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A_______________________
A-cable
A 50-wire cable used for 8-bit SCSI-1 buses. These are two types of A-cable connectors: high- and low-density. The low-density A-cable connector is also known as a
Centronics-type connector.
Access Time
The time it takes to retrieve a piece of information. With hard disks or compact discs, maximum access time is measured as the time it takes to move from one end of the disc to the other, find a piece of information, and transfer that information to RAM.
Active Termination
The electrical connection required at each end of the SCSI bus, composed of active voltage regulation and a set of termination resistors. Ultra and Ultra2 SCSI require active termination.
Adapter
A card that communicates with and controls a device or system.
Add-on
Something added to the computer to expand its functionality. Commonly refers to cards that are plugged into the computer.
Address
A specific location in memory, designated either numerically or by a symbolic name.
Advanced SCSI Programmer's Interface
See ASPI.
American National Standards Institute
See ANSI.
ANSI
American National Standards Institute. The acronym is used to identify standards created by the institute, such as the ANSI 8-bit character set, or "ANSI_C".
ANSI-Labeled
A tape recorded with a file structure and tape label system which defines the Volume name and file header for the information contained in the tape, according to ANSI (American National Standards Institute) specification X3.27-19778. Most disc manufacturers prefer ANSI-labeled tapes.
API
Application Programming Interface. A standard bridge (or specification) for which software is written, allowing the passing of information and instructions between the various parts of a computer system.
Application Programming Interface
See API.
Architecture
The structure and organization of a computer's hardware, or system software, including items such as the CPU type, bus type, etc.
ARPANET
The old name of what became the Internet. The name refers to DARPA (see DARPA).
ASCII
American Standard Code for Information Interchange. The American Standard Code for Information Interchange 7-bit character set. It consists of the first 128 (0-127) characters of the ANSI character set (and most other 8-bit character sets). The ASCII character set is the most universal character-coding set.
ASCII text file
A File that contains nothing but ASCII characters without special formatting. ASCII text files are sometimes used in file transfers.
ASPI
Advanced SCSI Programmer's Interface. It defines a set of software primitives (command) and data structures or an application to use when communicating with SCSI host adapters to be SCSI host adapter-independent. It provides an interface between host adapters and SCSI device drivers.
Asynchronous Data Transfer
One of the ways data is transferred over the SCSI bus. It is slower than synchronous data transfer.
Asynchronous SCSI
A way of sending data over the SCSI-bus. The initiator sends a command or data over the bus and then waits until it receives a reply (e.g. an Acknowledge). All commands are send asynchronously over the 8 bit part of the SCSI-bus.
A-Time
Absolute-time. In CD-DA, the time elapsed since the beginning of the disc. Can be used in determining the start and stop times of sound segments for programming an application on a mixed-mode disc, measuring from the very beginning of the data area (including the computer data in Track 1).
Authoring
Authoring is what you do to create an application before you are ready to write to CD. For example, if you wish to create a multimedia game or presentation, you will need authoring software that allows you to combine sound, graphics, and text, and which provides some user interactivity. When you have finished creating your application with an authoring software, you can use CD recording software such as WinOnCD 3.5 or WinOnCD 3.5 to write it to CD.
Autoconfig
Automatic configuration. The ability of computer hardware to detect the presence of expansion devices, and, using information resident in those devices, configure the system to run the device properly.
Autodetection
The ability of the computer to check the identity and configuration of a device without user intervention.
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