Computer abbreviations, what do they all stand for?

[Dman877]

I've been into computer hardware for 10+ years but realized I don't know what a lot of the abbreviations stand for. I know I could google search but I figure this could help inform other people too. I do know some but correct me if I'm wrong.

ATA/Serial(?)ATA?
IDE?
PS2?
USB = Universal Serial bus?
IEE1394 (or whatever)?
AGP = accelerated graphics port?
DMA/UDMA?
ISA?
LAN = Local area network?
VGA/SVGA/XGA?
DVI?
S-Video? (whats the S =?)
FSB = front side bus
RAM = random access memory?
ECC?
RAID?
PCI?

Feel free to add others I forgot.

 

[Pariah]

http://www.acronymfinder.com/

 

[Mik3y]

www.computerhopes.com tells you basically everything you need to know.

 

[Dman877]

Originally posted by: Pariah
http://www.acronymfinder.com/

Whoa, thats a cool site thanks.

ROFL, "RAID Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks "

You can only use inexpensive disks? Guess my friends raptors aren't raided then .

 

[sharkeeper]

ROFL, "RAID Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks "

Some people will argue the I is for independent, not inexpensive.

However, the original purpose of RAID was to create large arrays with capacity that wasn't possible in a single disk regardless of price. Redundancy and performance were extra benefits. Hence using many inexpensive disks to complete the tasks. This is long before RAID was ever conceived for desktop use, however.

Cheers!

 

[Gusty987]

www.computerhopes.com tells you basically everything you need to know.

It's www.computerhope.com

"hope", not "hopes"

 

[Mik3y]

lol, my bad

 

[Pariah]

Originally posted by: Dman877

Originally posted by: Pariah

http://www.acronymfinder.com/

Whoa, thats a cool site thanks.



ROFL, "RAID Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks "



You can only use inexpensive disks? Guess my friends raptors aren't raided then .

Today's drives are dirt cheap compared to cost of drives when RAID was invented. One of the original goals of RAID along with fault tolerance was to allow servers to use multiple relatively cheap smaller drives in an array to create a larger capacity for less than buying larger drives. The official definition has since been changed to Independent, since all consumer level hard drives are basically cheap now.

 

[Dman877]

Originally posted by: Pariah

Originally posted by: Dman877

Originally posted by: Pariah

http://www.acronymfinder.com/

Whoa, thats a cool site thanks.



ROFL, "RAID Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks "



You can only use inexpensive disks? Guess my friends raptors aren't raided then .

Today's drives are dirt cheap compared to cost of drives when RAID was invented. One of the original goals of RAID along with fault tolerance was to allow servers to use multiple relatively cheap smaller drives in an array to create a larger capacity for less than buying larger drives. The official definition has since been changed to Independent, since all consumer level hard drives are basically cheap now.

Thanks for the clarification Pariah.

 

[rallyrulz]

Right fellas, he asked for acroynums posted on the board, so im gona give it a try after about 4yrs in computing, and almost a degree

ATA = vague guess is advanced technology attachment
IDE = Integrated drive electronics
PS2 = periphial serial 2 (i really doubt this)
USB = Universal Serial Bus
IEE1394 = industry electronics standard something
AGP = accelerated graphics port
DMA/UDMA = Direct Memory Access / Ultra DMA
ISA = Industry standard archetecture
VGA/SVGA/XGA = Video graphics array/Super VGA/ extended graphics array
DVI = Digital video Input
S-video = serial video? aka composite i think, otherwise no idea
ECC = Error correction code
PCI = periperal component interconnect

Ok, thats my best try, some i completely made up and probably not even close, but most i think i got right.
So no flamming, dont take my word for any of these, and hopefully u can add some more, im sure theres hundreds more.

Oh heres a simple 1, LCD = liquid crystal display
What about ATX, whats that stand for?

 

[elkinm]

ATX = Advanced Technology extended.

IEE should be IEEE and I may be wrong but the 'I' stand for Intel as they got the first IEEE standards, ,ay have changed since then.

ISA also means Instruction Set Architecture not just the ISA slot.

 

[RaNDoMMAI]

I thought S-Video was super video or something like that?

i dunno it looks better then composite so works for me.

~RaNDoM

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: rallyrulz
Right fellas, he asked for acroynums posted on the board, so im gona give it a try after about 4yrs in computing, and almost a degree


IEE1394 = industry electronics standard something

Should be IEEE = Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers.
IEEE1394 = Firewire.

DVI = Digital video Input

Digital Video Interface.

S-video = serial video? aka composite i think, otherwise no idea

Super-Video

Not bad!

 

[eelw]

PS/2 actually came from the IBM Personal System 2. It was the first system to incorporate the PS/2 port and the name just stuck.

 

[Zepper]

IEEE 1394 is the number of the IEEE (see above) specification document for Firewire .
As eelw said PS/2 is what IBM called their PC sytems after the AT series - it stands for Personal System /2. The PS/2 ports are called that for the same reason (what IBM chose to use) - they are actually mini-DIN (Deutsche (German) Industry Norm) connectors. PS/2 power supply is the same as the standard ATX form factor - also first used in IBM PS/2 systems. PS/3 power supply is the same as ATX in height and width, but not as deep - about 1 inch shallower. SFX (Small Form-factor ATX) power supplies used in many mini/micro ATX cases.
. Easy to find defs of most of these things using google et al. More strange to weird items can be found in the "Hacker's Dictionary". Linkage .
.bh.

.bh.

 

[corkyg]

Excellent, Pariah - we can all use that now and then. Thanks!

BTW - there is a common fault today in tech writing re the use of acronyms. Properly, one should parenthetically define the acronym the first time it is use in a publication or article, and then it can be used solo thereafter. Part of the problem today is that we have a host of young writers who are deficient in the art of English compisition. In fact, a lot of them use acronyms without knowing what they mean.

 

[Kaylya]

IEEE
ASCII : American Standards Code for Information Interchange
BIOS : Basic Input / Output System
CD-ROM : Compact Disk-Read Only Memory
CPU : Central Processing Unit
DRAM : Dynamic Random-Access Memory
DVD : Digital Versatile (Video) Disk
DMA : Direct Memory Access
I/O : Input/Output
SCSI : Small Computer System Interface
SDRAM : Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory
SRAM : Static Random-Access Memory

 

[MDE]

EEPROM- Electronically erasable programmable read-only memory

No I didn't Google that one