an interface specification developed designed especially for the demands of 3-D graphics
the built-in software that determines what a computer can do without accessing programs from a disk. On PCs, the BIOS contains all the code required to control the keyboard, display screen, disk drives. BIOS is typically placed in a ROM chip on the motherboard.
the hard drive which has the operating system installed on it; once BIOS has performed the system checks, it looks for the boot drive so that the operating system can be loaded
the brains of the computer; it is here that most calculations take place
a device driver is a program that controls a device such as a printer or graphics card; many drivers, such as the keyboard driver, come with the operating system; for other devices such as a sound card, you may need to load a new driver when you connect the device to your computer; the driver is specific to an operating system
a connector on the motherboard that allows an expansion card to be plugged in to allow additional functionality to a computer, such as a sound card; on a motherboard you will find possible three types of expansion slots:
(1) ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) — this is being phased out
(2) PCI (Peripheral Connect Interface) — the most common type of slot for all expansion cards except graphics cards
(3) AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) — most commonly used for graphics cards
the form factor of a component or device describes the physical size and layout of the component; the form factor can also describe features of a device such as voltages used and connector types; by working with a common form factor, manufacturers of different devices can ensure that their products will be compatible; for example, a motherboard with an ATX form factor will be suitable for a case with an ATX form factor
an interface for mass storage devices, in which the controller is integrated into the disk or CD-ROM drive
a metal bridge that closes an electrical circuit; typically, a jumper consists of a plastic plug that fits over a pair of protruding pins and is used to configure a device
a software licence is an agreement for an organisation to operate software
a disk drive which reads and/or writes to a disk where the information is stored
the most common type of slot for all expansion cards except graphics cards
in common usage, the term RAM is synonymous with main memory, the memory available to programs; RAM memory is volatile, meaning that the contents of RAM memory are lost when the power is turned off
ROM memory is memory chips that usually store critical programs such as BIOS; ROM memory is non-volatile, meaning that the contents are not lost when the power is turned off
an interface for mass storage devices that allows up to 7 or 15 devices (depending on the bus width) to be connected to a single SCSI port in daisy-chain fashion