Microcomputer Hardware Wk5 And 6

Front 1

Boot strapping or booting

Back 1

In computing, bootstrapping (from an old expression "to pull oneself up by one's bootstraps") is a technique by which a simple computer program activates a more complicated system of programs. BIOS, initializes and tests the hardware, peripherals and external memory devices are connected, then loads a program from one of them and passes control to it, thus allowing the loading of larger programs, such as an operating system.

Front 2

Assembly languages

Back 2

a family of low-level languages for programming computers, microprocessors, microcontrollers, and other (usually) integrated circuits. They implement a symbolic representation of the numeric machine codes and other constants needed to program a particular CPU architecture.

Front 3

PXE

Back 3

Preboot eXecution Environment...an environment to boot computers using a network interface independently of available data storage devices (like hard disks) or installed operating systems.

Front 4

Master boot record (MBR), or partition sector

Back 4

The 512-byte boot sector that is the first sector of a partitioned data storage device such as a hard disk. The MBR is not located in a partition, it is located at a Main Boot Record area in front of the first partition.

Front 5

Metacomputing

Back 5

is all computing and computing-oriented activity which involves computing knowledge (science and technology) common for the research, development and application of different types of computing.

Front 6

GNU Parted

Back 6

a free partition editor, used for creating, destroying, resizing, checking, and copying partitions, and the file systems on them. This is useful for creating space for new operating systems, reorganising hard disk usage, copying data between hard disks, and disk imaging.

Front 7

Super Grub Disk (SGD)

Back 7

a specialty rescue CD for emergency repairs on boot sectors. Not only manipulates the Grand Unified Bootloader (GRUB) but also works with the content of other master boot records as well. Works with a variety of operating systems and supports all the basic options needed to manipulate how a hard drive boots.

Front 8

Webdesktop or Webtop

Back 8

is a desktop environment embedded in a web browser or similar client application. A webtop integrates web applications, web services, client-server applications, application servers, and applications on the local client into a desktop environment using the desktop metaphor. It is a virtual desktop running in a web browser.

Front 9

G.ho.st

Back 9

Global Hosted Operating SysTem…The G.ho.st service provides, over the Internet, a working environment that mimics the classic desktop provided by personal computer operating systems. G.ho.st calls itself a virtual computer.

Front 10

File format

Back 10

is a particular way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file. File formats are divided in proprietary and open formats.

Front 11

Archive file

Back 11

is a file that is composed of one or more files that can include source volume and medium information, file directory structure, error detection and recovery information, file comments, and usually employs some form of lossless compression.

Front 12

ISO image

Back 12

is an archive file (also known as a disc image) of an optical disc in a format defined by the ISO. A valid ISO image is an uncompressed collection of various files merged into one single resulting file, according to definite and standard formatting. The most important feature of an ISO image is that it can be easily rendered or burned to a DVD or CD by using media authoring or disc burning software. It can also be opened using archival applications such as 7-Zip file manager or the WinRAR shareware archiver.

Front 13

Disk image

Back 13

is a single file or storage device containing the complete contents and structure representing a data storage medium or device (such as a hard drive, tape drives, floppy disk, CD/DVD). A disk image is usually created by creating a complete sector-by-sector copy of the source medium and thereby perfectly replicating the structure and contents of a storage device. Disk images were originally used for backup and disk cloning of floppy disk media, where replication or storage of an exact structure was necessary and efficient.

Front 14

Volume boot record, aka Volume boot sector, aka a Partition boot sector

Back 14

is a type of boot sector, stored in a disc volume on a hard disk, floppy disk, or similar data storage device, that contains code for booting programs (usually, but not necessarily, operating systems) stored in other parts of the volume. On non-partitioned storage devices, it is the first sector of the device. On partitioned devices, it is the first sector of an individual partition on the device, with the first sector of the entire device instead being a Master Boot Record (MBR).

Front 15

Volume

Back 15

the term used to describe a single accessible storage area with a single file system, typically (though not necessarily) resident on a single partition of a hard disk. Similarly, it refers to the logical interface used by an operating system to access data stored on some media using a single instance of a filesystem.

Front 16

Volume vs partition definitions

Back 16

"Logical drive" and "volume" should be considered synonymous, however "volume" and "partition" are not synonymous.In short, volumes exist at the logical OS level, and partitions exist at the physical, media specific level.

Front 17

Chain loading in general

Back 17

a method used by computer programs to replace the currently executing program with a new program, using a common data area (a so-called core common area) to pass information from the current program to the new program. It occurs in several areas of computing.

Front 18

Chain loading in boot manager programs

Back 18

In operating system boot manager programs, chain loading is used to pass control from the boot manager to a boot sector. The target boot sector is loaded in from disk, replacing the boot sector from which the boot manager itself was bootstrapped, and executed.

Front 19

Machine code or Machine language

Back 19

is a system of instructions and data executed directly by a computer's central processing unit. Machine code may be regarded as a primitive (and cumbersome) programming language or as the lowest-level representation of a compiled and/or assembled computer program.

Front 20

GUID Partition Table (GPT)

Back 20

Is a standard for the layout of the partition table on a physical hard disk, in computer hardware

Front 21

A Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) standardized by Open Software Foundation (OSF), and the Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) from Microsoft

Back 21

are both an identifier standard used in software construction. Anyone can create a UUID or GUID and use it to identify something with reasonable confidence that the identifier will never be unintentionally used by anyone for anything else.

Front 22

Logical partition (LPAR)

Back 22

is a subset of computer's hardware resources, virtualized as a separate computer. In effect, a physical machine can be partitioned into multiple LPARs, each housing a separate operating system.

Front 23

Organizing partition types

Back 23

- There are three basic types of partition: Primary, Extended, and Logical.
- The types that you initially use to divide up a drive are Primary and Extended.
- Extended partitions can then be subdivided further into Logical partitions.
- When there are multiple primary partitions on a hard drive, only one can be active at any one time.

Front 24

Boot sector

Back 24

a sector of a hard disk, floppy disk, or similar data storage device that contains code for booting programs (usually, but not necessarily, operating systems) stored in other parts of the disk.

Front 25

System virtualization (of all kinds)

Back 25

is performed on a given hardware platform by a control host prog. which creates a simulated computer environment, a virtual machine, for its guest software. The guest software executes as if it were running directly on the physical hardware.

Front 26

Dynamic Logical Partitioning (DLPAR)

Back 26

is the capability of a logical partition (LPAR) to be reconfigured dynamically, without having to shut down the operating system that runs in the LPAR. DLPAR enables memory, CPU capacity, and I/O interfaces to be moved nondisruptively between LPARs within the same server.

Front 27

Virtual machine (VM)

Back 27

is a software implementation of a machine (i.e. a computer) that executes programs like a physical machine.

Front 28

RaWrite

Back 28

is a DOS program that creates and restores disk image files from and to floppy disks. The file format is IMG. Stores and transmit images of floppy disks. Can read and write any operating system that is installed on floppy disks including Linux. It is sometimes used to create bootable floppy disks for installing Windows and Linux on PCs.

Front 29

Command line interface (CLI)

Back 29

is a mechanism for interacting with a computer operating system or software by typing commands to perform specific tasks. This text-only interface contrasts with the use of a mouse pointer with a graphical user interface (GUI) to click on options, or menus on a text user interface (TUI) to select options.

Front 30

COMMAND.COM

Back 30

is the filename of the default operating system shell for DOS operating systems and the default command line interpreter on 16/32-bit versions of Windows (9x/Me). It has an additional role as the first program run after boot, hence being responsible for setting up the system by running the AUTOEXEC.BAT configuration file, and being the ancestor of all processes.

Front 31

Secure Shell / SSH

Back 31

is a network protocol that allows data to be exchanged using a secure channel between two networked devices. The encryption used by SSH provides confidentiality and integrity of data over an insecure network, such as the Internet.

Front 32

Bash

Back 32

is a free software Unix shell written for the GNU Project. Bash is the shell for the GNU operating system. It is the default shell on most systems built on top of the Linux kernel as well as on Mac OS X and Darwin.

Front 33

GNU

Back 33

is a computer operating system composed entirely of free software. Its name is a recursive acronym for “GNU's not Unix!” This name was chosen because GNU's design is Unix-like, but differs from Unix by being free software and containing no Unix code.

Front 34

BusyBox

Back 34

is a software application released as Free software under the GNU General Public License that provides many standard Unix tools. designed to be a small executable for use with the Linux kernel, which makes it ideal for use with embedded devices. It has been self-dubbed "The Swiss Army Knife of Embedded Linux

Front 35

Virtual console (VC)or Virtual terminal (VT)

Back 35

is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. Example: ctrl + F+num to switch virtual consoles in Linux.

Front 36

terminal emulator, terminal application, term, or tty

Back 36

is a program that emulates a "dumb" video terminal within some other display architecture. Like in Linux.

Front 37

Virtual Network Computing (VNC)

Back 37

is a graphical desktop sharing system that uses the RFB protocol to remotely control another computer. It transmits the keyboard and mouse events from one computer to another, relaying the graphical screen updates back in the other direction, over a network.

Front 38

RFB (“remote framebuffer”)

Back 38

like RDP, is a simple protocol for remote access to graphical user interfaces. Because it works at the framebuffer level it is applicable to all windowing systems and applications, including X11, Windows and Macintosh. RFB is the protocol used in Virtual Network Computing (VNC) and its derivatives.

Front 39

Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)

Back 39

like RFB, is a proprietary protocol developed by Microsoft, which concerns providing a user with a graphical interface to another computer. Microsoft currently refers to their official RDP server software as Remote Desktop Services. Their official client software is currently referred to as Remote Desktop Connection.

Front 40

batch file

Back 40

In DOS, OS/2, and Microsoft Windows, its a text file containing a series of commands intended to be executed by the command interpreter. Batch files are useful for running a sequence of executables automatically and are often used by system administrators to automate tedious processes.[1] Unix-like operating systems (such as Linux) have a similar type of file called a shell script.[2]

Front 41

Shell script

Back 41

is a script written for the shell, or command line interpreter, of an operating system. It is often considered a simple domain-specific programming language. Typical operations performed by shell scripts include file manipulation, program execution, and printing text.

Front 42

system console, root console or simply console

Back 42

is the text entry and display device for system administration messages, particularly those from the BIOS or boot loader, the kernel, from the init system and from the system logger. It is a physical device consisting of a keyboard and a screen.