Synonym for conventional memory. see also, Conventional memory – Dell PowerEdge 6400 User Manual
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microprocessor to communicate with controllers for all the various peripheral devices connected to the computer. Your computer also contains an
address bus and a data bus for communications between the microprocessor and RAM.
byte
Eight contiguous bits of information, the basic data unit used by your computer.
BZT
Bundesamt fur Zulassungen in der Telekommunikation
C
C
Celsius
cache
To facilitate quicker data retrieval, a storage area for keeping a copy of data or instructions. For example, your computer's BIOS may cache ROM
code in faster RAM. Or a disk-cache utility may reserve RAM in which to store frequently accessed information from your computer's disk drives;
when a program makes a request to a disk drive for data that is in the cache, the disk-cache utility can retrieve the data from RAM faster than from
the disk drive.
card-edge connector
On the bottom of an expansion card, the metal-contact section that plugs into an expansion-card connector.
CCFT
cold cathode fluorescent tube
CD-ROM
Compact disc read-only memory. CD-ROM drives use optical technology to read data from compact discs. Compact discs are read-only storage
devices; you cannot write new data to a compact disc with standard CD-ROM drives.
CGA
color graphics adapter
cm
centimeter(s)
CMOS
Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor. In computers, CMOS memory chips are often used for NVRAM storage.
COMn
The MS-DOS device names for the first through fourth serial ports on your computer are COM1, COM2, COM3, and COM4. MS-DOS supports up
to four serial ports. However, the default interrupt for COM1 and COM3 is IRQ4, and the default interrupt for COM2 and COM4 is IRQ3. Therefore,
you must be careful when configuring software that runs a serial device so that you do not create an interrupt conflict.
CON
The MS-DOS device name for the console, which includes your computer's keyboard and text displayed on the screen.
config.sys file
When you boot your computer, MS-DOS runs any commands contained in the text file, config.sys (before running any commands in the
autoexec.bat file). A config.sys file is not required to boot MS-DOS, but provides a convenient place to run commands that are essential for
setting up a consistent computing environment
—such as loading device drivers with a device= statement.
controller
A chip or expansion card that controls the transfer of data between the microprocessor and a peripheral, such as a disk drive or the keyboard.
conventional memory
The first 640 KB of RAM. Unless they are specially designed, MS-DOS programs are limited to running in conventional memory. See also
,
,