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Appendix
A
PCI Bus (Peripheral Component Interconnect Local Bus)
PCI bus is a specification that defines a 32-bit data bus interface. PCI is a standard widely used by
expansion card manufacturers.
PC Cards (PCMCIA)
PC cards are about the size of a few stacked credit cards and have a 68-pin connector at one end. The PC
Card standard accommodates a number of function, communication, and data storage expansion op-
tions. PC cards come in memory/flash cards, fax/modems, networking adapters, SCSI adapters, MPEG
I/II decoder cards, and even wireless modem or LAN cards. The Notebook PC supports PCMCIA 2.1,
and 32-bit CardBus standards. The three different PC Card standards actually have different thick-
nesses. Type I cards are 3.3mm, Type II cards are 5mm, and Type III cards are 10.5mm thick. Type I and
Type II cards can be used in a single socket. Type III cards take up two sockets and must be used on
Notebook PCs with two sockets.
POST (Power On Self Test)
When you turn on the computer, it will first run through the POST, a series of software-controlled
diagnostic tests. The POST checks system memory, the motherboard circuitry, the display, the key-
board, the diskette drive, and other I/O devices.
PS/2 Port
PS/2 ports are based on IBM Micro Channel Architecture. This type of architecture transfers data through
a 16-bit or 32-bit bus. A PS/2 mouse and/or keyboard may be used on ATX motherboards.
RAM (Random Access Memory)
There are several different types of RAM such as DDR (Double Dynamic RAM), DRAM (Dynamic
RAM), EDO DRAM (Extended Data Output DRAM), SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM).
ROM (Read Only Memory)
ROM is nonvolatile memory used to store permanent programs (called firmware) used in certain com-
puter components. Flash ROM (or EEPROM) can be reprogrammed with new programs (or BIOS).
Suspend Mode
In Save-to-RAM (STR) and Save-to-Disk (STD), the CPU clock is stopped and most of the Notebook
PC devices are put in their lowest active state. The Notebook PC enters Suspend when the system
remains idle for a specified amount of time or manually using the function keys. The timeout setting of
both Hard Disk and Video can be set by the BIOS Setup. The Power LED blinks when the Notebook PC
is in STR mode. In STD mode, the Notebook PC will appear to be powered OFF.
System Disk
A system disk contains the core file of an operating system and is used to boot up the operating system.