|
680x0
Refers to the 68k or 68000-series of processors from
Motorola, Inc. Includes: 68000, 68020, 68030, 68040.
These were the standard Macintosh processors until March
of 1994 when the PowerPC processor debuted in Power Macs.
The 68LC040 is a member of the 68000 series,
originally for laptops and low-end machines. The main
difference between a 68LC040 and 68040 is the 68LC040's
lack of an integrated FPU (see FPU and Macintosh
Models Chart).
AAUI
Apple Attachment Unit Interface. Early Power
Macintosh and Quadras had an AAUI port for Ethernet,
which requires a transceiver to be able to access twisted
pair. Some Power Macintosh computers had both an AAUI and
RJ-45 port; you can use one or the other, but not both.
Connector
illustration
ADB
Apple Desktop Bus. A technology, now abandoned, for
connecting keyboards, mice, trackballs and the like to
the computer. Newer models now use USB instead. (see USB,
below). The ADB connector looks identical to the one used
for S-video on the PC. Connector
illustration
ADC
Apple Display Connectors are used to connect Apple
manufactured monitors to CPUs like the G4. A single cable
with this connector carries the digital graphics, power,
and USB signals to the display, similar to the
international standard EVC style (Enhanced Video
Connector), but with rounded corners. more
Connector
illustration
AGP
Advanced Graphics Port. A kind of card slot for the
graphics card on late model G4s.
Alias
An alias is a stand-in or shortcut for a file or folder
(the item's name appears in italics). Opening an alias
actually opens the item it represents. Deleting the alias
leaves the original file(s) unaffected.
ASCII
American Standard Code for Information Interchange. The
basis of character sets used in almost all present-day
computers. US-ASCII uses only the lower seven bits
(character points 0 to 127) to convey some control codes,
space, numbers, most basic punctuation, and unaccented
letters a-z and A-Z. Most people would consider ASCII
identical to plain text. ASCII in an ANSI (American
National Standards Institute) standard. more
ATI
ATI (originally Array Technologies Inc.) Technologies
Inc(www.ati.com). Sometimes you will find lots of
extensions beginning with ATI in your extension folder.
These extensions are for specific models of ATI graphics
cards that were preinstalled by Apple on various
Macintosh models. They can also be for support of
aftermarket cards you may have installed yourself. Try
using the Apple System Profiler under Devices snf
Volumes>Display Card to see if you have ATA hardware
installed. All of these extensions can be turned off if
no ATI hardware shows up in the profile. Holding the
shift key down at boot time may not disable these items
and some have been shown to conflict with other hardware,
so it is best to be rid of them if they are not
needed.
AWG
American Wire Gage is the standard system used for
designating wire diameter. Also referred to as the Brown
and Sharpe (B&S) wire gage.
.BIN, .HQX, .SIT etc
Files you download from the internet will typically end
in these format identification extension letters and be
compressed to both save space and allow the transmission
of data that might otherwise not be transmitted
correctly. Many compression formats have come to be used
on the Macintosh such as ..BIN (MacBinary) .HQX (BinHex),
.SIT (Stuffit), .SEA (Self Extracting Archive), .CMP
(Compact Pro), .IMG(Disk Copy Image), .SMI (Shrinkwrap
Mountable Image), •image (Toast image), etc. You may
find these items landing on your hard drive especially if
you are purposely trying to download software. Some will
unstuff automatically leaving behind the original file(s)
and others will have to be launched directly. more
BNC
Bayonnet Nut Connect style connectors are used with
Thinnet (thin wire coax) Ethernet cables. Connector
illustration
Bootable Media
There is no greater lifesaver when troubleshooting
than having something you can boot to besides your normal
boot drive. On early machines the floppy drive served
this purpose well until operating systems got so big that
they wouldn't fit on a floppy anymore. Nowadays, the CD
can fill the bill most of the time. If you are going to
buy an extra drive, removable or not, it is well worth it
to pay a little extra for something that lets you boot to
it. Non-Apple USB or FireWire are questionable. Zip and
Jaz drives will probably work okay, but Orb and many
other third party drives will not. IDE might work
depending on several factors, USB is probably a bad idea
because it is isynchronous.
Just remember to ASK! Once you have the drive, remember
to keep a system on it that you have tested. On our pages
we often refer to alternate media to mean some
extra type of drive that you could make into a boot
device in an emergency.
BSD
Berkeley Software Distribution. A popular version of
UNIX, invented in 1969 by Ken Thompson. By the 1990's it
had become the single most popular multi-user operating
system. It is used for the foundation layer of MacOS
X.
BTO
A Build-To-Order Macintosh system is custom outfitted
with any special options you want preinstalled, but these
orders cannot be cancelled, modified, or returned under
any circumstances.
CPU
Central Processing Unit. Proper name for the processor
chip itself, or slang for the physical box that contains
the processor, hard drive, and interface devices. The
early CPU chips were the Motorola 680x0 family, now the
PowerPC family are used.
Cache
Usually referred to as Level 2, or L2. The cache is a
small amount of very fast RAM, usually either 256K or
512K. The main processor has direct access to the cache
for storing frequently used instructions and data. The
upshot of all this, specifically for Power Macs, is that
the cache helps the machine execute code faster because
the processor doesn't have to go to main RAM for
instructions and data (main RAM is comparatively much
slower).This is especially true for code not optimized
for the PowerPC processor (not PowerPC native).
Carbon/Carbonized
Mac OSX will run three kinds of software, Classic (the
old stuff running in Classic mode which will not benefit
from protected memory), Cocoa (an OS X environment for
Java developers) and Carbon. Carbon has been altered to
run natively in both OS X and OS 9 (using CarbonLib). It
runs better than Classic software because it doesn't
require the Classic environment, and it can use OS X
features such as protected memory. If a Carbon version of
a program is available, you should probably upgrade. Some
of your software, such as Internet Explorer for the Mac,
may already be Carbonized. To run carbonized
applications, the CarbonLib extension must be installed
and enabled when running under MacOS 8.1-9.x.
CD-R / CD-RW
Compact Disc Recordable is a write-once version of a
CD-ROM. CD-R blanks can hold about 650-700 megabytes of
data. They are very durable and can be read by normal
CD-ROM drives, but must be written by a CD-R drive
capable of writing. Once data has been written it cannot
be altered. Additional sessions can be appended if the
existing data was written as a session. In contrast
CD-RW (Compact Disc Rewritable) blanks can be
erased and reused. They are much more expensive and quite
frankly have been oversold as being practical, whereas,
they are actually a bit of a nuisance since they must be
erased before reuse and the amount of usable data they
can hold is much less than you would expect. Rewriting
software for the Mac needs major work before it can be
called reliable.
Clean Install
Away of installing a new system folder without getting
rid of the old one. The new system folder (named System
Folder) will contain the finder, the system, all the
extensions, control panels, fonts and folders that are
needed for the system, and the system only, to run. All
the extensions, folders, fonts, control panels, etc.,
that are not system related are kept in the previous
system folder, now named "Previous System Folder". Since
a clean install is done when you have a problem, you
should bring one application at a time to the new System
Folder and test it for compatibility. Do not forget the
preferences.
Crash vs Freeze vs Hang (as used on this
site)
After a crash your machine is useless until you
restart, the keyboard and mouse have no effect, the clock
is not ticking (it is handy to have the seconds displayed
on your menu bar clock to see this). During a
freeze, your mouse will probably continue to work
normally, the clock will be ticking away, but the
keyboard will probably act as if it has been
disconnected. If you here the drive churning away, your
computer may just be really busy doing something. A
hang is related to a peripheral, your computer
will freeze or possibly crash when some device is turned
on, or when software tries to access it or perhaps when a
removable cartridge is inserted.
CRT
Cathode Ray Tube; common terminology for a computer
monitor. Alternately loosely called a VDT (Video
Display Terminal) or a VDU (Video Display Unit)
from the ancestral days when people used terminals.
CSM
Control Strip Modules are plug-ins to the Control Strip
extention that puts the miniature retractable control
panel at the bottom of the screen.
D Style Connector
So as to prevent cable from being plugged in wrong, the
ends of connectors are often slanted to give a cross
section shape reminiscent of the letter D. These
connectors have been used on computers for many decades
when the DB-25 style were used as connectors on
terminals. Higher density versions of the same shape are
now used on the newest SCSI 2 and SCSI 3 drives.
Unfortunately because of a lack of standards several
oddball styles have come into use and the unwary user is
unlikely to know one from the other. There is not even a
standard name for most of the new high density
connectors, so one company might call a connector high
density, another might call it half pitch, another
microD, you get the idea. The VHDCI (Very High-Density
Connector Interface) is an uncommon ultra high density 68
pin connector that actually has a distinct name.
Connector
illustration
DIMM
Dual In-line Memory Modules are the little circuit board
strips packed with memory chips used to upgrade your RAM
capacity. On earlier machines SIMMs (Single
In-line Memory Modules) were used. SIMMs only had
contacts on one side of the card, DIMMs have contacts on
both sides. DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory)
and SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access
Memory) are kinds of memory chips used on DIMMs. Extended
Data Out (EDO) DRAM is the most common type of
asynchronous DRAM used. Sometimes it is also called hyper
page mode DRAM. The EDO timing circuits are modified so
one access to the memory can begin before the last one
has finished, thus it is slightly faster than FPM
(Fast Page Mode) memory, giving a performance boost of
around 3-5% over FPM in most systems. more
DIN
Deutsche Institut fuer Normung. The German
standardization body, a member of ISO (International
Standards Organization). Many computer manufacturers have
adopted minicircular connectors reminiscent of the DIN
audio connector used on European gear. There are now so
many different styles of these in use that most people
would not be able to identify those
used with Macintosh hardware. DIN connectors are
13.5mm in diameter and mini DIN are more like 8.5mm.
DIP Switch
Dual In-line Package. DIP switches provide a very densely
packaged way of making settings on electronic gear. They
are rather out-of-fashion these days, but still exist on
older equipment such as modems and the like. Typically
flipping one of the switches might toggle a single
feature on or off. Also in combination an ID address can
be entered (in binary). DIP switches are analogous to the
plastic removable jumpers whose presence or absence is
used to determine some aspect of hardware
configuration.
Driver
A driver is a type of software that controls
communication between your Macintosh and a peripheral
device such as a printer, scanner, hard drive, a
keyboard, etc.
DSL
Digital Subscriber Loop, A family of digital
telecommunications protocols designed to allow high speed
data communication over the existing copper telephone
lines between end-users and telephone companies. A large
number of specific protocols have been developed,
collectively referred to as xDSL, including HDSL, SDSL,
ADSL, VDSL, etc
DVD
Digital Versatile Disc (formerly "Digital Video Disc") An
optical storage medium with improved capacity and
bandwidth compared with the Compact Disc. DVD, like CD,
was initially marketed for entertainment and later for
computer users.A DVD can hold a full-length film with up
to 133 minutes of high quality video, in MPEG-2 format,
and audio using the new UDF format. For data, it can hold
several gigabytes, just how many depends on whether your
media is two-sided and whether you write to both layers.
When the hype, the prices and the dust settles down in a
few years, we will get to discover DVD realities for
ourselves. more,
FAQ
DVD
Resource
DVI
The Digital Video Interface connector is used to send
TMDS (Transition Minimized Differential Signaling)
digital only graphical data in a minimized format to
reduce EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) with copper
cables and DC-balanced for transmission over fiber optic
cables. It was used on the first G4 later to be
superceded by the ADC (Apple Display Connector) on the
most recent G4s. This is not a powered cable like ADC is.
Connector
illustration
EMI
Electromagnetic Interference has been legislated to be a
basis upon which customs can refuse to allow the
importation of gear. This has given rise to dozens of
emissions and power standards bodies each with their own
little power rating logo which must be present on the
gear. Sometims called RFI (Radio Frequency
Interference).
Ethernet
A local area network now recognized as the industry
standard. Data is broken into packets which are
transmitted and reassembled at the distant end. Many
kinds of cabling have been in vogue over the years e.g.
AUI thick-wire, 10-base-2 thin coas, 10baseT ("twisted
pair") and 100baseT ("Fast Ethernet"). RJ45 connectors
have emerged as the standard. Connectors
illustration
EXE etc.
EXE means executable on a PC, not on a Mac (unless you
have an emulator) If you get a batch of files that end in
.EXE, .COM, .ZIP, .BDF, .RAR, .ACE, or .BAT, then you
probably have accidentally gotten the wrong thing. Go
back and look for Mac stuff.
Extension
In its broadest context, an extension is a file that
modifies the behavior of the Mac Operating System such as
the items that live in the Control Panel folder and the
items that live in the Extension folder. Many of these
items are simply non-memory resident libraries of
computer code. Other are loaded into memory at startup
time and are actively in use as needed.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Question. Many sites feature an FAQ
section as a help corner to bring you up to speed. Other
sites such as www.FAQs.org
specialize in educating users.
Fat Binary
Software that can run in a Mac with 68k processors as
well as in a Mac with PowerPC processors.
FireWire
Apple's FireWire is an industry standard for a scalable,
flexible, easy to use, low-cost digital interface that
integrates the worlds of consumer electronics and
personal computers. It was first conceived by Apple
Computer and then developed by the IEEE1394 Working
Group. The cabling is thin and the data transfer rate is
very fast. You may be able to retrofit your machine for
FireWire by adding an adapter, but you may not be able to
boot to an external FireWire drive. If you have a
FireWire connecton, it is probably smarter to buy a
FireWire to SCSI adapter for the speed than to buy a USB
to SCSI adapter if you need SCSI access. Many early
FireWire drives are not native high speed divices, but
just slow ATA drives with an adapter hidden in the drive
enclosure, ask if you care. Such enclosure kits are
available if you have an ATA drive that won't fit inside
your machine. FireWire is isynchronous (see below)
blurb
Connector
illustration more
FPU
Floating Point Unit, or Math Co-Processor. A special
processor or subset of a processor designed to compute
math functions only. This increases the speed of certain
math-intensive and graphics-based applications. Some
applications require math co-processors. The PowerPC and
one flavor of the 68040 come with FPU's built-in (except
the 68LC040). 68020's and 68030's require a separate FPU,
but not all machines that use these chips have room for
the FPU. Newer machines that must have old style FPU
emulation to run certain software packages will probably
want to investigate SoftwareFPU
and PowerFPU.
Fragmentation
The process that has occurred when files stored on a disk
are scattered in non-contiguous blocks. That is, let us
say that a file takes up a certain space in the hard
disk. If this space is filled by contiguous blocks then,
when the head reads this file it will do it at the
fastest possible rate, but, on the other hand, if the
space this file takes up is formed by many non contiguous
blocks scattered all over the media, the head of the disk
must look for each contiguous block of information to
fully reconstruct the file. This process increases the
read time. Fragmentation is progressive, if ignored it
gets worse and worse.
FTP
The File Transfer Protocol allows a user on one
computer to transfer files to and from another computer
over the internet. FTP sites are typically used as
archives for the distribution of shareware files and
updates.
HDI
High Density Interface. Much to the annoyance of
users, the HDI-45 connector was used as the built-in
video connection for the AudioVision style monitor cable
on many models including the PowerMac 61xx and 71xx. An
expensive "pigtail" adapter is needed to use the built-in
connector with a standard DB-15 style Macintosh cable.
Also an HDI-30 connector was used on the back of many
PowerBooks to access external hard drives. Connector
illustration
HFS
Hierarchical File System, a method to organize files and
folders. Each file occupies space in blocks, a
subdivision of the hard disk. With the HFS each hard disk
is divided into 65536 equal parts. As a result, on large
drives a small file will take up way too much space.
Beginning with Mac OS 8.1 Apple decided to improve this
situation with the release of HFS+ (plus) this new
hierarchy divides the blocks much smaller with sizes that
varies according to the size of the hard disk, saving
much precious room on our disks. With the advent of MacOS
X comes the UFS (UNIX File System) and the VFS (Virtual
File System) as well
Hot-swappable, hot-pluggable
The ability to unplug cabling without dire electrical
consequences such as circuit damage. This does not give
users the license to unplug a drive in the middle of a
file transfer. Drives should be dismounted as usual by
dragging the icon to the trash or by ejecting the drive
before the cord is pulled.
HTML
Hypertext Markup Language is a document format used to
present information to users on the World-Wide Web. HTML
is a subset of commands from SGML (Standard Generalized
Markup Language) enhanced to allow interactive multimedia
capabilities rather than focusing on the printed page.
Commands are implemented as "tags" embedded in the text.
A tag consists of a "<", a "directive" (case
insensitive), zero or more parameters and a ">".
Matched pairs of directives, like "<TITLE>" and
"</TITLE>" are used to delimit text which is to
appear in a special place or style.
Hypertext
A term coined by Ted Nelson around 1965 for a collection
of documents (or "nodes") containing cross-references or
"links" which, with the aid of an interactive browser
program, allow the reader to move easily from one
document to another.
IDC
Insulation Displacement Connectors (aka Berg connectors)
are high density header connectors used on ribbon cables
for internal drives. SCSI cables use 50-pin connectors,
IDE cables use 40 pin connectors and floppy cables use 20
pin connectors. Connector
illustration
IDE/ATA
ATA (AT Attachment) and IDE (Integrated Device
Electronics) have come to be synonymous in common usage:
a disk drive implementation that integrates the
controller on the disk drive itself. IDE is the hardware
interface and ATA is the software protocol. This was
directly connected to the I/O bus of the first IBM AT.
IDE has two channels, a master primary channel that
allows drives on it to be bootable and a slave secondary
channel which does not. The de facto standard for IDE is
not rigorous enough to guarantee Macintosh compatibility,
so you have to ask or better yet actually try the drive
to know if it will work. Jumpers are necessary to specify
master versus slave and other parameters. These are
typically set to work on a PC as the boot drive. There is
also a EIDE (Extended AT Attachment) higher speed
version and an ATA100 version of the standard. Special 80
conductor cables are needed for ATA100 operation rather
than the 40 conductor style stocked by most stores. You
may be able to retrofit your machine for IDE by adding an
adapter like the one of the Sonnet Tempo boards.
ATAPI is an enhanced version of ATA that
seamlessly supports CDs and tape drives as though they
were hard drives. See SCSI
comparison. Connector
illustration
ISDN
The Integrated Services Digital Network is a set of
communications standards allowing a single wire or
optical fiber to carry voice, digital network services
and video. ISDN is intended to eventually replace the
POTS (plain old telephone system). As such this service
will typically be offered by your local telephone
company. It is typically a distant last choice after DSL
and cable if such services are available.
Isynchronous
A crucial feature favoring FireWire over USB is the
isynchronous data feature. If you have external data
drives (ZIP, SuperDisk, Orb, etc.) plugged into the same
hub as your printers, scanners and other peripherals, you
could have unforeseen trouble. For example, many people
have lost data when writing to external drives while
printing. The safe thing to do is use one USB peripheral
at a time. FireWire, on the other hand, allows your
peripherals to multitask without risk of data loss.
more
LAN
A Local Area Network is a group of computers connected
that allow people to share resources typically using
Ethernet, In contrast to LANs, a WAN (Wide Area
Network) served a set of geographically dispersed
users.
LCD
The Liquid Crystal Display is an electro-optical device
used to display digits, characters or images and is
commonly used in digital watches, PDAs, cell phones,
calculators, and portable computers. more
LED
Light-emitting diodes are a type of diode that emits
light when current passes through it. Depending on the
material used the color can be visible or infrared. LEDs
have many uses, visible LEDs are used as indicator lights
on all sorts of electronic devices and in moving-message
panels, while infrared LEDs are the heart of remote
control devices.
LocalTalk
Older Macintoshes came with an AppleTalk networking
capability, including software and a LocalTalk networking
port. A network wired with LocalTalk cabling transmits
information with high reliability at 230.4 kilobits per
second. Newer Macintoshes do not have a built-in
LocalTalk connector. If a connection is needed from new
Macs to legacy Localtalk devices, adapters are available.
Ethernet has superceded the need for LocalTalk in most
situations involving new equipment.
LVD
Low Voltage Differential technology is used for the
production of special cables and circuitry used on the
newer SCSI hard drives which deliver data at very high
speeds. Early SCSI drives used HVD (High Voltage
Differential) technology.
Mac OS
Apple's newest name for its operating system (in fact, it
stands for Macintosh Operating System). Previously, Apple
referred to its OS as simply "System x" (where "x" is the
version number). The MacOS X has a layered structure with
a foundation layer (BSD Unix) named Darwin, a graphics
layer on top of that controlled by Quartz code utilizing
OpenGL and QuickTime, an applications layer on top of
that which can execute code as Classic, Carbon or Cocoa
and a top interface layer called Aqua that presents vivid
coloration and design pulsating buttons, animated windows
and the dock. Below is a quick summary of the evolution
of the Mac OS
- OS 3.3 last version to run on the Mac128 and the
Mac 512
- OS 6.0.8 last version to run on 68000 machines and
still have enough speed to be usable
- OS 7.5.5 last version to run on 68020
machines
- OS 7.6.1 last version to run on those 68030
machines with 32 bit clean ROM (like CI)
- OS 8.0/8.1 runs on 68040 machines, last OS for any
68xxx processor
- OS 8.5.x and 9.x intended for PPC and G3, earlier
machines not supported
- OS 9.0.4 or above is required for new iBooks, G4s,
Powerbook G4s
- OS X is designed to run on G3 & above models
(also may work with G3 upgrade cards)
Macintosh Models by
Processor
Motorola 680X0
Processor Models
|
|
68000
|
Mac 128, Mac 512, Mac Plus, Mac SE, Mac
Classic, Mac Portable, Powerbook 100
|
|
68020
|
Mac II, Mac LC
|
|
68030
|
Mac SE/30, Mac Classic II, Mac Color Classic,
Mac Color Classic II, MacTV
Mac IIx, IIcx, IIci, IIfx, IIsi, IIvx, IIvi, LC
II, LC III, LC III+, LC 520, LC 550
Mac Performa 200, 250, 275, 400, 405, 410, 430,
450, 46x, 550, 560, 600
Powerbook 140, 145, 160, 165, 170, 180, 210,
230
|
|
68040
|
Quadra 610, 630, 650, 660, 700, 800, 840,
900, 950
Mac Centris 610, 650, 660, WorkGroup Server 60,
80, 95 Powerbook 550
|
|
68LC040
|
Quadra 605, LC 475, 575, 580, 630, Performa
47x, 57x, 58x, 63x, 640 Powerbook 190, 520,
540
|
PowerPC
Processor Models
|
|
601
|
PowerMac 61xx, 7100, 72xx, 7500, 81xx, 8200
WorkGroup Server 61x0, 7250, 8150, 9150
|
|
603, 603e
|
Performa 52xx, 5300, 5400, PowerMac 4400,
52xx, 5300, 5400, 6200, 6300, 6400, 6500
Powerbook 1400, 2400, 3400, 5300, 20th
Anniversary Macintosh
|
|
604, 604e
|
PowerMac 73xx, 7600, 85xx, 8600, 95xx, 9600,
WorkGroup Server 500, 700
|
|
G3
|
iMac, PowerMac G3, All-In-One, Blue &
White, MiniTower, Macintosh Server G3, PowerBook
G3 (P1, Wall Street, PDQ, Lombard Pismo), iBook
(SE, 366, 466, 500, 600)
|
|
G4
|
PowerMac G4, Macintosh Server G4, Powerbook
G4 (Titanium), Quicksilver
|
Also See EveryMac.com
and Developer.Apple.com
for more details on specific models
MB (colloquially "meg")
A megabyte is 2^20 or 1,048,576 bytes or 1024
kilobytes. Also note that 1024 megabytes are one
gigabyte. The text of a six hundred page paperback
book would require about a megabyte of ASCII storage. A
byte is eight bits (usually equivalent to one
character on Roman-based systems) and a bit
(binary digit) is either 1 (on-state) or zero
(off-state).
Mezzanine Slot
The original Bondi Blue iMacs, Rev. A 233Mhz and Rev
B 266Mhz, which had the unsupported mezzanine slot. The
newer iMacs, which are available in different colors, do
not have the mezzanine slot. Very few companies were
daring enough to create products that used this slot.
Metric Screws
Metric machine screws are often used to assemble computer
gear made in Europe (DIN metric) and Japan (JIS metric).
Ever wonder if that case screw you just lost was so
special that you won't be able to replace it from your
parts bin because it was metric. How do you tell without
a special metric thread guage that you don't own. If you
have a non-metric thread guage, you can get an
approximate count and then look and at a metric
thread conversion chart. Unlike ANSI threads
which can come in either a coarse or fine pitch for the
same body size, There seems to be a more uniform usage of
one pitch per body size on metric screws most of the
time. Stripping out threads with the wrong screw is a
real waste.
MRJ
Macintosh Runtime Jave is free code from Apple that
allows browsers (and any other software) to run programs
written in Java. Unfortunately the Surgeon General has
not yet issued a warning requirement that running Java
applets may be hazardous to your health. Those who care
about such things can turn Jave off in their browser
using preferences.
MTBF
Mean Time Between Failure, an indication of the average
lifetime of a piece of equipment.
Native
A program written specifically for the processor it is
being run on.
NEMA
National Electrical Manufactures Association sets safety
stardards for electrical cabling and connectors.
NuBus
A card slot architecture developed by Texas Instruments.
Apple used this type of expansion slot in most of its
older modular Macintosh systems, from the Macintosh II
through the first generation of Power Macs. Not as fast,
efficient or inexpensive as PCI. No longer used in
current model Macs.
OCR
Optical Character Recognition is the computer
transcription of text supplied as page images. Each page
of text is converted to an image using a scanner and OCR
software is then used on this image to produce a text
file. This involves complex image processing algorithms
and rarely achieves 100% accuracy, so manual proof
reading is essential for "look-a-likes" e.g. be,he,but,
hut that spell checkers won't find.
ODBC
Open DataBase Connectivity is a standard for accessing
different database systems. There are interfaces for
Visual Basic, Visual C++, SQL. An application can submit
statements to ODBC using the ODBC flavor of SQL. ODBC
then translates these to whatever flavor the database
understands. Most Macintosh users can safely turn off the
overhead incurred by their ODBC drivers by disabling the
ODBC set of extensions.
OLE
Object Linking and Embedding. Microsoft technology,
responsible for the overload of MS extensions placed in
the Extension Folder. This technology allows that a user
to click on a spreadsheet in Word and find that they are
mysteriously editing it in Excel without invoking the
Excel program conventionally.
OpenGL
Open Graphics Library is a multi-platform software
interface to graphics hardware, supporting rendering and
imaging operations. The OpenGL interface was developed by
Silicon Graphics, who license it to other vendors. The
OpenGL graphics interface consists of several hundred
functions operating on 2D and 3D objects, supporting
basic techniques, such as modeling and smooth shading,
and other advanced techniques. Unless you use 3D games or
graphics, you can probably safely turn off the overhead
incurred by these drivers by disabling the OpenGL and
sprockets set of extensions.
Open Transport
Also referred to as OT, this is the networking software
interface Apple has developed to make life easier for
developers and users alike. From a user's standpoint,
configuration of all network-related services is
considerably easier than in the past. OT comes standard
on all current Macintosh computers.
PCI
Peripheral Component Interconnect. This is a type of slot
for internal expansion cards that supersedes the original
NuBus slot. Originally developed by Intel, this card slot
architecture is considerably more efficient and faster
than Apple's old NuBus card standard. Another advantage
is that you can, at least theoretically, use the same
PCI-based cards in either a Pentium-based PC-compatible
machine, or a newer generation Power Mac. But the biggest
advantage may be that PCI cards are considerably less
expensive than an equivalent NuBus card.
PCMCIA, or "PC Card"
The Personal Computer Memory Card International
Association is an international trade association that
develops standards for devices, such as modems, Ethernet
interfaces and external hard disk drives, that can be
plugged into notebook computers. A PCMCIA card is about
the size of a credit card and uses proprietary cabling
unique to each manufacturer.
PDA
Personal Digital Assistants are small hand-held computers
used to write notes, track appointments and otherwise
keep your life in order. PDAs provide all the
functionality of a cheap pad of paper at hundreds of
times the cost, and with far less storage capacity. Early
PDAs required data to be input using a keypad with keys
the size of Chiclets, but more recent models (e.g. the
Apple Newton) use a combination of pen-based input and
character recognition software to render your data
incomprehensible.
PDF
Portable Document Format is the native file format for
Adobe Systems' Acrobat. PDF documents are intended to be
independent of the original application software,
hardware, and operating system used to create them.. A
PDF file can contain any combination of text and images
in a device-independent and resolution independent
format. These documents can be one page or thousands of
pages with the fonts and images infinitely
scalable.Documentation is widely distributed via the web
in this format and viewable via browser plugins or
directly by the free Acrobat reader. The content is not
editable without the source file.
PDS
Processor Direct Slot. An older card slot design
developed by Apple. Slower than PCI, but somewhat faster
than NuBus. A single PDS slot is still included in 62xx-
and 63xx-series machines.
Pixel
Picture Element. The smallest resolvable rectangular area
of an image, either on a screen or stored in memory. A
bitmap is characterized by the width and height of
the image in pixels and the number of bits per pixel
which determines the number of shades of gray or colors
it can represent.
PlainTalk
The many extensions needed to allow the Macintosh to read
text aloud and also to recognize spoken commands.
PMMU
An Paged Memory Management Unit is hardware that
allows the use of Virtual Memory.(see Virtual Memory,
below).
POP
Post Office Protocol ia a standard protocol that enables
a user to retrieve e-mail from a server like AOL. Another
common form of e-mail is browser based HTML e-mail taking
advantage of a free service like Yahoo.com
PowerPC
A new microprocessor produced by a consortium made up of
Apple, Motorola, and IBM, this chip is designed to
increase speeds up to many times faster than the 680x0
series. The PowerPC is based on a technology known as
RISC (Reduced Instruction set Computing) rather than the
earlier CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer) model
used for 680x0 chips. Early models included the 601,
601+, 603, 603e, 604, 604e. Current versions are called
G3 and G4.(see Macintosh Models
Chart,).
PostScript
A page description programming language developed by
Adobe Systems lays out text or graphics on a printed page
and aids in the way PostScript typefaces are depicted on
the screen. PostScript fonts are based on scaleable
Bezier outlines.
pRAM
Parameter RAM is the high area of RAM reserved for
storage of miscellaneous manufacturing information by
Apple, time and date, etc. These settings will be lost if
the battery is removed or when the pRAM is zapped from
the keyboard or by a utility like TechTool. pRAM is not
*supposed* to be used for any other purpose. But many are
beginning to suspect that not only has Apple violated its
own rule in this regard, but that Microsoft and other
vendors, also are guilty of putting "hooks" in pRAM for
one reason or another, either to install their software
or make it run the way *they* want it to run. By doing so
they disregard the possibility that it may bang into
something else or create trash in pRAM during a crash.
Such problems may create serious problems that may damage
the system file. more
Protected Memory
An architecture that allows any application and the
system software to coexist independently in the memory .
If there is a problem with any of the applications and it
"crashes", it does without affecting any of the other
running programs, including the operating system. MacOS X
Cocoa programs offer protected memory, as do Carbonized
applications. The Classic environment will not crash
MacOS X, if it dies, but the work underway in all MacOS 9
running applications may be lost.
QuickDraw 3D
QuickDraw 3D is a cross-platform architecture for
creating and rendering real-time, workstation-class 3D
graphics.The QuickDraw set of extensions can probably be
turned off by most users unless there is 3D software that
you use such as interactive games or CAD applications
that require the support.
QuickTime
This Apple developed software is required for
full-motion video and digitized sound used in application
programs. Apple is constantly confusing users with
updates and offers. To work properly, several different
coordinated QuickTime extensions must be installed and
enabled. If you tire of all the cutesy animated and noisy
web sites you encounter, turning off the QuickTime
extensions is one option.
RAID
Redundant Array of Independent Disks, or RAID, is a
method of using multiple disk drives and multiple SCSI
buses to increase the reliability and/or performance of
disk subsystems. Apple RAID Software provides RAID levels
0 and 1 and was designed specifically for PowerPC-based
Workgroup Servers.
RAM
Random Access Memory. Fast solid-state memory chips that
your computer uses to store data and its system software
while it is running. The more memory you have installed,
the more applications can be run simultaneously, and the
more operating system extensions can be enabled at
startup.
RAVE
The Rendering Acceleration Virtual Engine is a software
optimization method which which allows developers to
directly access QuickDraw 3D for enhanced games and
application software performance. more
README file
An explanatory file that may accompany software
distribution files containing essential information,
warnings, caveats, contact information, credits,
miscellaneous revision history, notes, etc. Ignore them
at your own peril.
ROM
Read-Only Memory. The computer reads instructions
from ROM chips as it starts up and finds out how to boot
up and find the MacOS. The instructions in the ROM chips
are burned in at the factory, they can be read, but not
modified later, so the amount of code is kept to a
minimum to allow maximum flexibility as the operating
system evolves.
RTF
Rich Text Format is an interchange format from Microsoft
for exchange of documents between Word and other
programs. Since it is version and platform independent,
it is a useful way to supply documentation and move
documents from a Mac to and PC and back again. Some fancy
formatting may be lost if you get carried away using new
features. Certain technical symbols that are in the
Macintosh character set, but not avaialable on the PC
will also be lost.
SCA
Single Connector Attachment style connectors can be found
on many new hard drives which do not have the traditional
4-pin molex style power connector. Instead the power
wires pass thru a single SCA connector along with the
signal lines. To install one of these drives into older
equipment requires an SCA adapter. Connector
illustration
SCSI
The Small Computer Systems Interface is a standard for
connecting peripherals to your computer via a standard
hardware interface, which uses standard SCSI commands.
SCSI devices are assigned a unique ID number from 0-6 and
if more than one device is assigned the same number, it
can cause for grief, since one, maybe both of the devices
involved may cease to function. The system may also hang
until the conflict is resolved. If a unit number is
changed, it will probably not take effect until the power
for the device is turned off and on. The SCSI standard
can be divided into many
subcategories, also see the FAQ.
SCSI largely being superceded by IDE, USB and FireWire
drives, but keep in mind that if bootability is important
to you, these other drives may have drawbacks if this
feature is not verified as being availabe when you buy
the drive. Test it! Connector
illustration
Serial Port
For many years the Macintosh had a pair of ports with a
phone icon and a printer icon. The Mac II machines this
port was a mini DIN-8 connector, on the Power PC models a
new pin was crammed between existing pins to form a mini
DIN-9 instead.On current model machines, the phone port
has evolved into a built-in modem with an RJ-11 jack and
the printer port has been superceded by a USB port for a
direct connection printer or a RJ-45 jack for connection
to a network printer. Connector
illustration
SMP
Symmetric Multiprocessing is the processing of program
code by multiple processor boards that share a common
operating system and memory subsystem. In symmetric (or
"tightly coupled") multiprocessing, the processors share
memory and the I/O bus. A single copy of the operating
system is in charge of all the processors. MacOS X uses
this techology on dual processor G4s for faster
throughput.
SQL
Structured Query Language is an industry-standard
language for creating, updating and, querying relational
database management systems. SQL is likely to be used by
corporate users in conjunction with ODBC
SSL
Secure Sockets Layer is your key to privacy on the web.
It is a protocol designed by Netscape Communications
Corporation to provide encrypted communications on the
internet. It is used by the HTTPS access method. In
addition to seeing https written out in the URL each
browser will have some iconic way, like a key or padlock,
to show protection is active. For real privacy, try
PGP (Pretty Good
Privacy).
SuperDisk
This is Imation's trademark name for its LS-120
(Laser Servo 120) technology drives. The SuperDisks
typically have an IDE interface and are capable of
reading and writing standard 3.5" floppy diskettes of
1.44MB or 720K capacities, and special cartridges which
hold 120MB or 240 MB of information. Winstation
uses the same name.
Superdrive
The common name for the FDHD (floppy disk, high density)
disk drive that came with all early models of the Apple
Macintosh computer. The SuperDrive can read and write to
all three Macintosh disk sizes (400K, 800K, and 1.44MB)
as well as the two PC 3.5-inch disk sizes (720K and
1.44MB). Starting with System 7 Apple began to degrade
support for smaller floppy sizes to keep users from using
old floppies.
S-Video
A video format offering a higher quality signal than
composite video (RCA style connector), but a lower
quality than component video. This mid-level format
divides the signal into two channels - luminance and
chrominance. The S-video connector is a mini DIN-7 style.
Connector
illustration
TCP
Transmission Control Protocol is the most common
transport layer protocol and is essential to both
Ethernet and the Internet. TCP settings are made with the
TCP Control Panel and may be done manually or via a DHCP
(Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server if your ISP
(Internet Service Provider) uses this method.
TrueType
A font format and technology invented by Apple to aid in
depicting typefaces clearly over a broad range of sizes.
It was bundled into System 7 and no longer has to be
separated enabled the way it was in System 6. Later
TrueType GX was developed to supply a number of
typographic niceties. TrueType was later licensed to
Microsoft and has become an industry standard. TrueType
GX has been ignored by Microsoft. Unfortunately TrueType
fonts used on the PC may not be directly used on the
Macintosh and vice versa unless they follow a very recent
OpenType standard. Like PostScript, TrueType and OpenType
fonts are based on scaleable spline outline
technology.
TWAIN
Technology Without An Interesting Name. A standard
typically used to specify the interface between image
processing software and a scanner or digital camera.
UDF
Universal Disk Format is a CD-ROM file system standard
that is required for DVD ROMs. UDF is a replacement for
the ISO 9660 file system used on CD-ROMs, but will be
mostly used on DVD. DVD multimedia disks use UDF to
contain MPEG audio and video streams.
UMA
Unified Memory Architecture is used to construct chipsets
that instegrate the use of video memory with the main CPU
memory rather than having a separate video memory. The
result is video that is a little slower and a motherboard
that is a little cheaper. more
URL
Uniform Resource Locator (previously "Universal Resource
Locator ") A standard way of specifying the location of
an object, typically a web page, on the Internet. URLs
are the form of address used on the World-Wide Web. As
most commonly used the URL may be just the domain name or
a path involving the domain name a specific location on
the site. more
USB
The Universal Serial Bus is a replacement for the ADB bus
used on earlier Macintoshes. USB is hot-pluggable and
fast enough for hard drives. The connections require no
terminators, memory addresses or ID numbers. They also
use a new kind of small cable (USB A-B), with different
connectors at each end, so they can't be plugged in
incorrectly. USB peripherals are used on PCs too, so
prices for these items are more reasonable. You may be
able to retrofit your machine for USB by adding an
adapter, but you may not be able to boot to an external
USB drive unless you verify this feature. If you have a
FireWire connecton, it is probably smarter to buy a
FireWire to SCSI adapter for the speed than to buy a USB
to SCSI adapter if you need SCSI access. USB hubs are
commonly used to allow more USB devices to be attached,
but beware of unpowered "self-powered" models that can
cause power overloads, damage and erratic equipment
behavior (make sure the unit plugs into the wall). USB is
not isynchronous (see above) more
Connector
illustration
UTP
Unshielded Twisted Pair is a type of networking cable
that combines four pairs of wires insides the same outer
jack. Each pair is twisted with a different number of
twists per inch which cancels out electrical noise from
the other twisted pairs. In contrast to STP
(Shielded Twisted Pair) cable.
VGA etc«
Video Graphics Array PC style monitor(640 x 480),
SVGA (Super Video Graphics Array - 800 x 600),
XGA (eXtended Graphics Array -1024 x 768),
SXGA (Super eXtended Graphics Array -1280 x 1024).
Just to confuse things there is an old IBM standard
called EGA (Enhanced Graphics Adapter - 640x350) and a
VESA standard called EVGA (Extended Video Graphics Array
-1024 x 768).
Virtual Memory
An replicated memory area created as an alternate set of
memory addresses on your hard disk. Programs use these
virtual addresses rather than real RAM addresses to
temporarily store instructions and data. When needed for
execution, the virtual addresses are read from the hard
drive into real memory addresses in RAM. This strategy
reduces the need to buy lots of RAM.
VRAM
VRAM, or Video RAM, is sometimes a high speed RAM set
aside to store only the graphics to be displayed on the
screen. A good rule of thumb is that the more VRAM you
have, the more colors and/or the higher resolution
available to be shown on the display.
WYSIWYG
The mantra of the GUI (Graphical User Interface) age
"What You See Is What You Get"
Xmodem, Ymodem, Zmodem
A set of successively faster and faster file-transfer
protocols that were developed to check for errors as
files are transferred.
YAHOO
Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle, the webs most
legendary subject-based search engine.
ZIF
A Zero Insertion Force socket is a flat style of
processors upgrade socked on the G3 motherboard. As its
name implies, the ZIF socket is designed so that the
average computer owner will be able to upgrade the CPU
without soldering, special tools, or sudden jerky
movements in close quarters. The ZIF socket contains a
lever that opens and closes, loosening or securing the
ZIF module in place. The socket is reminiscent of a
giant
dense chip socket.
Zip Drive
Iomega dominates the removable storage market with these
handy drives which allow you to store up to 250 megabytes
on pocket-sized cartridges, these compete with the
SuperDrive. Iomega also sells a
Jaz drive with cartridges that will hold 2
gigabytes. These drives supercede the early Syquest
drives and compete directly with the Orb cartridge
drive which holds 2.2 gigabytes but does not allow you to
boot to the cartridge.
For Cable
Terms and
more
and more
and Connector
Terms
Babel:
A Glossary of Computer Oriented Abbreviations and
Acronyms
Webopedia
Internet
Dictionary
Internet
Jargon
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