Users Guide

102 Glossary
DRAC MC
Acronym for Dell Remote Access Card MC.
DRAM
Acronym for dynamic random-access memory. A
system's RAM is usually made up entirely of DRAM
chips. Because DRAM chips cannot store an electrical
charge indefinitely, your system continually refreshes
each DRAM chip in the system.
EEPROM
Acronym for electrically erasable programmable
read-only memory.
EIDE
Abbreviation for enhanced integrated drive electronics.
EIDE devices add one or more of the following
enhancements to the traditional IDE standard:
• Data transfer rates of up to 16 MB/sec
• Support for drives other than just hard drives, such
as CD and tape drives
• Support for hard drives with capacities greater than
528 MB
• Support for up to two controllers, each with up to
two devices attached
EMS
Abbreviation for Expanded Memory Specification.
EPROM
Acronym for erasable programmable read-only
memory.
ERA
Abbreviation for embedded remote access.
ERA/MC
Abbreviation for embedded remote access modular
computer. See modular system.
ERA/O
Abbreviation for embedded remote access option.
ESM
Abbreviation for embedded systems management,
which is a set of instruction coding in system software
and firmware that notifies a user about potential
hardware problems on a system.
expanded memory
A technique for accessing RAM above 1 MB. To enable
expanded memory on your system, you must use an
EMM. You should configure your system to support
expanded memory only if you run application programs
that can use (or require) expanded memory.
extended memory
RAM above 1 MB. Most software that can use it, such
as the Windows operating system, requires that
extended memory be under the control of an XMM.
external cache memory
A RAM cache using SRAM chips. Because SRAM chips
operate at several times the speed of DRAM chips, the
microprocessor can retrieve data and instructions faster
from external cache memory than from RAM.
FEPROM
Acronym for flash erasable programmable read-only
memory. Flash memory is a kind of nonvolatile storage
device similar to EEPROM, but the erasing is done only
in blocks or the entire chip.
firmware
Software (programs or data) that has been written onto
read-only memory (ROM). Firmware can boot and
operate a device. Each controller contains firmware
which helps provide the controller's functionality.
flash bios
A BIOS that is stored in flash memory rather than in
ROM. A flash BIOS chip can be updated in place,
whereas a ROM BIOS must be replaced with a
newer chip.