Asus P4B-LS, User Manual

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ASUS P4B-LS motherboard user guide G-3
Device Driver. A software routine that links a peripheral device to the
operating system. It acts as a translator between the device and the
applications that use it. Each device has its own set of specialized
commands known only to its driver while the applications access devices
using high-level generic commands. The driver translates these
commands into the commands required by the devices.
DOS (Disk Operating System). A software that organizes how a
computer reads, writes, and communicate to the disks and various input/
output devices (such as keyboards, screens, serial and parallel ports,
printers, modems, etc.) connected to it. DOS was the most popular PC
operating system until the introduction of Windows.
DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory). A type of RAM that requires
refresh cycles to prevent the loss of the data stored in it. See also RAM
and SDRAM.
Expansion Card. A printed circuit card suchas an audio card, a video
card, or a LAN card that plugs into an expansion slot on the motherboard.
An expansion card add functions that are not present in the motherboard.
Flash ROM. A non-volatile memory device that retains its data even when
power is removed. This device is similar to EPROM, but unlike EPROM
which can be erased only using an ultra-violet light, flash ROM can be
electrically erased. Flash ROM is normally used for system BIOS, which
initiates hardware devices and sets up necessary parameters for the OS.
Since the flash ROM contents can be modified, you can update the BIOS
by yourself.
IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics). IDE devices integrate the drive
control circuitry directly on the drive itself, eliminating the need for a
separate adapter card (in the case for SCSI devices). UltraDMA/100/6633
IDE devices can achieve up to 100MB/sec transfers.
IEEE 1394. 1394 is the IEEE designation for the high performance serial
bus at 12.5, 25 or 50MBytes/sec speeds. This serial bus defines both a
back plane physical layer and a point-to-point cable-connected virtual bus.
The primary application of the cable version is the integration of I/O
connectivity at the back panel of personal computers using a low-cost,
scalable, high-speed serial interface. The 1394 standard also provides
new services such as live connect/disconnect capability for external
devices including disk drives, printers and hand-held peripherals such as
scanners and cameras. This is a new standard to complement the slower
USB interface and to compete with the more expensive SCSI interface.