Compaq EK-ASIP2-OG. D01 - Manual (Page 72)

Glossary
Glossary-2 AlphaServer Intelligent Peripheral Platform Hardware Owner's Guide
bus
A collection of many transmission lines or wires. The bus interconnects computer system
components, providing a communications path for addresses, data, and control information or
external terminals and systems in a communications network.
cache
A small, high-speed memory placed between slower main memory and the processor. A
cache increases effective memory transfer rates and processor speed. It contains copies of
data recently used by the processor and fetches several bytes of data from memory in
anticipation that the processor will access the next sequential series of bytes.
CD-ROM
Compact disc read-only memory. The optical removable media used in a compact disc
reader.
central processing unit (CPU)
The unit of the computer that is responsible for interpreting and executing instructions.
command line interface
One of two interfaces in the AlphaServer operator interface. The command line interface
supports OpenVMS and Tru64 UNIX operating systems. It allows you to configure and boot
the operating system.
console mode
The state in which the system and the console terminal operate under the control of the
console program.
console subsystem
The subsystem that provides the user interface for a computer system when the operating
system is not running.
console terminal
The terminal connected to the console subsystem. It is used to start the system and to direct
activities between the user and the computer system.
CSU
Channel service unit. A device that terminates a digital channel on a customer's premises. It
contains certain line conditioning and equalization functions, and responds to loopback
commands sent from the central office.
daughterboard
A PC module that attaches to the component side of the host module.
diagnostic program
A program that finds and corrects problems with a computer system.