HardwareVocabulary
| BIOS | Short for Basic Input/Output System, BIOS is a chip located on all computer motherboards that contains instructions and setup for how your system should boot and how it operates4 |
| Boot | To power on a computer causing it to load the Operating System or other platform. During the boot process the computer will perform a self diagnostics as well as load important data or programs to help in the operation of the computer.4 |
| Card | a printed circuit board that adds some feature to a computer1 |
| CD | Short for Compact Disc. A compact disc is a flat round storage medium that is read by a laser in a CD-ROM drive. The standard CD is capable of holding 72 minutes of music or 650 MB of data.4 |
| CD-ROM | Short for Compact Disc Read Only Memory. CD-ROM drives are CD-Players inside of a computer that can range of speeds from 1x and beyond and has the capability of playing audio CDs and also computer data CDs.4 |
| Data | data is information that has been translated into a form that is more convenient to move or process8 |
| Disk | a spinning platter made of magnetic or optically etched material on which data can be stored1 |
| Disk Drive | the machinery that writes the data from a disk and/or writes data to a disk1 |
| DVD | Short for either Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc, the DVD or DVD-ROM is a type of disc drive that allows for large amounts of data on one disc the size of a standard Compact Disc. DVD drives were first sold in 1997 and today are widely used for storing and viewing movies and other data. To play a DVD on a computer a user must have a DVD drive as well as a DVD player, which is a software program designed to play and control a DVD disc.4 |
| Input | information fed into a data processing system or computer.6 Usually a keyboard and mouse, the input device is the conduit through which data and instructions enter a computer.7 |
| Keyboard | One of the main input devices used by computers, a PC's keyboard looks very similar to the keyboards of electric typewriters, with some additional keys.4 The primary text input device.8 |
| LED | a semiconductor diode that emits light when a voltage is applied to it and that is used in an electronic display (as for a digital watch)6 |
| Modem | (Modulator demodulator) a device that enables computers to communicate over phone lines3 |
| Monitor | the video display of a computer3 |
| Motherboard | A motherboard is the physical arrangement in a computer that contains the computer's basic circuitry and components.8 Also known as the mb, mainboard, mobo, or system board. The Motherboard is the foundation of a computer and allows the CPU, RAM, and other computer components to function with each other.4 |
| NIC | Short for Network Interface Card, a NIC also referred to as a network adapter is a printed circuit board containing the necessary hardware used to connect a computer to a network.4 |
| Output | the information produced by a computer.6 An output device is a display screen (or monitor), and printer, or other device that lets you see what the computer has accomplished7 |
| PCI | Peripheral Component Interconnect is an interconnection system between a microprocessor and attached devices in which expansion slots are spaced closely for high speed operation.8 |
| Port | a connection socket, or jack1 When referring to a computer or device a hardware port resembles a plug-in or connection commonly found on the back of a computer. Hardware ports allow computers to have access to external devices such as computer printers. 4 |
| Power Supply | PS for short, or PSU (Power Supply Unit); A PS is the electrical supply used to power the components within the computer. Besides properly supplying power to the computer the power supply also converts the AC electrical current found in most standard wall sockets throughout the United States into a lower DC voltage that the computer components use.4 |
| Printer | A hardware device that accepts text and graphic output from a computer and transfers the information to paper, usually to standard size sheets of paper.8 |
| Processor | the logic circuitry that responds to and processes the basic instructions that drive a computer.8 |
| Qwerty | The QWERTY (pronounced KWEHR-tee) keyboard is the standard typewriter and computer keyboard in countries that use a Latin-based alphabet. QWERTY refers to the first six letters on the upper row of the keyboard. The key arrangement was devised by Christopher Latham Sholes whose "Type-Writer," as it was then called, was first mass-produced in 1874. The QWERTY arrangement was intended to reduce the jamming of typebars as they moved to strike ink on paper. Separating certain letters from each other on the keyboard reduced the amount of jamming.8 |
| Shut Down | The command from the Special menu that shuts down the computer safely1 |
| Speaker | A hardware device connected to a computers sound card that output's any sound file from the computer.4 |
| Tower | Housing method where the components of a computer are staked vertically in an upright case.4 The tower houses the main components that make up the computer: motherboard, drives, processor, cards, memory, and ports for input and output devices. |
References:
by: Casey Jo Burrus
Last Updated:
December 28, 2013
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