Dell PowerEdge 350 - Manual (Page 52)

6 User’s Guide
MS-DOS
Abbreviation for Microsoft Disk Operating
System.
mV
Abbreviation for millivolt(s).
NIC
Acronym for network interface controller.
NiCad
Acronym for nickel cadmium.
NiMH
Abbreviation for nickel-metal hydride.
ns
Abbreviation for nanosecond(s), one bil-
lionth of a second.
NVRAM
Abbreviation for nonvolatile random-
access memory. Memory that does not
lose its contents when you turn off your
system. NVRAM is used for maintaining
the date, time, and system setup options.
parallel port
An I/O port used most often to connect a
parallel printer to your system. You can
usually identify a parallel port on your sys-
tem by its 25-hole connector.
parameter
A value or option that you specify to a pro-
gram. A parameter is sometimes called a
switch or an argument.
PC Card
Slightly larger than a credit card, a PC Card
is a removable I/O card—such as a mo-
dem, LAN, SRAM, or flash memory
card—that adheres to the PCMCIA stan-
dards. See also PCMCIA.
PCI
Abbreviation for Peripheral Component
Interconnect. A standard for local-bus im-
plementation developed by Intel
Corporation.
PDC
Acronym for primary domain controller.
peripheral device
An internal or external device—such as a
printer, a disk drive, or a keyboard—con-
nected to a system.
PGA
Abbreviation for pin grid array, a type of
microprocessor socket that allows you to
remove the microprocessor chip.
pixel
Arranged in rows and columns, a pixel is
a single point on a video display. Video
resolution—640 x 480, for example—is
expressed as the number of pixels across
by the number of pixels up and down.
POST
Acronym for power-on self-test. Before
the operating system loads when you turn
on your system, the POST tests various
system components such as RAM, the
disk drives, and the keyboard.
program diskette set
The set of diskettes from which you can
perform a complete installation of an ap-
plication program. When you reconfigure
a program, you often need its program dis-
kette set.
PS/2
Abbreviation for Personal System/2.
RAID
Acronym for redundant arrays of indepen-
dent disks.
RAM
Acronym for random-access memory.
The system's primary temporary storage
area for program instructions and data.
Each location in RAM is identified by a
number called a memory address. Any in-
formation stored in RAM is lost when you
turn off your system.
ROM
Acronym for read-only memory. Your sys-
tem contains some programs essential to
its operation in ROM code. Unlike RAM,
a ROM chip retains its contents even after
you turn off your system. Examples of
code in ROM include the program that