User's Manual

Glossary 245
FILE LOCATI ON: S:\SYSTEMS\Pebble\UG\A00\English\glossary.fm
DELL CONFI DENTI AL – PRELI MI NARY 1/29/03 – FOR PROOF ONLY
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OPTICAL DRI VE — A drive that uses optical technology to read or write data
from CDs, DVDs, or DVD+ RW s. Example of optical drives include CD drives,
DVD drives, CD-RW drives, and CD-RW /DVD combo drives.
P
PARALLEL CONNECTOR — An I/O port often used to connect a parallel printer
to your computer. Also referred to as an LPT port.
PARTI TI ON — A physical storage area on a hard drive that is assigned to one or
more logical storage areas known as logical drives. Each partition can contain
multiple logical drives.
PC CARD — A removable I/O card adhering to the PCMCIA standard. Modems
and network adapters are common types of PC Cards.
PCI — peripheral component interconnect — PCI is a local bus that supports 32-
and 64-bit data paths, providing a high-speed data path between the microprocessor
and devices such as video, drives, and networks.
PCMCI A — Personal Computer Memory Card International Association — The
organization that establishes standards for PC Cards.
PI N — personal identification number — A sequence of numerals and/or letters
used to restrict unauthorized access to computer networks and other secure systems.
PI O — programmed input/output — A method of transferring data between two
devices through the microprocessor as part of the data path.
PI XEL — A single point on a display screen. Pixels are arranged in rows and
columns to create an image. A video resolution, such as 800 x 600, is expressed as the
number of pixels across by the number of pixels up and down.
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LUG- AND-PLAY — The ability of the computer to automatically configure
devices. Plug and Play provides automatic installation, configuration, and
compatibility with existing hardware if the BIOS, operating system, and all devices
are Plug and Play compliant.
POST — power-on self-test — Diagnostics programs, loaded automatically by the
BIOS, that perform basic tests on the major computer components, such as memory,
hard drives, and video. If no problems are detected during POST, the computer
continues the start-up.
PROGRAM — Any software that processes data for you, including spreadsheet,
word processor, database, and game packages. Programs require an operating system
to run.
PS/2 — personal system/2 — A type of connector for attaching a PS/2-compatible
keyboard, mouse, or keypad.