Peripheral
Equipment that is connected to a computer, such as printers, terminals,
and disc drives.
Platform
A generic type of computer system categorised according to its
operating system software (such as Windows, Mac OS, RISC OS,
Amiga, Atari, Unix etc.)
Printer
A device which converts documents or data in digital or electronic
format from the computer to hard copy on paper (usually).
Printer port
Where the printer connects to the computer (see also Parallel port).
PROM
Acronym for Programmable ROM. A ROM which is programmable
by the user.
Protocol
A formal definition of the input and output conventions for
communications between two computer systems. Thus the X400
protocol defines electronic mail communication standards.
RAM
Acronym for Random Access Memory, which stores digital
information temporarily and can be changed by the user. It constitutes
the basic storage element in computer terminals and has replaced
magnetic core memories in main frame computers.
RISC
Acronym for Reduced Instruction Set Computer. A device where the
number of instructions a microprocessor runs for a specific application
are reduced from a general purpose Complex Instruction Set
Computing (CISC) device to create a more efficient operating system
(see also CISC).
RISC OS
The name of the computer operating system originally designed by
Acorn Computers for use exclusively with ARM RISC processors.
ROM
Acronym for Read Only Memory which stores information used
repeatedly such as tables of data, characters for electronic displays,
etc. Unlike RAM, ROM cannot be altered.
SCSI
Acronym for Small Computer Systems Interface. A term usually
associated with hard discs, CD ROM drives, and scanners (amongst
other devices) denoting their method of communicaton with the
computer (see also IDE, EIDE).
Sector
On hard discs, this is a portion of track on a disc which normally holds
512 bytes of data. Anything up to 63 sectors can make up a normal
hard disc track. On ADFS-formatted floppy discs 1k is used per
sector.
Serial
The connection, or port, which allows data to be transferred (bi-
directionally) in streams of data running serially (see also Parallel).
SVGA
Acronym for Super Video Graphics Adaptor (see also SVGA).
81