Users Guide

Glossary 165
control panel
The part of the system that contains indicators and controls, such as the power
switch, hard drive access indicator, and power indicator.
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.
DIN
Acronym for Deutsche Industrie Norm which is the standards-setting
organization for Germany. A DIN connector is a connector that conforms to one
of the many standards defined by DIN. DIN connectors are used widely in personal
computers. For example, the keyboard connector for personal computers is a
DIN connector.
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.
display adapter
See video adapter.
DKS
Abbreviation for Dynamic Kernel Support.
DNS
Abbreviation for Domain Name Service.
DRAC 4
Acronym for Dell™ Remote Access Controller 4.