Wireless-B Notebook Adapter
36
35
IRQ
(
I
nterrupt
R
e
Q
uest) - A hardware interrupt on a PC. There are 16 IRQ
lines used to signal the CPU that a peripheral event has started or terminated.
ISM band
- The FCC and their counterparts outside of the U.S. have set aside
bandwidth for unlicensed use in the ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical)
band. Spectrum in the vicinity of 2.4 GHz, in particular, is being made avail-
able worldwide. This presents a truly revolutionary opportunity to place con-
venient high-speed wireless capabilities in the hands of users around the globe.
LAN
(
L
ocal
A
rea
N
etwork) - A group of computers and associated devices that
share a common communications line and typically share the resources of a
single processor or server within a small geographic area (for example, within
an office building).
MAC
(
M
edia
A
ccess
C
ontrol)
Address
- A unique number assigned by the
manufacturer to any Ethernet networking device, such as a network adapter,
that allows the network to identify it at the hardware level.
Mbps
(
M
ega
b
its
p
er
s
econd) - One million bits per second; unit of measure-
ment for data transmission.
Network
- A system that transmits any combination of voice, video and/or data
between users.
NIC
(
N
etwork
I
nterface
C
ard) - A board installed in a computer system, usu-
ally a PC, to provide network communication capabilities to and from that com-
puter system. Also called an adapter.
Node
- A network junction or connection point, typically a computer or work
station.
Notebook
(PC) - A notebook computer is a battery-powered personal comput-
er generally smaller than a briefcase that can easily be transported and conve-
niently used in temporary spaces such as on airplanes, in libraries, temporary
offices, and at meetings. A notebook computer, sometimes called a laptop com-
puter, typically weighs less than five pounds and is three inches or less in thick-
ness.
Packet
- A unit of data routed between an origin and a destination in a network.
Instant Wireless
®
Series
from the program you put in it to make it do things. The program came to be
known as the software.
Hop
- The link between two network nodes.
IEEE
(The
I
nstitute of
E
lectrical and
E
lectronics
E
ngineers) - The IEEE
describes itself as "the world's largest technical professional society, promoting
the development and application of electrotechnology and allied sciences for
the benefit of humanity, the advancement of the profession, and the well-being
of our members."
The IEEE fosters the development of standards that often become national and
international standards. The organization publishes a number of journals, has
many local chapters, and several large societies in special areas, such as the
IEEE Computer Society.
Infrastructure Network
- An infrastructure network is a group of computers
or other devices, each with a wireless adapter, connected as an 802.11 wireless
LAN. In infrastructure mode, the wireless devices communicate with each
other and to a wired network by first going through an access point. An infra-
structure wireless network connected to a wired network is referred to as a
Basic Service Set (BSS). A set of two or more BSS in a single network is
referred to as an Extended Service Set (ESS). Infrastructure mode is useful at
a corporation scale, or when it is necessary to connect the wired and wireless
networks.
IP
(
I
nternet
P
rotocol) - The method or protocol by which data is sent from one
computer to another on the Internet. It is a standard set of rules, procedures, or
conventions relating to the format and timing of data transmission between two
computers that they must accept and use to be able to understand each other.
IP Address
- In the most widely installed level of the Internet Protocol (IP)
today, an IP address is a 32-binary digit number that identifies each sender or
receiver of information that is sent in packet across the Internet. When you
request an HTML page or send e-mail, the Internet Protocol part of TCP/IP
includes your IP address in the message (actually, in each of the packets if more
than one is required) and sends it to the IP address that is obtained by looking
up the domain name in the Uniform Resource Locator you requested or in the
e-mail address you're sending a note to. At the other end, the recipient can see
the IP address of the Web page requestor or the e-mail sender and can respond
by sending another message using the IP address it received.
