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Glossary
A
Ampere. A measurement of current in an electrical conductor.
AC
Alternating current. Electricity that reverses its direction at a rate of 60 times
per second (50 times per second in some countries). See DC.
Accelerator
A computer component that enhances the processing speed of a particular
device, usually by taking over some of the tasks originally assigned by that
device. For example, a video accelerator card will take over some of the graphic
functions originally assigned to the microprocessor.
ACPI
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface. An industry standard developed
by Intel
®
, Microsoft
®
, and Toshiba for computer power management. The
key element of the standard is that the OS controls power management. In
previous standards, most of the power management tasks were run by the
BIOS, with limited intervention by the OS. In ACPI, the BIOS communicates
with hardware components in the computer, but the OS controls power
management operations.
AGP
Accelerated graphics port. A high-speed graphics port that produces fast
communication between the graphics controller and computer. It allows the
video controller to directly access the computer's main memory and bypass
the PCI bus. A video expansion card installed in this port can run almost
twice as fast as that in a PCI slot. This also helps to reduce the traffic on the
PCI bus.
ANSI
American National Standards Institute. An organization that publishes
standards for data alphabets, codes, and signaling schemes. See ISO.