Toshiba 8000 Tecra 8000 Users Guide - Page 280

256 Glossary serial port: A communications port (COM1 or COM2) to which you can connect a serial device, such as a modem, a mouse or a serial printer. serial input/output (SIO): The electronic method of serial data transmission. session: The time during which a program is running. For example, an MS-DOS session under Windows 95 is the time during which you execute MS-DOS commands or run an MS-DOS program. shortcut: 1) A feature of Windows 95 and Windows NT that allows you to use an icon to open folders and documents and their associated programs, to start programs directly or to move from folder to folder. 2) A keyboard shortcut. SIMM: Single Inline Memory Module. A unit of RAM used for memory expansion. soft keys: Key combinations that emulate keys on the IBM keyboard, change some configuration options, stop program execution, and access the numeric keypad overlay. software: The computer programs or instructions that tell the hardware what tasks to perform. The general classes of software are operating systems, applications and utilities. stop bit: In asynchronous serial communications, one or more bits indicating the end of a block of characters. Suspend: A feature in Windows 95 or Windows NT that, like Toshiba's Resume Mode, allows you to turn the computer off without exiting your applications and to continue from where you left off when you turn the computer on again. synchronous: Having a constant time interval between successive bits, characters or events. Synchronous data transmission requires both the sending and receiving devices to use special synchronizing characters to correct variations in timing between the devices. See also asynchronous. system disk: A disk that contains the operating system files that are used to start the computer. Any physical disk can be formatted as a system disk. A system disk is also called a bootable disk. Part III: Appendixes