CompTIA A+ 220-901 Hardware Acronyms
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| AC | alternating current - type of electricity you get from the wall - needs to be converted to DC for most electronics
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| ACPI | advanced configuration power interface - lets the OS do things like physically shut down the computer and spin down disks. Replaced older APM standard.
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| ADSL | asymmetrical digital subscriber line - common type of DSL that has more download bandwidth than upload bandwidth
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| AGP | accelerated graphics port - used for faster graphics cards during the era of PCI - now replaced with PCI express
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| AHCI | advanced host controller interface - improved SATA protocol that works faster with SATA hard drives and solid state drives
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| AP | access point - used in wireless networks running in infrastructure mode
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| APM | advanced power management - older method used for the OS to control hardware power options - was replaced with ACPI starting with Vista
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| ATA | advanced technology attachment - another name for IDE connected drives - has been replaced with SATA
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| ATAPI | advanced technology attachment packet interface - developed to allow optical drives to work with ATA (IDE)
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| ATM | asynchronous transfer mode - a packet or "cell" switching technology used on WANs and sometimes LANs
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| ATX | advanced technology extended - Modern motherboard, case, power supply specification
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| A/V | audio video
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| BIOS | basic input/output system
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| BNC | Bayonet-Neil-Concelman or British Naval Connector - used to terminate some coaxial cables used for networking
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| BTX | balanced technology extended - newer specification than ATX - not widely adopted - was designed for better thermal protection
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| CCFL | cold cathode fluorescent lamp - used for backlights on flat panels - smaller and longer lifetimes than standard fluorescent lamps
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| CD | compact disk
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| CD-ROM | compact disk read-only-memory - used to store data on a CD - can not be written to
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| CD-RW | compact disk rewriteable - data can be written to repeatedly
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| CDFS | compact disk file system - a file system used to store data on a CD
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| CMOS | complementary metal-oxide semiconductor - ofen used to store BIOS settings. Will loose data when power is removed until it is backed up with a battery.
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| CNR | communications and networking riser - older small expansion slot used for modems and network adapters
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| COMx | communication port (x=port number) - used on older computers - commonly called the serial port such as COM1
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| CPU | central processing unit - also called the processor or microprocessor
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| CRT | cathode-ray tube - older display technology that used a vacuum tube with a phosphorescent screen and electron guns to display an image
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| DB-25 | serial communications D-shell connector with 25 pins - Used on the original PCs for the COM1 (serial) port
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| DB-9 | serial communications D-shell connector with 9 pins - Used in computers for the COM1 (serial) port. Now replaced with USB.
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| DC | Direct Current - the type of electricity used inside the computer. The power supply converts AC to DC
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| DDR | double data rate
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| DDR-RAM | double data rate random access memory replaced the older SDRAM. Popular between 2001 and 2005 to support Pentium 4
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| DDR-SDRAM | double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory - same as DDR memory
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| DIMM | dual inline memory module - memory module with different pins on each side
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| DIN | Deutche Industrie Norm - round connector invented in Germany. Used in early PCs for the keyboard (bigger than the later mini-DIN PS/2 connector)
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| DLT | digital linear tape - magnetic tape storage technology developed in the 1980s and extending to the 1990s. Capacity was measured in Gigabytes
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| DLP | digital light processing - uses digital micro-electromechanical technology. Used in many front projection projectors.
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| DMA | direct memory access - a technology which allows input/output devices and expansion cards to copy data directly into RAM without using the CPU. Gives better performance and speed than programmed I/O
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| DMZ | demilitarized zone - area between firewalls for company servers that the public needs to access - also known as the perimeter network
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| DNS | domain name service or server. Used with TCP/IP for name resolution
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| DRAM | dynamic random access memroy - used by almost all motherboard RAM (SDRAM, DDR, DDR2, etc). Made up of capacitors that must be refreshed by the motherboard. High density and less costly but slower than Static RAM
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| DRM | digital rights management - used to protect digital content
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| DSL | digital subscriber line - used to provide internet access from the phone company. Allows voice and data at the same time but only works over a limited distance
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| DVD | digital video disk or digital versatile disk - holds more than CDs but less than BlueRay
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| DVD-RAM | digital video disk random access memory - can be recorded over many times
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| DVD-ROM | digital video disk read only memory - can not be rewritten
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| DVD-R | digital video disk recordable - can be recorded once
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| DVD-RW | digital video disk rewriteable - can be re-recorded
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| DVI | digital visual interface - started to replace VGA about the time flat pannels started to replace CRTs
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| ECC | error correcting code / error checking and correction - used in higher-end computers like servers to keep memory accurate
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| ECP | extened capabilities port - parallel port that is part of the IEEE 1284 standard. ECP mode could use DMA and was bi-directional.
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| EEPROM | electrically erasable programmable read only memory now called flash memory - used to store the BIOS or other firmware
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| EIDE | enhanced integrated drive electronics - enhanced version of IDE used to speed of the data transfer to and from disks
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| EMI | electromagnetic interference - produced by such things as motors, fluorescent lights, etc. Can be a problem with unsheilded twisted pair (UDP) network cable
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| EMP | electromagntic pulse - could destry all our computers and put us back into the stone age!
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| EPROM | eraseable programmable read-only memory. This memory was used to store BIOS before EEPROM and is erased with an ultraviolet lamp
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| EPP | enhanced parallel port - part of the parallel port IEEE 1284 standard - not as powerful as ECP but still bi-directonal
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| ESD | electrostatic discharge - static electricity discharge that can harm processors or memory
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| EVGA | extened video graphics adapter - resolution was 1024 X 768
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| EVDO | evolution data optimized or evolution data only - a 3G standard for CDMA networks
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| FAT | file allocation table used before the NTFS file system
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| FAT12 | 12-bit file allocation table - used with floppy disks only
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| FAT16 | 16-bit file allocation table - used in early versions of DOS
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| FAT32 | 32-bit file allocation table - used starting with Windows 95 Service Release 2 but now replaced with NTFS
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| FDD | floppy disk drive
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| Fn | Function (referring to the function key on a laptop
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| FPM | fast page mode - a type of memory used in old PCs before SDRAM
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| FRU | field replaceable unit - i.e. a power supply
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| FSB | front side bus - the bus between the CPU and RAM
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| Gb | gigabit
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| GB | gigabyte
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| GDI | graphics device interface - a Microsoft Windows application programming interface used to draw shapes on graphics devices. Not as common as DirectX and or OpenGL.
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| GHz | gigahertz
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| GUI | graphical user interface
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| GPS | global positioning system
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| GSM | global system for mobile communications - uses SIM cards
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