			   AXCEL216's MAX Speeed
				 Glossary
		Computing Terms, Abbreviations + Acronyms




Here are over 800 Computing, Internet, Electronics, Audio + Video Terms, File
Extensions, Abbreviations + Acronyms listed in alphabetical order, also at:
http://members.aol.com/axcel216/glossary.htm

This file is updated frequently to include new terms. Please contact me for
other terms (including their definitions) you consider I should add here, or
for any corrections at:
axcel216@aol.com

Glossaria on the Internet:
- Webopdia:
http://www.webopedia.com/
- Cnet Glossary:
http://www.cnet.com/Resources/Info/Glossary/
- Microsoft Glossary:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/glossary/
- Geek.com Glossary:
http://www.geek.com/glossary/
- Tweak3D 3D Video Dictionary:
http://www.tweak3d.net/3ddictionary/
- BABEL Glossary of Computer Abbreviations + Acronyms:
http://www.geocities.com/ikind_babel/babel/babel.html
- Adaptec Glossary of SCSI terms:
http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/support/supporteditorial.html?prodkey=SCSI_glossary
- FOLDOC On-Line Dictionary Of Computing:
http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/
- Acronym Finder:
http://www.acronymfinder.com/
- WWW Acronym and Abbreviation Server:
http://www.ucc.ie/acronyms/acro.html
- CD Page Glossary of CD + DVD Technologies:
http://www.cdpage.com/Compact_Disc_Glossary/glossarym.html
- The File Extension Source:
http://www.filext.com/
- The Core Rules of Netiquette:
http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html
- Dictionary.com:
http://www.dictionary.com/
- Thesaurus.com:
http://www.thesaurus.com/
______________________________________________________________________________


0-9


286 = Intel 80286 processor.
2D = Two (bi) Dimensional: x and y axes.
2K = 2000.
386 = Intel 80386 processor.
386MAX = Qualitas 386 Expanded Memory Manager (386MAX.SYS).
3D = Three (tri) Dimensional: x, y and z axes.
3dfx = 3D Graphics Interactive (Voodoo family 3D chipsets).
3DNow! = AMD K6/K7/K8/K9 CPU multimedia extensions.
3DRAM = 3D Dynamic Random Access Memory.
3GIO = 3rd Generation Input/Output (PCI Express 3.0) bus architecture: 64-bit,
       133/266 MHz, 6.6 GB/sec (Intel/IBM/Compaq/Microsoft/Dell).
486 = Intel 80486 processor.
586 = Intel 80586 processor (Pentium/Pentium Pro).
686 = Intel 80686 processor (Pentium II/III/IV).
86 = Intel 80X86 central processing unit (CPU).
87 = Intel 80X87 floating point unit (FPU).


A


A3D = Aureal 3D surround sound technology.
AA = Anti-Aliasing edge smoothing technology (3D video).
AAAS = American Association for the Advancement of Science.
AAF = Advanced Authoring format (Microsoft video).
AC = Alternating Current.
AC-3 = Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound standard (5 + 1 = 6 channels).
ACPI = Advanced Configuration Power Interface.
ADC = Analog to Digital Converter.
ADPCM = Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation.
ADSL = Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line modem.
ADVD = Audio Digital Versatile Disc.
AFM = Atomic Force Microscope.
AFR = Alternate Frame Rendering (ATI Rage Fury MAXX).
AGP = Accelerated Graphics Port technology standard (Intel).
AGP-1x = Accelerated Graphics Port technology 1st generation standard (AGP
	 1.0): 266 MB/sec bandwidth (Intel).
AGP-2x = Accelerated Graphics Port technology 2nd generation standard using
	 sidebands (AGP 2.0): 533 MB/sec bandwidth (Intel).
AGP-4x = Accelerated Graphics Port technology 3nd generation standard using
	 fast writes (AGP 3.0): 1.07 GB/sec bandwidth (Intel).
AGP-8x = Accelerated Graphics Port technology 4th generation standard (AGP
	 4.0): 2.14 GB/sec bandwidth (Intel).
AGRAS = AntiGlare AntiReflection AntiStatic screen treatment (CRT).
AI = Artificial Intelligence.
AIFF = Audio Interchange File Format (Apple).
AIT = Advanced Intelligent Tape (Sony).
ALDC = Adaptive Lossless Data Compression (IBM).
AMD = Advanced Micro Devices Incorporated.
AMI = American Megatrends Incorporated.
AMR = Audio/Modem Riser slot (Intel Pentium III 8281x chipsets).
ANI = Microsoft Windows ANImated cursor graphic file.
ANSI = American National Standards Institute.
AOL = America OnLine Incorporated.
API = Application Programming Interface.
APIC = Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controler.
APM = Advanced Power Management.
ARAG = AntiReflection AntiGlare screen treatment (CRT).
ARAS = AntiReflection AntiStatic screen treatment (CRT).
ARP = Address Resolution Protocol.
ASC = Active Signal Correction technology (Sony CRT).
ASCII = American Standard Code for Information Interchange.
ASF = Advanced Streaming Format (Microsoft NetShow/DirectVideo).
ASIC = Application Specific Integrated Circuit.
ASP (1) = Advanced Sound Processor (Creative Labs).
ASP (2) = Application Service Provider.
ASPI = Advanced SCSI Programming Interface.
ASVD = Analog Simultaneous Voice and Data.
Async SRAM = Asynchronous Static Random Access Memory (CPU L2 cache).
AT = Advanced Technology (Intel motherboard form factor).
ATA = Advanced Technology Attachment (ANSI standard for Integrated Drive
      Electronics).
ATA-4 = Ultra ATA/Ultra DMA 33.33 MB/second tranfer rate (EIDE/ATA hard
	disk controller/drive standard).
ATA-6 = Ultra ATA/Ultra DMA 66.66 MB/second tranfer rate (EIDE/ATA hard
	disk controller/drive standard).
ATA-8 = Ultra ATA/Ultra DMA 100 MB/second tranfer rate (EIDE/ATA hard
	disk controller/drive standard).
ATAPI = Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface.
Athlon = AMD Athlon K7 CPU.
ATM (1) = Adobe Type Manager.
ATM (2) = Asynchronous Transfer Mode (network).
ATSC = Advanced Television Systems Committee.
ATV = Advanced TeleVision (e.g. HDTV).
ATX = Advanced Technology EXtended (Intel motherboard form factor).
AUTOEXEC.BAT = AUTOmatically EXECuted BATch file.
AVI = Advanced Video Interleave (Microsoft video).
AWR = Active Wide Range playback system (Toshiba CD-ROM).
AXCEL216 = Packard Bell AXCEL216 386/SX 25 MHz (my first PC).


B


b = bit (binary digit): unit of digital information: 1 bit = 0 or 1.
B = Byte (Binary octet): unit of digital data: 1 Byte = 8 bits.
BASIC = Beginners All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.
BAT = MS-DOS BATch program file (text/ASCII).
Baud = Modem line (carrier) signaling high/low events/shifts per second.
BBS = Bulletin Board System.
BDA = BIOS Data Area.
BEDO = Burst Extended Data Out (DRAM).
BGA = Ball Grid Array (242 pin Intel CPU).
BIF = Binary Image Format file.
BIOS = Basic Input/Output System.
BMP = RGB/RLE encoded Microsoft Windows BitMap Picture file.
bpp = bits per pixel.
Bps = Bytes per second.
bps = bits per second.
BSB = Back Side Bus (motherboard CPU to RAM bus).
BSOD = Blue Screen Of Death [Microsoft Windows most dreaded "feature" :)].
bus = Binary data gateway between hardware modules: CPU, RAM, I/O etc.


C


CAB = CABinet compression format standard (Microsoft).
CAD = Computer Aided Design.
CADD = Computer Aided Design and Drafting.
CAS = Column Access Strobe.
CAV = Constant Angular Velocity (Compact Disk).
CCITT = Commit Consultatif International du Tlgraphe et Tlphonie
	(International Telegraph and Telephony Consultative Committee).
CD = Compact Disk.
CD-DA = Compact Disk Digital Audio.
CDFS = CD-ROM File System (data CD).
CD-I = Compact Disc Interactive.
CDR = CorelDRAW! image file.
CDRAM = Cache Dynamic Random Access Memory.
CD-R = Compact Disk Recorder.
CD-RAM = Compact Disk Rewritable Access Media.
CD-ROM = Compact Disk Read Only Media.
CD-ROM/XA = Compact Disk Read Only Media EXtended Architecture (Sony,
	    Philips, Microsoft).
CD-RW = Compact Disk ReWritable.
CDSL = Consumer Digital Subscriber Line modem (Rockwell).
Celeron = Intel Pentium II/III/IV Celeron CPU (80686).
CERT = Computer Emergency Response Team.
CGA = Color Graphics Adapter.
CGI (1) = Computer Generated Image.
CGI (2) = Common Gateway Interface.
CGM = Computer Graphics Metafile.
CHAP = Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol.
CHS = Cylinder/Head/Sector (hard drive).
CIAC = Computer Incident Advisory Capability team.
CIFS = Common Internet File System.
CISC = Complex Instruction Set Computing (CPU).
CL = Creative Labs Limited.
CLP = Microsoft Windows CLiPboard Bitmap file.
CLV = Constant Linear Velocity (Compact Disk).
CMOS = Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor manufacturing process.
CMOS 7S = CMOS 7S manufacturing process (IBM).
CMOS-SOS = CMOS Silicon On Sapphire manufacturing process.
CMP = Chip MultiProcessing (more than 1 CPU per chip).
CMS = ColorSync Color Management System (Apple).
CNR = Communications/Network Riser slot (Intel Pentium III 8281x chipsets).
COBOL = COmmon Business Oriented Language.
CODEC = Digital video COmpressor and DECompressor (Intel Indeo).
COM (1) = Serial COMmunication Port.
COM (2) = Component Object Model (Microsoft).
CON = CONsole (display).
CONFIG.SYS = CONFIGuration SYStem file.
cps = characters per second.
CPU = Central Processing Unit (processor).
CRC = Cyclical Redundancy Check.
CRT = Cathode Ray Tube.
CS = CompuServe.
CSLIP = Compressed Serial Line Internet Protocol.
CSS = Cascading Style Sheets HTML specifications (W3C).
CSS1 = Cascading Style Sheets mechanism level 1 (W3C).
CSS2 = Cascading Style Sheets mechanism level 2 (W3C).
CUR = Microsoft Windows static CURsor graphic file.
CUT = Dr. Halo picture file.


D


D3D = DirectX 3D APIs (Microsoft Windows 9x/2000/ME/XP).
DAC = Digital to Analog Converter.
DAT = Digital Audio Tape.
dB = deciBel (10 dB = 1 Bel).
DBS = Digital Broadcasting System.
DC = Direct Current.
DCE = Data Communications Equipment (modem to modem speed).
DDC = Display Data Channel.
DD-CD = Double Density Compact Disk (Sony): 1.3 GB.
DDE = Dynamic Data Exchange.
DDMA = Distributed Direct Memory Access standard.
DD-R = Double Density Compact Disk Recorder (Sony).
DD-ROM = Double Density Compact Disk Read Only Media (Sony).
DD-RW = Double Density Compact Disk Rewritable (Sony).
DDR-SDRAM = Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory.
DDSS = Dolby Digital AC-3 5.1 Surround Sound standard (5 + 1 = 6 channels).
DEK = Data Encryption Key.
DES = Data Encryption Standard.
DHCP = Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol.
DHTML = Dynamic HyperText Markup Language (W3C).
DIB (1) = RGB/RLE encoded Microsoft Windows Device Independent Bitmap.
DIB (2) = Dual Independent Bus architecture (Intel Pentium Pro and
	  Pentium II/III/IV).
DIG = Digital Imaging Group.
DIMM = Dual In-line Memory Module.
DIN = Deutsches Institut fr Normung (German Institute for Standards).
DIP = Dual In-line Package.
DIVX = DIgital Video eXpress (discontinued DVD standard).
DLC = Data Link Control protocol.
DLL = Dynamic Link Library.
DLP = Digital Light Processing technology, also DMD (Texas Instruments).
DLS = DownLoadable Sounds standard (PCI MIDI).
DMA = Direct Memory Access.
DMD = Digital Micromirror Device, also DLP (Texas Instruments).
DME = Direct Memory Execution (Intel I-740).
DMF = Distribution Media Format: high density floppy disk (Microsoft).
DMI = Desktop Management Interface.
DMTF = Desktop Management Task Force.
DNA = Distributed interNet Applications architecture (Windows 98).
DNS = Domain Naming System.
DOCSIS = ITU J.112 Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification.
DOF = Depth Of Field (3D video).
DOM = Document Object Model standard (W3C).
DOS = Disk Operating System.
DPI = Dots Per Inch.
DPLSS = Dolby Pro Logic Surround Sound standard (4+1 channels).
DPMA = Dynamic Power Management Architecture (Intel PCI/AGP chipsets).
DPMI = DOS Protected Mode Interface.
DPMS = VESA Display Power Management Signaling standard.
DRAM = Dynamic Random Access Memory.
DR-DOS = Lineo (Caldera Digital Research) Disk Operating System.
Drive-TIP = Drive Temperature Indicator Processor (IBM hard drive).
DRP = Distribution and Replication Protocol.
DRW = Micrografx DRaW image file.
DS3D = DirectSound 3D APIs (Microsoft Windows 9x/2000/ME/XP).
DSC = Digital Servo Control (Toshiba CD-ROM).
DS/DD = Double-Sided Double-Density (floppy disk standard: 720 KB).
DS/HD = Double-Sided High-Density (floppy disk standard: 1.44 MB).
DSL = Digital Subscriber Line modem.
DSP (1) = Digital Signal Processor.
DSP (2) = Delivery Service Partner (OEM).
DSS (1) = Digital Satellite System.
DSS (2) = Digital Signature Standard certificate.
DSVD = Digital Simultaneous Voice and Data.
DTD = Document Type Definition.
DTE = Data Terminal Equipment (modem to computer speed).
DTF = Distributed Terascale Facility a.k.a. high speed TeraGrid network
      (IBM/Qwest/Intel).
DTP = DeskTop Publishing.
DTR = Data Transfer Rate (throughput).
DTS = Digital Theatre Surround (3D audio).
DTV (1) = DeskTop Video.
DTV (2) = Digital TeleVision.
DUN = Dial-Up Networking (Microsoft Windows 9x/ME).
DVD = Digital Versatile (Video) Disc.
DVD-2 = Second generation DVD drive.
DVD-A = Digital Versatile Disk Audio.
DVD-R = Digital Versatile Disk Recordable.
DVD-RAM = Digital Versatile Disk Rewritable Access Media.
DVD-ROM = Digital Versatile Disk Read Only Media.
DVD+RW = Digital Versatile Disk ReWritable.
DVI = Digital Video Interactive (Intel).
DX = X86 Intel CPU with FPU (386/DX, 486/DX).
DX3D = DirectX 3D APIs (Microsoft Windows 9x/2000/ME/XP).
DXF = AutoDesk picture File.
DXR2 = Dynamic eXtended Resolution 2 technology (Creative Labs DVD).
DXTC = S3 Direct3D Texture Compression APIs (S3 Savage3D/2000).


E


EAX = Environmental Audio EXtensions (Creative Labs DirectSound 3D Live!
      surround sound extensions).
EBDA = Extended BIOS Data Area.
EBIOS = Extended Basic Input/Output System.
ECC = Error Correction Code.
ECHS = Enhanced Cylinder/Head/Sector (hard drive > 1024 cylinders).
ECP = Extended Capabilities Port.
EDC = Error Detection Code.
EDI = Electronic Data Interchange.
EDO = Extended Data Out (DRAM).
EDRAM = Enhanced Dynamic Random Access Memory.
EECS = Enhanced Elliptical Correction System (Sony CRT).
EEPROM = Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory.
EGA = Extended Graphics Adapter.
EIA = Electronics Industries Association.
EICA = Enhanced Intellight Cooler Architecture.
EIDE = Enhanced Integrated Device Electronics (hard disk).
EISA = Extended Industry Standard Architecture.
EISCA = Enhanced Intelligent System Cooler Architecture (CPU heatsink).
E-mail = Electronic mail (email).
EMB = Extended Memory Block.
EMBM = Environment Mapped Bump Mapping (Matrox G400 and newer 3D video).
EMI = ElectroMagnetical Interference.
EMM = Expanded Memory Manager.
EMM386 = Microsoft 386 Expanded Memory Manager (EMM386.EXE).
EMS = Expanded Memory Specifications.
EPA = Environmental Protection Agency.
EPIC = Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing (Intel/HP).
EPP = Enhanced Parallel Port.
EPROM = Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory.
EPS = Encapsulated PostScript File.
ESCD = Extended System Configuration Data (ROM BIOS).
ESD = ElectroStatic Discharge.
ESDI = Enhanced System Device Interface (hard disk).
ESDRAM = Enhanced Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory.
EULA = End User License Agreement.
EUV = Extreme UltraViolet lithography (CPU).


F


FAST-20 = Fast SCSI-3 Parallel Interface standard.
FAT = File Allocation Table.
FAT16 = File Allocation Table 16-bit (MS-DOS).
FAT32 = File Allocation Table 32-bit (Windows 95/98).
FCBS = File Control Blocks.
FC-AL = Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (Ultra Fast SCSI).
FCC = Federal Communications Commission (USA).
FC-PGA = Flip Chip Pin Grid Array package (Intel Pentium III E CPU).
FC-PH = Fibre Channel PHysical and signaling interface (SCSI-3).
FD = Floppy Disk.
FDC = Floppy Drive Controller.
FDD = Floppy Disk Drive.
FDDI = Fiber Distributed Data Interface.
FED = Field Emission Display.
FERAM = FerroElectric Dynamic Random Access Memory (Infineon/Toshiba).
FIFO = First In First Out.
FMD-ROM = Fluorescent Multilayer Disc Read Only Media (Constellation 3D 140
	  GB CD-ROM technology).
FMV = Full Motion Video.
FPD = Flat Panel Display.
FPE = File Protection Error.
FPM = Fast Page Mode (DRAM).
fps = frames per second.
FPTV = Front Projection TeleVision.
FPU = Floating Point Unit (coprocessor).
FRAM = Ferroelectric Random Access Memory.
Frame-buffer = 1st + 2nd dimensions/height + width/x + y axes memory (2D
	       video).
FSAA = Full Screen Anti-Aliasing edge smoothing (3D video).
FSB = Front Side Bus (motherboard CPU to I/O bus).
FTP = File Transfer Protocol.
Full-Duplex = Two way modem communication protocol (echo-plex).
FXT1 = Advanced Texture Compression technology (3dfx Voodoo4/5/6 3D).


G


GB = GigaByte (1 GB = 1,024 MegaBytes = 1,048,576 KiloBytes).
GBps = GigaBytes per second.
gbps = gigabits per second.
GDI = Graphics Device Interface (Microsoft Windows).
GEM = Ventura/GEM image file.
GIF = Graphics Interchange Format file standard (CompuServe).
Glide = 3dfx Voodoo family proprietary 3D APIs.
G.Lite = ITU G.992.2 1.4 Mbps Digital Subscriber Line modem standard (ADSL).
GM = General MIDI standard.
GPF = General Protection Fault (Microsoft Windows).
GMR = Giant MagnetoResistive effect (IBM hard drive technology).
GPU = Graphics Processing Unit (NVidia GeForce family 2D/3D chipsets).
GTS = Giga Texel Shader (NVidia GeForce2 and newer 3D technology).
GUI = Graphical User Interface (2D).
GVIF = Gigabit Video InterFace (Sony LCD).


H


HAL = Hardware Abstraction Layer (Microsoft Direct3D virtual 3D video
      accelerator interface APIs).
Half-Duplex = One way modem communication protocol (simplex or local-echo).
HAVi = Home Audio Video interoperability (entertainment APIs).
HD = Hard Disk.
HDA = High reliability Hard Disk Assembly.
HDC = Hard Drive Controller.
HDD = Hard Disk Drive.
HD-DVD = High Definition Digital Versatile Disk (future standard).
HD-ROM = High Definition Read Only Media (Norsam Technology).
HDSL = High bit rate Digital Subscriber Line modem.
HDSS = Holographic Data Storage System (IBM).
HDTV = High Definition TeleVision (new digital TV standard: 1200 lines).
HDVD =  High Definition Digital Video Disc (Sonic/Ravisent).
HDVP = High Definition Video Processor (NVidia GeForce2 and newer 3D).
HEL = Hardware Emulation Layer (Microsoft Direct3D virtual 3D video
      rasterization device).
HFC = Hybrid Fiber Coaxial cable system.
HFS = Hierarchical File System (MacOS CD-ROM).
HGL = Hewlett Packard Graphics Language image file.
HID = Human Interface Devices.
HiFD = High density 200 MB Floppy Drive standard (Sony/Fuji).
Hi-Fi = High Fidelity (audio/video).
HIMEM = Microsoft HIgh/Extended MEMory Manager (HIMEM.SYS).
HIPPI = HIgh Performance Parallel Interface (ANSI X3T9.3 standard).
HMA = High Memory Area.
HP = Hewlett Packard Corporation.
HPC = Handheld Personal Computer.
HPFS = High Performance File System (OS/2).
HSDRAM = High Speed Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory.
HSR = Hidden Surface Removal 3D polygon rendering (NVidia GeForce2 and newer +
      3dfx Voodoo5/6).
HTML = HyperText Markup Language (W3C).
HTTP = HyperText Transfer Protocol.
HVD = High Voltage Differential standard (SCSI-2).
HyperTransport = I/O bus architecture: 64-bit, 133/266 MHz, 6.4 GB/sec (AMD).
Hz = Hertz (clock speed): 1 Hz = 1 clock cycle.


I


IA-32 = Intel Architecture 32-bit (32-bit CPU).
IA-64 = Intel Architecture 64-bit (high-end 64-bit CPU).
IBM = International Business Machines Corporation.
IC = Interface Controller.
ICD = Installable Client Driver (Microsoft 3D video).
ICMP = Internet Control Message Protocol.
ICMPv6 = Internet Control Message Protocol version 6.
ICO = ICOn graphic file (Microsoft Windows).
ICS = Internet Connection Sharing.
IDCT = Inverse Discrete Cosine Transform (DVD decoding).
IDE = Integrated Device (Drive) Electronics (hard disk interface).
IE = Microsoft Internet Explorer web browser.
IEEE = Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
IEEE 1394 = Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers FireWire
	    peripheral devices high performance serial bus standard.
IETF = Internet Engineering Task Force.
IFF = Electronic Arts Image File.
IFSHLP.SYS = Installable File System HeLPer device driver (Microsoft Windows).
IGMP = Internet Group Management Protocol.
IMA = Interactive Music Architecture (Microsoft).
IMAP = Internet Mail Access Protocol.
IMAP4 = Internet Mail Access Protocol level 4.
IMG = GEM Paint image file.
InterNIC = Internet Network Information Center.
I/O = Input/Output.
ION = Integrated On-demand Network (Sprint FastBreak).
IP = Internet Protocol.
IPF = Invalid Page Fault (Microsoft Windows).
IPv4 = Internet Protocol version 4 (32-bit).
IPv6 = Internet Protocol version 6 (128-bit).
IPX = Internetwork Packet EXchange (Novell Netware).
IRC = Internet Relay Chat.
IrDA = Infrared Data Association.
IRQ = Interrupt ReQuest line.
ISA = Industry Standard Architecture.
ISDN = Integrated Services Digital Network.
ISO = International Organization for Standardization.
ISO 9660 = International Standard LOgical CD-ROM format (High Sierra).
ISP = Internet Service Provider.
ITU = International Telecommunications Union.


J


Java = Sun Microsystems programming language.
JAR = Java ARchive file.
JDK = Java Developers Kit.
JEDEC = Joint Electronic Device Engineering Council.
JFC = Java Foundation Classes.
JIF = Joint Photographers Expert Group Image file.
JPEG = Joint Photographers Expert Group Picture standard.
JPG = Joint Photographers Expert Group Picture file.
JVM = Java Virtual Machine (Microsoft Windows).


K


K56flex = Lucent/Rockwell 56 kbps analog modem transfer standard.
KB = KiloByte (1 KB = 1,024 Bytes).
KBps = KiloBytes per second.
kbps = kilobits per second.
KNI = Intel Katmai/Coppermine CPU New 70 MMX extensions.


L


L1 = Level 1 cache (on CPU).
L2 = Level 2 cache (off CPU).
L2TP = Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol.
L3 = Level 3 cache (off CPU SMP).
LAN = Local Area Network.
LAPM = Link Access Protocol for Modems.
LBA = Logical Block Addressing (hard disk access).
LBM = DeLuxe Paint BitMap picture file.
LCD = Liquid Crystal Display.
LDAP = Lightweight Directory Access Protocol.
LDIF = Lightweight Data Interchange Format (e-mail).
LED = Light Emitting Diode.
LEP = Light Emitting Polymers technology (CDT monitor).
LFB = Linear Frame Buffer (2D video).
LFN = Long File Name (256.8 = Win32 32-bit).
LFO = Low Frequency Oscillator.
LH = LoadHigh.
LIM = Lotus/Intel/Microsoft expanded/extended memory specifications.
LIMAD = LInear MAgnetic Drive speaker technology (Soundmatters).
LMDS = Local Multipoint Distribution Service.
LPC = Low Pin Count interface specification (Intel).
LPT = Line PrinTer.
LTO = Linear Tape-Open technology (IBM, HP, Seagate).
LVD = Low Voltage Differential (SCSI-2).


M


MAC = MAC Paint picture file.
MAPI = Messaging Application Program Interface.
MB = MegaByte (1 MB = 1,024 KiloBytes = 1,048,576 bytes).
MBps = MegaBytes per second.
mbps = megabits per second.
MBR = Master Boot Record (partition table).
MCA = Multilink Channel Aggregation technology (Microsoft Windows 98).
MCD = Mini Client Driver (Microsoft 3D).
MCGA = MonoChrome Graphics Adapter.
MCI = Media Control Interface.
MDA = Modular Digital Architecture.
MDI = Multiple Document Interface.
MDRAM = Multibank Dynamic Random Access Memory (MoSys).
MFC = Microsoft Foundation Classes (C++ classes library).
MGA = Monochrome Graphics Adapter.
MHz = MegaHertz (1 MHz = 1,000 KHz = 1,000,000 Hz).
MIDI = Musical Instrument Digital Interface.
MIME = Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions.
MIP = Multum In Parvum texture mapping.
MIPS = Millions of Instructions per Second.
MLA = Modern Languages Association.
MLPPP = MultiLink Point to Point Protocol.
ML-R = MultiLevel Compact Disk Recorder 2 GB (TDK).
ML-RW = MultiLevel Compact Disk ReWritable 2 GB (TDK).
MMA = MIDI Manufacturer's Association.
MMVF = MultiMedia Video Format (NEC DVD).
MMX = Intel Pentium/Pentium Pro CPU MultiMedia eXtensions.
MMX2 = Intel Pentium II CPU MultiMedia eXtensions 2nd generation.
MO = MagnetoOptical.
modem = MOdulator/DEModulator (data to analog converter/transmitter/receiver).
MOV = QuickTime MOVie file (Apple).
MP3 = MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 compression/format standard.
MPC = Multimedia Personal Computer.
MPEG = Motion Picture Expert Group.
MPEG-1 = Motion Picture Expert Group 1 video compression standard.
MPEG-2 = Motion Picture Expert Group 2 video compression standard.
MPG = Motion Picture Expert Group compressed image file standard.
MPGA = Micro Pin Grid Array (370 pin Intel CPU).
MR = MagnetoResistive head technology (HDD).
MRAM = Magnetic Random Access Memory (IBM).
MRX = MagnetoResistive EXtended head technology (IBM HDD).
s = Microsecond (1/1,000,000 = 1 millionth of a second).
MS = MicroSoft Corporation.
MS-DOS = MicroSoft Disk Operating System.
MSCDEX = MicroSoft Compact Disc EXtensions device driver (MSCDEX.EXE).
MSD = MicroSoft Diagnostics (MSD.EXE).
MSKB = MicroSoft Knowledge Base.
MSP = MicroSoft Paint picture file.
MSRP = Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price.
MSS = Maximum Segment Size (Internet protocol).
MTBF = Mean Time Between Failures.
MTT = MultiTransaction Timer (PCI).
MTU = Maximum Transmission Unit (Internet protocol).
MUD = MultiUser Domain.
MVA = Multidomain Vertical Alignment technology (LCD screen).


N


NC = Network Computer.
NDIS = Network Driver Interface Specification layer.
NetRoom = Helix Software 386 Expanded Memory Manager (RM386.EXE).
NFS = Network File System.
NGI = Next Generation Internet foundation.
NIC (1) = Network Interface Card.
NIC (2) = Networked Information Center.
NIST = National Institute of Standards and Technology.
NLP = Natural Language Processing.
NNTP = Network News Transfer Protocol.
NOS = Network Operating System.
ns = Nanosecond (1/1,000,000,000 = 1 billionth of a second).
NSR = NVidia Shading Rasterizer (GeForce2 and newer family 3D chipsets).
NTFS = Windows NT File System standard (32-bit).
NTSC = National Television Systems Committee (USA TV standard: 525 lines).
NVRAM = Non Volatile Random Access Memory.


O


OAW = Optically Assisted Winchester technology (Seagate hard drive).
OCR = Optical Character Recognition.
ODBC = Open DataBase Connectivity.
OEM = Original Equipment Manufacturer.
OGL = OpenGL (see below).
OLE = Object Linking and Embedding.
OLED = Polymer Organic Light Emitting Display (Toshiba).
OLGA = Organic Land Grid Array (Intel Pentium III CPU).
OOB = Out Of Band.
OpenGL = Silicon Graphics Open standard Graphical Language (32-bit 3D
	 graphics architecture layout).
OpenGVS = Open Gemini Visual System 3D APIs standard.
OPS = Open Profiling Standard.
OS = Operating System.
OS/2 = IBM Operating System/2.
OSD = Open Software Distribution.
OSR1 = OEM Service Release 1 (Microsoft Windows 95 version 4.00.950 a: 1st
       release, upgraded with SP1). Retail + OEM.
OSR2 = OEM Service Release 2 (Microsoft Windows 95 version 4.00.950 B/C: 2nd
       release). OEM only.


P


P II = Intel Pentium II CPU (80686 Klamath/Deschutes/Xeon + Celeron).
P III = Intel Pentium III CPU (80686 Katmai/Coppermine/Tualatin/Xeon +
	Celeron).
P IV = Intel Pentium IV CPU (80686 Willamette/Northwood/Xeon + Celeron).
P3P = Platform for Privacy Preferences (W3C standard).
P5 = Intel Pentium/Pentium Pro CPU (80586).
P6 = Intel Pentium II/III/IV CPU (80686).
PAL = Phase Alternate Line (European TV standard: 625 lines).
PAP = Password Authentication Protocol.
PBC = Pipeline Burst Cache.
PBM = Portable BitMap UNIX picture file.
PBSRAM = Pipeline Burst Static Random Access Memory (CPU L2 cache).
PC = Personal Computer.
PC99 = Intel/Microsoft PC 1999 System Design Guide.
PCB = Printed Circuit Board.
PCD = Kodak Photo CD image file.
PCI = Peripheral Component Interconnect bus architecture: 32-bit, 33/66 MHz
      (Intel).
PCI 2.1 = Peripheral Component Interconnect 2.1 standard: 32-bit, 33/66 MHz
	  (Intel).
PCI 2.2 = Peripheral Component Interconnect 2.2 standard: 32-bit, 33/66/133
	  MHz (Intel).
PCI-X = Peripheral Component Interconnect eXtended bus architecture: 64-bit,
	133 MHz (Intel/Compaq/HP/IBM).
PCI 3.0 = Peripheral Component Interconnect 3.0 standard (3GIO): 64-bit,
	  133/266 MHz, 6.6 GB/sec (Intel/IBM/Compaq/Microsoft/Dell).
PCL = Printer Control Language.
PCM = Pulse Code Modulation.
PCMCIA = Personal Computer Memory Card International Association.
PCS = Personal Communications Service.
PCX = Zsoft PC Paintbrush Picture file.
PDA = Personal Digital Assistant.
PDF = Portable Document Format file (Adobe Acrobat).
PDP = Parallel Data Processing (Intel I-740).
pel = Picture ELement: RGB 3 dot pattern (color TV). Also pixel.
Pentium = Intel Pentium CPU (80586).
Pentium Pro = Intel Pentium Pro CPU (80586).
Pentium II = Intel Pentium II CPU (80686 Klamath/Deschutes/Xeon).
Pentium III = Intel Pentium III CPU (80686 Katmai/Coppermine/Xeon).
PERL = Practical Extraction and Report Language.
PFPT = Pure Flat Picture Tube.
PGM = Portable GrayMap UNIX picture file.
PIC (1) = Programmable Interrupt Controller.
PIC (2) = Lotus PICtor/PC Paint picture file.
PIF = Program Information File (Microsoft Windows).
PIM = Personal Information Manager.
PING = Packet InterNet Groper.
PIO = Programmed Input/Output.
pixel = PIcture ELement: RGB 3 dot pattern (color CRT). Also pel.
PLEDM = Phase-state Low Electron Drive Memory (Hitachi).
PLGA = Plastic Land Grid Array (Intel Pentium II CPU).
PLL = Phase Locked Loop (CPU clock multiplier chip).
PMTU = Path Maximum Transmission Unit (Internet protocol).
PNG = Portable Network Graphics file.
PnP = Plug and Play standard.
POP (1) = Post Office Protocol.
PoP (2) = Point of Presence.
POP3 = Post Office Protocol 3 standard.
POST = Power On Self Test (BIOS).
POTS = Plain Old Telephone Service.
PPGA = Plastic Pin Grid Array (370 pin Intel CPU).
PPI = Precise Pixel Interpolation (Intel I-740).
PPM = Portable PixelMap UNIX picture file.
PPP = Point to Point Protocol.
PPTP = Point to Point Tunneling Protocol.
PRI = Primary Rate Interface.
PRML = Partial Response Maximum Likelihood (hard drive).
PRN = PRiNter port.
PS/2 = IBM Personal System/2.
PSD = RGB/indexed PhotoShop image file (Aldus).
PSTN = Public Switched Telephone Network.
PVR = Personal Video Recorder (TV to digital).


Q


QBE = Query By Example.
QDR-SDRAM = Quad Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory.
QEMM = Quarterdeck 386 Expanded Memory Manager (QEMM386.SYS).
QOS = Quality Of Service (Internet server based technology).


R


RAID = Redundant Array of Inexpensive (Independent) Disks.
RAM = Random Access Memory.
RAMDAC = Random Access Memory Digital to Analog Converter.
RARP = Reverse Address Resolution Protocol.
RAS (1) = Sun Microsystems Raster image file.
RAS (2) = Row Access Strobe.
RAS (3) = Remote Access Service (Microsoft Windows NT/2000/XP).
RAVE = Rendering Acceleration Virtual Engine (Apple).
RAW = Unencoded pixel data image file.
RDF = Resource Description Framework (Netscape Aurora).
RDRAM = Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory.
REG = REGistry file format (Microsoft Windows 9x/NT/2000/ME/XP).
Registry = Microsoft Windows 9x/NT/2000/ME/XP Registry database.
RegEdit = Microsoft Windows 9x/NT/2000/ME/XP Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE).
RegEdt32 = Microsoft Windows NT/2000/XP Registry Editor (REGEDT32.EXE).
RFC = Request for Comments.
RFI = Radio Frequency Interference.
RGB = Red Green Blue picture encoding.
RIMM = Rambus Inline Memory Module.
RISC = Reduced Instruction Set Computing (CPU).
RIVA = Real Time Interactive Video and Animation (NVidia 3D).
RLE = CompuServe/Microsoft Windows Run Length Encoded graphic file.
RM386 = Helix Software 386 Expanded Memory Manager (RM386.EXE).
ROM = Read Only Memory.
RPC = Remote Procedure Calls.
rpm = Rotations Per Minute.
RPTV = Rear Projection TeleVision.
RSA = Public Key Encryption algorithms (RSA Data Security).
RTC = Real Time Clock (BIOS).
RTF = Rich Text Format (Microsoft Word).
RWIN = Receive WINdow (Internet protocol).


S


S3TC = S3 Texture Compression architecture (S3 Savage3D/2000).
SACD = Super Audio Compact Disc (Sony/Philips).
SBK = EMU Sound Font BanK v1.0 (Creative Labs SB sound cards).
SCSI = Small Computers System Interface standard.
SCSI-1 = Small Computers System Interface 1 specifications.
SCSI-2 = Small Computers System Interface 2 specifications.
SCSI-3 = Small Computers System Interface 3 specifications.
SDDS = Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (8 channel theatre surround sound
       standard).
SDK = Software Developers Kit.
SDRAM = Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory.
SDS = Satellite Data Service.
SDSL = Symmetrical Digital Subscriber Line modem.
SDX = Storage Data Acceleration (Western Digital).
SECAM = SEquential Couleur Avec Mmoire (French TV standard: 819 lines).
SECC = Single Edge Contact Cartridge (Intel Pentium II CPU).
SECC2 = Single Edge Contact Cartridge 2 (Intel Pentium III CPU).
SEL = Software Emulation Layer (Microsoft Direct3D).
SEPP = Single Edge Processor Package (Intel Celeron CPU).
Serial ATA = Ultra Serial ATA 1500 v1.0 Hard Disk Interface standard (1.5
	     Gb/sec).
SET = Secure Electronic Transaction standard.
SF2 = EMU Sound Font Bank v2.0 (Creative Labs SB sound cards).
SFN = Short File Name (8.3 = MS-DOS 16-bit).
SGI = Silicon Graphics Incorporated.
SGML = Standard Generalized Markup Language (W3C).
SGRAM = Synchronous Graphics Random Access Memory.
SHDSL = Single pair High bit rate Digital Subscriber Line modem.
SIMD = Single Instruction Multiple Data (Intel Pentium MMX).
SIMM = Single In-line Memory Module.
SLC = Subscriber Line Charge.
SLDRAM = Synchronous Link Dynamic Random Access Memory (Hyundai).
SL-DRAM = Synchronous Layout Dynamic Random Access Memory
	  (Siemens/Micron).
SLI = Scan Line Interleave technology (3dfx Voodoo2 and newer).
SLIP = Serial Line Internet Protocol.
SLM = Spatial Light Modulator.
SMART = Self Monitoring Analysis Reporting Technology standard.
SMIL = Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (W3C).
SMP = Symmetrical MultiProcessing standard.
SMPTE = Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.
SMTP = Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.
S/NR= Signal to Noise Ratio.
SO-DIMM = Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Module connector.
SPD = Serial Presence Detection (EEPROM).
S/PDIF = Sony/Philips Digital Interchange Format.
SPI-2 = SCSI Parallel Interface 2 standard (SCSI-3).
SPI-3 = SCSI Parallel Interface 3 standard (SCSI-3).
SPP = Standard Parallel Port.
SQL = Structured Query Language.
SRAM = Static Random Access Memory.
sRGB = 32-bit standard Red Green Blue color encoding (Microsoft/Hewlett
       Packard).
sRGB64 = 64-bit standard Red Green Blue double-precision color encoding
	 (Microsoft/Hewlett Packard).
SSA = Serial Storage Architecture bus/interface.
SSE = Streaming SIMD Extensions (Intel Pentium III).
SSE2 = Streaming SIMD Extensions version 2 (Intel Pentium IV).
SSL = Secure Sockets Layer.
SSR = Super Scalar Rendering (3D video).
STA = SCSI Trade Association.
STD/VR = STanDard Voltage Regulator (CPU).
STM = Scanning Tunneling Microscope.
SVGA = Super Video Graphics Array standard.
SX = X86 Intel CPU without FPU (386/SX, 486/SX).
Sync SRAM = Synchronous burst Static Random Access Memory (CPU L2 cache).


T


TAPI= Telephony Application Programming Interface.
TB = TeraByte (1 TB = 1,024 GigaBytes = 1,048,576 MegaBytes).
T-Buffer = Multiple Frame Buffer rendering engine (3dfx Voodoo4/5/6 3D).
TCL = Transform, Clipping & Lighting (ATI 3D video).
TCO = Total Cost of Ownership.
TCP = Transmission Control Protocol.
TCP/IP = Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol.
TEC = ThermoElectric Cooler (Peltier effect).
Texel = Bilinear TEXtured pixEL (3D video).
TFT = Thin Film Transistor (active matrix display).
TFTP = Trivial File Transfer Protocol.
TGA = TrueVision Graphic file (Targa).
THD = Total Harmonic Distortion.
THX = LucasFilm Home/Cinema Theatre Hi-Fi Dolby Digital Surround audio/video
      standard (RE: George Lucas' first movie: "THX 1138").
TIFF = Tagged Image File Format (Aldus).
T&L = Transform & Lighting (3D video).
TMM = Terabit Molecular Memory technology (Toshiba DVD).
TNT = TwiN Texel processing engine (NVidia RIVA TNT 2D/3D).
TNT2 = TwiN Texel 2 processing engine (NVidia RIVA TNT2 2D/3D).
TPU = Texture Processing Unit (3dfx Voodoo family 3D chipsets).
TSR = Terminate and Stay Resident program/device/driver.
TTF = True Type Font.
TTL = Time To Live (Internet protocol).
TWI = True Web Integration (Microsoft).


U


UAE = Unrecoverable Application Error.
UART = Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter.
U-ATA = Ultra Advanced Technology Attachment (EIDE/ATA disk controller/drive).
UCE = Unsolicited Commercial Email.
UDF = Universal Disk Format (Compact Disk).
UDMA = Ultra Direct Memory Access (EIDE/ATA disk controller/drive).
UDMA/33 = Ultra DMA/Ultra ATA 33.33 MB/second tranfer rate (EIDE/ATA hard
	  disk controller/drive standard).
UDMA/66 = Ultra DMA/Ultra ATA 66.66 MB/second tranfer rate (EIDE/ATA hard
	  disk controller/drive standard).
UDMA/100 = Ultra DMA/Ultra ATA 100 MB/second tranfer rate (EIDE/ATA hard
	   disk controller/drive standard).
UDP = User Datagram Protocol.
UDSP = Uniprocessor Digital Signal Processor Drive Electronics
       based architecture.
UHF = Ultra High Frequency.
Ultra160/m SCSI = Ultra3 SCSI standard (160 MB/s burst transfer rate).
Ultra2b SCSI = Ultra2 SCSI standard (80 MB/s burst transfer rate).
Ultra DMA = Ultra Direct Memory Access (EIDE drive controller).
Ultra SCSI = Ultra1 SCSI standard (40 MB/s burst transfer rate).
UMA = Upper Memory Area.
UMB = Upper Memory Block.
UMR = Upper Memory Region.
UNC = Uniform Naming Convention.
UNIX = MultiUser Network Operating System.
UPnP = Universal Plug and Play (future standard).
UPS = Uninterruptible Power Supply.
URI = Uniform Resource Identifier.
URL = Uniform Resource Locator.
URM = Universal Retention Mechanism (Slot 1 CPU).
USB = Universal Serial Bus standard.
USB2 = Universal Serial Bus version 2.0 standard.
USENET = USEr NETwork (newsgroups).
USR = U. S. Robotics (3Com modem brand).
UUE = Uniform Resource Locator UNIX Encoded.
UUENCODE = Unix to Unix Encoding.


V


V.90 = ITU PCM 56 Kbps analog modem transfer standard.
V.92 = ITU PCM 56 Kbps analog modem transfer standard.
VAR = Value Added Reseller.
VAT = Virtual Allocation Table (Compact Disk).
VBE = VESA BIOS Extensions.
VBI = Vertical Blanking Interval.
VCM = Virtual Channel Memory.
VCP = Video Cassette Player.
VCPI = Virtual Control Program Interface.
VCR = Video Cassette Recorder.
VDSL = Variable Digital Subscriber Line modem.
VESA = Video Electronics Standards Association.
VFAT = Virtual File Allocation Table (Microsoft Windows).
VFIR = Very Fast InfraRed protocol (Hewlett Packard).
VfW = Video for Windows.
VGA = Video Graphics Array standard.
VHD = Very High Density connector standard (Centronics).
VHF = Very High Frequency.
VIS = Visual Image Size.
VLB = VESA Local Bus (VL bus).
VLM = Very Large Memory addressing (Intel Merced).
VLSI = Very Large Scale Integration.
VMM (1) = Virtual Memory Manager.
VMM (2) = Virtual Machine Monitor.
VoIP = Voice over Internet protocol.
VPN = Virtual Private Network.
VR (1) = Virtual Reality.
VR (2) = Voltage Regulator (CPU).
VRE = Voltage Regulator Enhanced (MMX/SSE/KNI/3DNow! CPU dual voltage).
VRAM = Video Random Access Memory.
VRM = Voltage Regulator Module.
VRML = Virtual Reality Modeling Language.
VSA-100 = Voodoo Scalable Architecture (3dfx Napalm 3D chipset).
VSM = Virtual Storage Management (Microsoft Windows).
VXD = Virtual eXtended (everything) device Driver (Microsoft Windows).


W


W3C = World Wide Web Consortium.
WAIS = Wide Area Information Server.
WAN = Wide Area Network.
WAR = Wide Aspect Ratio display.
WBEM = Web Based Enterprise Management Initiative.
WDM = Windows 32-bit Driver Model (Microsoft).
WfM = Wired for Management.
WfWG = Microsoft Windows for WorkGroups 3.1x.
WHQL = Windows Hardware Quality Labs (Microsoft approved drivers).
Win16 = Microsoft Windows 3.xx 16-bit OS.
Win2000 = Microsoft Windows 2000 (formerly NT 5.0).
Win2K = Microsoft Windows 2K (2000).
Win31 = Microsoft Windows 3.1x.
Win32 = Microsoft Windows 32-bit OS.
Win32s = Microsoft Windows 32-bit extensions for Windows/WfWG 3.1x 16-bit.
Win95 = Microsoft Windows 95.
Win98 = Microsoft Windows 98.
WinME = Microsoft Windows ME (Millennium Edition).
WinNT = Microsoft Windows NT 3.xx/4.0 (New Technology).
WinXP = Microsoft Windows XP (eXPerience).
WinNET = Microsoft Windows .Net Server.
WMF = Microsoft Windows MetaFile.
WORM = Write Once Read Many (CD-R).
WOSA = Windows Open Services Architecture (Microsoft).
WOSSA = Windows Operating Systems and Services Architecture (Microsoft).
WPE = Windows Protection Error (Microsoft Windows).
WPG = WordPerfect Graphic file.
WRAM = Windows Random Access Memory.
WTX = Workstation Advanced Technology EXtended (Intel motherboard form
      factor).
WWIF = World Wide InterFace.
WWW = World Wide Web.
WYSIWYG = What You See Is What You Get.


X


x2 = 3Com/US Robotics 56 kbps analog modem transfer standard.
X86 = Intel X86 CPU (family compatible).
X87 = Intel X87 FPU (family compatible).
Xeon = Intel Pentium II/III/IV Xeon CPU (80686).
XHTML = EXtensible Hypertext Markup Language (W3C).
XLL = EXtensible Link Language (W3C).
XML = EXtensible Markup Language (W3C).
XMM = EXtended Memory Manager.
XMS = EXtended Memory Specifications.
XSL = EXtensible Style Language (W3C).
XT = EXtended Technology (Intel motherboard form factor).
XVGA = EXtended Video Graphics Array.


Y


Y2K = Year 2000.


Z


ZAK = Zero Administration Kit for Windows NT workstations.
ZAW = Zero Administration initiative for Windows.
Z-buffer = Third (3rd) dimension/depth/z axis memory (3D video).
ZIF = Zero Insertion Force (CPU socket).