Installation Instructions Part 2

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Appendix D: Glossary
Wireless-B USB Network Adapter
Appendix D: Glossary
802.11b - An IEEE wireless networking standard that specifies a maximum data transfer rate of 11Mbps and an
operating frequency of 2.4GHz.
Adapter - A device that adds network functionality to your PC.
Ad-hoc - A group of wireless devices communicating directly with each other (peer-to-peer) without the use of
an access point.
Backbone - The part of a network that connects most of the systems and networks together, and handles the
most data.
Bandwidth - The transmission capacity of a given device or network.
Bit - A binary digit.
Boot - To start a device and cause it to start executing instructions.
CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance) - A method of data transfer that is used to prevent
data collisions.
Default Gateway - A device that forwards Internet traffic from your local area network.
DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) - A networking protocol that allows administrators to assign
temporary IP addresses to network computers by "leasing" an IP address to a user for a limited amount of time,
instead of assigning permanent IP addresses.
DNS (Domain Name Server) - The IP address of your ISP's server, which translates the names of websites into IP
addresses.
DSSS (Direct-Sequence Spread-Spectrum) - Frequency transmission with a redundant bit pattern resulting in a
lower probability of information being lost in transit.
Encryption - Encoding data transmitted in a network.
Ethernet - IEEE standard network protocol that specifies how data is placed on and retrieved from a common
transmission medium.