive
l
Always run a virus-checking utility on any diskettes (including commercially sold software) before using them
VL-Bus ™
VESA local bus. A standard for local bus implementation developed by the Video Electronics Standards Association.
VLSI
very-large-scale integration
Vpp
peak-point voltage
VRAM
Video random-access memory. Some video adapters use VRAM chips (or a combination of VRAM and DRAM) to improve video performance.
VRAM is dual-ported, allowing the video adapter to update the screen and receive new image data at the same time.