Specifications

Glossary
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resolution of 320×200 pixels in 16 colors or
640×200 pixels in two colors. The CGA outputs a
TTL (digital) signal with a horizontal scanning fre-
quency of 15.75KHz and supports TTL color or
NTSC composite displays.
channel 1) Any path along which signals can be
sent. 2) In ISDN, data bandwidth is divided into
two B-channels that bear data and one D-channel
that carries information about the call.
character A representation—coded in binary
digits—of a letter, number, or other symbol.
character set All the letters, numbers, and char-
acters a computer can use to represent data. The
ASCII standard has 256 characters, each represented
by a binary number from 1 to 256. The ASCII set
includes all the letters in the alphabet, numbers,
most punctuation marks, some mathematical sym-
bols, and other characters.
charge coupled device A light-sensing and
storage device used in scanners and digital cameras
to capture the pixels.
chassis The case used by a desktop PC or server.
A server platform includes a chassis, a mother-
board, processor(s), and other components.
check bit See parity.
checksum Short for summation check, a tech-
nique for determining whether a package of data is
valid. The package, a string of binary digits, is
added up and compared with the expected number.
chip Another name for an IC, or integrated cir-
cuit. Housed in a plastic or ceramic carrier device
with pins for making electrical connections.
chip carrier A ceramic or plastic package that
carries an integrated circuit.
chipkill An advanced form of ECC memory cor-
rection that can correct multiple-bit failures in a
single memory module. Also known as Advanced
ECC. See also ECC.
chipset A single chip or pair of chips that inte-
grates into the clock generator, bus controller, sys-
tem timer, interrupt controller, DMA controller,
CMOS RAM/clock, and keyboard controller. See
also North Bridge and South Bridge.
CHS (cylinder head sector) The term used to
describe the nontranslating scheme used by the
BIOS to access IDE drives that are less than or equal
to 528MB in capacity. See also LBA.
CIF (common image format) The standard
sample structure that represents the picture infor-
mation of a single frame in digital HDTV, indepen-
dent of frame rate and sync/blank structure. The
uncompressed bit rate for transmitting CIF at 29.97
frames/sec is 36.45Mbps.
CIOB One of a series of I/O bridge chips used by
the Broadcom ServerWorks series of server chipsets.
circuit A complete electronic path.
circuit board The collection of circuits gathered
on a sheet of plastic, usually with all contacts made
through a strip of pins. The circuit board usually is
made by chemically etching metal-coated plastic.
CISC (complex instruction set computer)
Refers to traditional computers that operate with
large sets of processor instructions. Most modern
computers, including the Intel 80xxx processors,
are in this category. CISC processors have expanded
instruction sets that are complex in nature and
require several to many execution cycles to com-
plete. This structure contrasts with RISC (reduced
instruction set computer) processors, which have
far fewer instructions that execute quickly.
clean room 1) A dust-free room in which cer-
tain electronic components (such as chips or hard
disk drives) must be manufactured and serviced to
prevent contamination. Rooms are rated by Class
numbers. A Class 100 clean room must have fewer
than 100 particles larger than 0.5 microns per cubic
foot of space. 2) A legal approach to copying soft-
ware or hardware in which one team analyzes the
product and writes a detailed description, followed
by a second team that reads the description written
by the first and then develops a compatible version
of the product. When done correctly, such a design
methodology will survive a legal attack.
client/server A type of network in which every
computer is either a server with a defined role of
sharing resources with clients or a client that can
access the resources on the server.
clock (CLK) The source of a computer’s timing
signals. It synchronizes every operation of the CPU.
Appendix A
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