-
Notifications
You must be signed in to change notification settings - Fork 0
/
Copy pathglossary.htm
216 lines (216 loc) · 6.21 KB
/
glossary.htm
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>Glossary</title>
<link href="Style.css" rel="stylesheet">
</head>
<body>
<article>
<p>Computer sciences have spawned many awkward terms and
acronyms which are often hindering novice users to understand
how-tos and manuals. Emulation has some terms of its own, as
does the Amiga, due to its unique hardware design. This page
aims to explain the most common terms.</p>
<h1>Computers</h1>
<table>
<tr>
<th>Term</th>
<th>Explanation</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="fixedwidth">BIOS</td>
<td>Basic Input Output System. Initializes the PC hardware
in order to prepare the machine so programs can be
run.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Bus</td>
<td>A subsystem that transfers data between computer
components inside a computer or between computers.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>CPU</td>
<td>Central Processing Unit. Also referred to as the
"processor", all calculations are done in this unit.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>FPU</td>
<td>Floating Point Unit. In the early days, this was a
separate unit used for floating point calculations.
Nowadays integrated in the main CPU.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>RAM</td>
<td>
Random Access Memory. Main type of storage for a computer
to work with. It is by nature volatile memory, i.e. it
gets cleared when the computer is shut down. For WinUAE
RAM emulation, see <a href="background/kickst.htm">RAM &
Kickstart</a>.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>ROM</td>
<td>Read Only Memory. Most commonly used to store Firmware,
Kickstart, and BIOS programs. In contrary to RAM, it is not
volatile.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>ZIP</td>
<td>The world's most-used compression format, tools for
handling these files can be found almost on any computer
system.</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h1>Amiga Specific</h1>
<table>
<tr>
<th>Term</th>
<th>Explanation</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="fixedwidth">AHI</td>
<td>
Audio Hardware Interface, see <a href=
"emulation/speed.htm">Emulation Speed</a>.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>AGA</td>
<td>
Advanced Graphics Architecture, see <a href=
"background/custchips.htm">Custom Chips</a>.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Autoconfig</td>
<td>
Method for configuring Amiga expansion cards. Mostly
equivalent to Plug&Play in the PC world <a href=
"background/autoconfig.htm">Autoconfig</a>.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Blitter</td>
<td>
Graphics coprocessor, see <a href=
"background/custchips.htm">Custom Chips</a>.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Copper</td>
<td>
Graphics coprocessor, see <a href=
"background/custchips.htm">Custom Chips</a>.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>DMS</td>
<td>DiskMasher archive, stores the contents of entire
disks. Supported by DiskMasher and ADFOpus.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>ECS</td>
<td>
Enhanced Chip Set, see <a href=
"background/custchips.htm">Custom Chips</a>.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HAM</td>
<td>
Hold And Modify, see <a href=
"background/custchips.htm">Custom Chips</a>.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Kickstart</td>
<td>
The most basic program used to start up an Amiga, mostly
equivalent to the BIOS in the PC world. See <a href=
"background/kickst.htm">RAM & Kickstart</a>.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>LHA</td>
<td>The most common compressed file format on the Amiga and
Aminet.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>LZX</td>
<td>File archiver and format for the Amiga, released in
1995.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>OCS</td>
<td>
Original Chip Set, see <a href=
"background/custchips.htm">Custom Chips</a>.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Paula</td>
<td>
Amiga custom hardware, See <a href=
"background/custchips.htm">Custom Chips</a>.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Zorro</td>
<td>
Zorro is the standard bus for expansions in Amigas. See
<a href="background/zorro.htm">Zorro Bus</a>.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h1>Emulation Specific</h1>
<table>
<tr>
<th>Term</th>
<th>Explanation</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="fixedwidth">ADF</td>
<td>Amiga Disk File, used to store raw information from a
single Amiga floppy disk.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>ADZ</td>
<td>ADF files compressed with the GZIP algorithm. Many
archive applications are able to unpack this format, and
WinUAE handles it natively.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>JIT</td>
<td>
Just In Time [Compiling]. Gives a huge boost to emulation
speed, see <a href="emulation/jit.htm">JIT - Just In
Time</a>.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h1>Technology</h1>
<table>
<tr>
<th>Term</th>
<th>Explanation</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="fixedwidth">PAL</td>
<td>Phase Alternating Line, television system used in large
parts of the world. 576 lines, typically 50Hz.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>NTSC</td>
<td>National Television Steering Committee, TV system used
mainly in the USA and Japan. 480 lines, 60Hz.</td>
</tr>
</table>
</article>
<footer>
Help content is under the terms of the <a href=
"credits/fdl.htm">GNU Free Documentation License</a>.
</footer>
</body>
</html>