Dell PowerEdge 7250 Product Guide (.htm) - Page 91

COMn The device names for the first through fourth serial ports on your system are COM1, COM2, COM3, and COM4. The default interrupt for COM1 and COM3 is IRQ4, and the default interrupt for COM2 and COM4 is IRQ3. Therefore, you must be careful when configuring software that runs a serial device so that you don't create an interrupt conflict. config.sys file The config.sys file is executed when you boot your system (before running any commands in the autoexec.bat file). This start-up file contains commands that specify which devices to install and which drivers to use. This file also contains commands that determine how the operating system uses memory and controls files. console redirection Console redirection is a function that directs a managed system's display screen, mouse functions, and keyboard functions to the corresponding devices on a management station. You may then use the management station's system console to control the managed system. controller A chip that controls the transfer of data between the microprocessor and memory or between the microprocessor and a peripheral device such as a disk drive or the keyboard. control panel The part of the system that contains indicators and controls, such as the power switch, hard drive access indicator, and power indicator. conventional memory The first 640 KB of RAM. Conventional memory is found in all systems. Unless they are specially designed, MS-DOS® programs are limited to running in conventional memory. CPU Abbreviation for central processing unit. See also microprocessor. device driver A program that allows the operating system or some other program to interface correctly with a peripheral device, such as a printer. Some device drivers-such as network drivers-must be loaded from the config.sys file (with a device= statement) or as memory-resident programs (usually, from the autoexec.bat file). Others-such as video drivers-must load when you start the program for which they were designed. DHCP Abbreviation for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, a protocol that provides a means to dynamically allocate IP addresses to computers on a LAN. DIMM Acronym for dual in-line memory module. A small circuit board containing DRAM chips that connects to the system board. directory Directories help keep related files organized on a disk in a hierarchical, "inverted tree" structure. Each disk has a "root" directory; for example, a C:\> prompt normally indicates that you are at the root directory of hard drive C. Additional directories that branch off of the root directory are called subdirectories. Subdirectories may contain additional directories branching off of them. DKS Abbreviation for dynamic kernel support. DMA Abbreviation for direct memory access. A DMA channel allows certain types of data transfer between RAM and a device to bypass the microprocessor. Glossary 89