Guide to abbreviations

Sometimes authors of text in a document in this wiki use an abbreviation without explaining what it means. The meaning of the abbreviation may be well-known to many readers yet unknown to some other readers.

The purpose of this page is to show the meanings of abbreviations which occur in pages of this wiki. Readers are asked not to include abbreviations which are not mentioned in at least one other page of the wiki. Readers are asked to maintain this as an alphabetically arranged list.

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BIOS

Basic Input/Output System, which is a software system that resides in EPROM or Flash memory in PCs. The BIOS configures the system to boot the operating system and provides interfaces to the hardware. OLPC plans to use LinuxBIOS, which strives to do the minimal amount of configuration necessary to boot Linux.

CD

Compact Disc

CMOS

Complementary Metal-Oxide-Silicon, which is an integrated circuit manufacturing technology used in most current digital chips. Also a common shortening of "CMOS RAM", which is a small, battery-powered RAM that stores information like the date and BIOS settings while a PC is powered off.

CPU

The central processing unit of a computer or microcomputer.

DNS

Domain Name System, which is how human readable names like "laptop.org" are translated into the IP addresses actually used by computers to talk to each other on the Internet.

ECC

Error Correcting Code, which can be used as a mechanism to correct and detect errors in a storage medium. Relative to OLPC, ECC is required for operation of NAND flash. NAND flash has a high probability of single bits getting "stuck". With extra ECC information stored with each sector, a single bit error can be corrected, and 2 bit errors can be detected.

ESD

Electrostatic Discharge, which a person can generate when touching a metal object after, for example, walking on a carpet in a very dry environment. This little shock can be over 3000V and easily damage electronic circuits.

I/O

Input/Output

ISP

Information Service Provider, which is an organization which allows, often for a fee, individuals to connect to the internet.

JFFS2

Journaling Flash File System, Version 2

MAC

Needs an explantion as used in the phrase MAC address please.

NAND

A type of flash that has overtaken older NOR technology in low cost and density. This flash is commonly used in cellphones, PDAs, and USB keys. The NAND moniker for the flash comes from the arrangment of the memory cells resembling a NAND gate (inverting AND gate).

OLPC

One Laptop per Child

p2p

Peer to Peer, which is a network architecture in which all computers have the same functionality in contrast to a client/server system.

PCI

Peripheral Component Interconnect, a computer bus for attaching peripheral devices to a computer motherboard.

USB

Universal Serial Bus