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bits per second (BPS): A way of measuring the speed at which infor-
mation is passed between two devices. This is the basic measure
used in modem communications. This is similar, but not identical,
to the baud rate. See also baud.
board: A thin card containing chips and other electronic components
connected by metallic lines etched into the surface. Most of the
basic components of a computer, such as the BIOS and memory
are contained on one board, called the motherboard. A computer
may contain additional boards, called daughterboards, that provide
specific functions beyond those on the motherboard.
boot: To start the computer. There are two types of boot. When you
turn the power on with Resume Mode turned off, it's called a cold
boot. Restarting the computer by pressing
restart button is called a warm boot. The term boot originates from
bootstrap program (as in pulling itself up by its bootstraps), a pro-
gram that loads and initializes the operating system. See also
AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS.
boot priority: The order in which the computer accesses its disk drives
to locate the startup files. Under the standard boot priority, a com-
puter looks for a diskette in the A drive before checking the hard
disk.
buffer: A portion of the computer's memory set aside for temporary
storage. Buffers are frequently used to make up for the fact that
different parts of the system are faster than others. For example,
the computer sends information to a printer many times faster than
even the fastest printer can handle it. A print buffer stores printer
information, enabling the computer to go ahead with other busi-
ness. Then, as the printer prints a page, it looks into the buffer to
see what to do next.
bus: An electrical circuit that connects the microprocessor with other
parts of the computer, such as the video adapter, disk drives and
ports. See also local bus.
Part III: Appendixes
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