Users Guide

Glossary 149
greater resolution and color display capabilities than
previous standards.
To display a program at a specific resolution, you must
install the appropriate video drivers and your monitor
must support the resolution. Similarly, the number of
colors that a program can display depends on the
capabilities of the monitor, the video driver, and the
amount of video memory installed in the system.
switch
On a system board, switches control various circuits or
functions in your computer system. These switches are
known as DIP switches; they are normally packaged in
groups of two or more switches in a plastic case. Two
common DIP switches are used on system boards: slide
switches and rocker switches. The names of the
switches are based on how the settings (on and off) of
the switches are changed.
syntax
The rules that dictate how you must type a command
or instruction so that the system understands it. A
variable's syntax indicates its data type.
system board
As the main circuit board, the system board usually
contains most of your system's integral components,
such as the following:
• Microprocessor
•RAM
• Controllers for standard peripheral devices, such as
the keyboard
• Various ROM chips
Frequently used synonyms for system board are
motherboard and logic board.
system configuration information
Data stored in memory that tells a system what
hardware is installed and how the system should be
configured for operation.
system diskette
System diskette is a synonym for bootable diskette.
system memory
System memory is a synonym for RAM.
System Setup program
A BIOS-based program that allows you to configure
your system's hardware and customize the system's
operation by setting such features as password
protection and energy management. Some options in
the System Setup program require that you reboot the
system (or the system may reboot automatically) in
order to make a hardware configuration change.
Because the System Setup program is stored in
NVRAM, any settings remain in effect until you change
them again.
system.ini file
A start-up file for the Windows operating system.
When you start Windows, it consults the
system.ini
file to determine a variety of options for the Windows
operating environment. Among other things, the
system.ini file records which video, mouse, and
keyboard drivers are installed for Windows.
Running the Control Panel or Windows Setup program
may change options in the
system.ini file. On other
occasions, you may need to change or add options to
the
system.ini file manually with a text editor,
such as Notepad.
table
In SNMP MIBs, a table is a two dimensional array that
describes the variables that make up a managed object.
TCP/IP
Abbreviation for Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol. A system for transferring
information over a computer network containing
dissimilar systems, such as systems running Windows
and UNIX.
termination
Some devices (such as the last device at each end of a
SCSI cable) must be terminated to prevent reflections
and spurious signals in the cable. When such devices
are connected in a series, you may need to enable or