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*CMOSStands for "Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor." This technology is typically used in making transistors. The "complementary" part of the term unfortunately does not mean these semiconductors are free. Instead, it refers to how they produce either a positive or negative charge. Because CMOS-based transistors onlyuse one charge at a time, they run efficiently, using up very little power. Thisis because the charges can stay in one state for a long period of time, allowin

g the transistor to use little or no power except when needed. Because of theirwonderful efficiency, processors that use CMOS-based transistors can run at extremely high speeds without getting too hot and going up in flames. You may also find CMOS memory in your computer, which holds the date and time and other basicsystem settings. The low power consumption of CMOS allows the memory to be powered by a simple Lithium battery for many years

*X86x86 is the generic name for Intel processors released after the original 8086 processor. These include the 286, 386, 486, and 586 processors. As you can see, the "x" in x86 stands for a range of possible numbers. Technically, x86 is short for 80x86 since the full names of the processors are actually 80286, 80386, 80486

, and 80586. The "80" is typically truncated to avoid redundancy.

If a computer's technical specifications state that is based on the x86 architecture, that means it uses an Intel processor (not AMD or PowerPC). Since Intel'sx86 processors are backwards compatible, newer x86 processors can run all the programs that older processors could run. However, older processors may not be able to run software that has been optimized for newer x86 processors.

While numbers provide a simple way to distinguish between processor types, theycannot be trademarked. For this reason, Intel's 586 processor is formally knownas the Pentium processor. However, software developers still often refer to processors by their number. Of course, what else would you expect from computer nerds?

*ATAStands for "Advanced Technology Attachment." It is a type of disk drive that integrates the drive controller directly on the drive itself. Computers can use ATAhard drives without a specific controller to support the drive. The motherboardmust still support an ATA connection, but a separate card (such as a SCSI cardfor a SCSI hard drive) is not needed. Some different types of ATA standards include ATA-1, ATA-2 (a.k.a. Fast ATA), ATA-3, Ultra ATA (33 MBps maximum transfer rate), ATA/66 (66 MBps), and ATA/100 (100 MBps).

The term IDE, or "Integrated Drive Electronics," is also used to refer to ATA drives. Sometimes (to add extra confusion to people buying hard drives), ATA drive

s are labeled as "IDE/ATA." Technically, ATA uses IDE technology, but the important thing to know is that they refer to the same thing.

*BANDWIDTHBandwidth refers to how much data you can send through a network or modem connection. It is usually measured in bits per second, or "bps." You can think of bandwidth as a highway with cars travelling on it. The highway is the network connection and the cars are the data. The wider the highway, the more cars can travelon it at one time. Therefore more cars can get to their destinations faster. Thesame principle applies to computer data -- the more bandwidth, the more information that can be transferred within a given amount of time.

*FSB

Stands for "frontside bus." The FSB connects the computer's processor to the system memory (RAM) and other components on the motherboard. These components include the system chipset, AGP card, PCI devices, and other peripherals. Because the

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FSB serves as the main path from the processor to the rest of the motherboard,it is also called the "system bus."

The speed of the frontside bus is measured in Megahertz or Gigahertz, just likethe processor. Most computers' processors run faster than their system buses, sothe FSB speed is typically a ratio of the processor speed. For example, a Pentium 4 processor that runs at 2.4 GHz may have an FSB speed of only 400 MHz. The C

PU to FSB ratio would be 6:1. A Power Mac G5, however, with a 2.0 GHz processor,has a 1.0 GHz frontside bus. Therefore, its CPU to FSB ratio is 2:1.

The smaller the ratio, the more efficiently the processor can work. Therefore, faster frontside bus speeds lead to faster overall performance. When the CPU to FSB ratio is high, the processor often has to wait for data to be sent out over the system bus before getting new data to process. For this reason, the FSB can be a bottleneck in a computer's performance. So if you are looking for a fast computer, don't just check the processor speed, but find out what the frontside busspeed is as well.

JUMPER

This is a small metal connector that acts as an on/off switch and is used to alter hardware configurations. A jumper is typically made of two wires and a smallpiece of metal. When the wires are connected by the metal piece, the jumper is turned on, completing the circuit. When the wires are disconnected, the jumper isturned off. Mulitple jumpers, referred to collectively as a jumper block, are often used to tell the computer how a certain device, such as a hard drive or a modem, is configured. They can be found on motherboards, sound cards, graphics cards, I/O cards, CD-ROM interface boards, modems, and hard drive controller boards, and others.

Manually setting jumpers can be a confusing process, so most hardware usually comes with the necessary jumpers preset. If they are not preset, there should be documentation with a clear diagram of the jumper settings included with the hardw

are. Fortunately, a lot of plug-and-play equipment available today does not require any jumpers. These devices can be configured through a user-friendly interface on your computer.

*PROCESORThis little chip is the heart of a computer. Also referred to as the "microprocessor," the processor does all the computations such as adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. In PCs, the most popular microprocessor used is the IntelPentium chip, whereas Macintosh computers use the PowerPC chip (developed by Motorola, IBM, and Apple).

The speed of a computer's processor is measured in megahertz, or cycles per second. But higher megahertz doesn't always mean better performance. Though a 600-MHz chip has a clock speed that is twice as fast as a 300-Mhz chip, it doesn't mean that the computer with the 600-Mhz chip will run twice as fast. This is because the speed of a computer is also influenced by other factors, such as the efficiency of the processor, the bus architecture, the amount of memory available, and the software that is running on the computer. Some processors can complete more operations per clock cycle than other processors, making them more efficient than other processors with higher clock speeds. This is why the PowerPC chip is typically faster than Pentium chips at that are clocked at higher megahertz.

HSFStands for "Heat Sink and Fan." Nearly all computers have heat sinks, which helpkeep the CPU cool and prevent it from overheating. But sometimes the heat sink

itself can become too hot. This can happen if the CPU is running at full capacity for an extended period of time or if the air surrounding the computer is simply too hot.

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Therefore, a fan is often used in combination with the heat sink to keep both the CPU and heat sink at an acceptable temperature. This combination is creativelycalled a "heat sink and fan," or HSF. The fan moves cool air across the heat sink, pushing hot air away from the computer. Each CPU has a thermometer built inthat keeps track of the processor's temperature. If the temperature becomes to hot, the fan or fans near the CPU may speed up to help cool the processor and hea

t sink.

*DRIVERSThis term usually refers to the person behind the wheel of a moving car. In thecomputer world, however, a driver is a small file that helps the computer communicates with a certain hardware device. It contains information the computer needs to recognize and control the device. In Windows-based PCs, a driver is often packaged as a dynamic link library, or .dll file. In Macs, most hardware devicesdon't need drivers, but the ones that do usually come with a software driver inthe form of a system extension, or .kext file.COMMAND PROMPTA command prompt is used in a text-based or "command-line" interface, such as a

Unix terminal or a DOS shell. It is a symbol or series of characters at the beginning of a line that indicates the system is ready to receive input. It other words, it prompts the user for a command (hence the name).

The command prompt is often preceded by the current directory of the system theuser is working with. For example, the default prompt in DOS may be C:\, which indicates the user is working at the root level of the main C: drive. In Unix, the prompt may be ~ user$, where "user" is the name of the current user. The tilde(~) indicates the current directory is the user's home folder.

A user can type commands at the command prompt, such as cd /, which means "change directory to the root folder." The "cd" command allows the user to browse through different directories of files on a hard disk or network. There are dozens o

f other commands that a user can type, which can be used to list, move, delete,and copy files, run programs, or perform other operations. While the "cd" command is the same in both DOS and Unix, many other commands have different syntax.

Since a command prompt requires specific input, it is basically useless if you don't know the syntax of the command you want to enter. Therefore, knowledge of some basic commands is required to use a command-line interface. Fortunately, most operating systems now use a graphical user interface GUI as their main way ofrequesting input from the user. This means you don't have to learn any special commands in order to use the computer. However, learning to use a command-line interface is kind of like learning to drive a car with a manual transmission. Younever know when it might come in handy.

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