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- I -

IAB

Internet Architecture Board

IETF

Internet Engineering Task Force

Internal modem

A modem that is plugged into one of the bus slots on the motherboard (or "riser-card") inside the computer.

Internet

Internet -- International network.

InterNIC

Internet Network Information Center

I/O

Input / Output

IP

Internet Protocol
See also: TCP/IP
See: RFC-791

IP Address

An IP address is a unique address assigned to every computer that communicates with the internet. It is made up of 4 "octets" that each range from 0-255 and are separated by a period (.), pronounced "dot." An example IP address is "207.68.137.53" and is representative of the domain name, "www.microsoft.com". In order to make navigation across the internet easier for users, domain names are typically used in place of the IP addresses when entering in the address of a computer on the internet. A DNS server then converts the domain name into its IP address so that the computers can communicate properly.
See: RFC-1366

ISDN

Integrated Services Digital Network -- a 64 or 128 kbps high-quality digital telephone/telecommunications network. An end-user connects to an ISDN network via a BRI ISDN line.
See: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/getisdn/whatis.htm

ITU

International Telecommunication Union -- formerly, CCITT (International Consultative Telegraph and Telephone Committee)
Common subdivisions of the ITU:
   ITU-R -- Radiocommunications
   ITU-T -- Telecommunications

- K -

kilo is a prefix to a unit of measurement representing 10^3 (1000) in SI (Systeme International) terms, using base-10 (decimal) numbering. In computer terms, it's the closest decimal number to 1000 based on base-2 (binary) and is equivalent to 2^10 (1024).
Abbreviation: k
See: Proposed prefixes for binary multiples
See also: Mega, Giga, Tera

- L -

LAN

Local Area Network -- group of computers linked together into their own network that may or may not be connected by some means to the outside world. LANs are typically made up of computers that are subdivided into company departments/groups within an office or building.
See also: WAN

LCP

Link Control Protocol
See: RFC-1570

Line Noise

Line noise is the same thing as actual noise that you may hear while talking on the phone, but instead of hearing the noise, you will commonly see it in the form of "garbage" text that sporadically pops up while connected via modem. Those of you who have "Call Waiting" may be familiar with this. When the "tone" comes through the line, the modem interprets that as line noise and attempts to clear it using the error control built into the modem (or software if it's an RPI modem or WinModem.)

Listserv

See RFC-1429

Lynx

Lynx is a VT terminal-based WWW browser. The name, Lynx is a tradename based on the word, links, because of the many hypertext links found in the HTML documents on the internet. Lynx was developed at The University Of Kansas.

- M -

Media Types

• CD-ROM -- Compact Disc-ROM -- a very common storage medium for computers. Once data/music has been stored on a CD-ROM, it cannot be altered/removed, hence the "ROM"--"Read Only Memory." CDR's (CD Recorders) are available and allow the user to write to a CD once, then read as often as he/she wants. This form of media is sometimes refered to as "WORM"--"Write Once; Read Many." They're quite useful for retreiving large amounts of data, such as encyclopedias, phonebooks, dictionaries, etc. CD-ROMs have a capacity of about 650MB or 74 minutes of CD audio.
  Common CD-ROM data-transfer rates: 150 kBps (kilobytes per second) -- "single speed"
  300 kBps -- "double-speed" (2x)
  450 kBps -- "triple-speed" (3x)
  600 kBps -- "quad-speed" (4x)
  900 kBps -- "6-speed" (6x)
  1200 kBps -- "8-speed" (8x)
  1800 kBps -- "12 speed" (12x)
• Floppy Disk -- relatively low-capacity removable/portable media. The original floppy disks were very thin, semi-flexible, flimsy, "floppy" disks. The first floppy disks where 8" disks that closely resemble the newer 5.25" disks that replaced them. Later, higher capacity 3.5" disks, encased in hard, inflexible plastic replaced the 5.25" disks. Floppy disks can be written to and erased many times.
• Hard Disk (Hard Drive) -- relatively high-capacity, usually internal, semi-permanent, high-speed storage device used for day-to-day storage/retrieval of commonly accessed data. When a computer is booted up and loads various software, they are usually loaded from the hard drive because of the drive's high capacity and speed. The first hard drives had typical capacities of 5 and 10 MB and sold for about $100 per megabyte. As time went on, the manufacturing technologies increased, decreasing production costs, while increasing storage capacity, reliability, and decreasing the physical dimensions of the drives. Now, typical hard drives have capacities up to about 20GB and sell for a few pennies per megabyte. Hard drives can be written to and erased many times.

Mega

Mega is a prefix to a unit of measurement representing 10^6 (1,000,000) in SI (Systeme International) terms, using base-10 (decimal) numbering. In computer terms, it's the closest decimal number to 1,000,000 based on base-2 (binary) and is equivalent to 2^20 (1,048,576).
Abbreviation: M
See: Proposed prefixes for binary multiples
See also: kilo, Giga, Tera

Modem

Modulator/Demodulator -- a device that converts (modulates) digital data from a computer to an analog signal to be transmitted across a POTS (plain old telphone service) phoneline. On the other end of the connection, another modem converts (demodulates) the analog signal back into digital format.

MP and MP+

PPP Multilink Protocol -- an extension protocol to PPP that allows a computer that is connected to another computer (or network) by multiple channels to send/receive data simultaneously on all channels, increasing the overall data transfer rate between the machines.
See: RFC-1990
PPP MP+ -- Multilink Protocol Plus -- an extension to the PPP MP protocol, developed by Ascend Communications, Inc.
See: RFC-1934

- N -

NAS

Network Access Server -- This is a device that provides access to a network, generally by allowing users to dial into it much in the same way a modem allows access into an individual computer.

NNTP

Network News Transfer Protocol
See: RFC-977
See also: USENET

- O -

Operating System (OS)

An operating system is the primary software-foundation from which all other software on that machine runs.
Example operating systems: Unix, MS-DOS, Windows 95, Windows NT, MacOS, OS/2, etc.
See also: GUI (Graphical User Interface)

- P -

Phosphor

Phosphors are the tiny red, #006000 , and blue dots or "bars" that are lined up in an intricate matrix across the viewable area of a computer monitor or TV. When the electron beam ("cathode ray") passes over these phosphors, they become charged and light up. The amount they light up is dependent on the intensity of the electron beam when it passed over the phosphor. Phosphors are commonly mistaken for pixels. A pixel is generated by the computer and is projected onto the monitor's phosphors, and contains information on what colored phosphors will be lit and how brightly.
See also: dot pitch and pixel

Pixel

Picture element -- an individual "dot" containing RGB (red, green, and blue) values. Grouping many of these pixels together in a matrix, produces an image or picture on a computer screen or printed media. How much information is stored within a pixel, determines color depth.
Common color depths:
   1 bit per pixel (bpp) -- 2^1 (2) colors (black/white)
   3 bpp -- 2^3 (8) colors
   4 bpp -- 2^4 (16) colors
   8 bpp -- 2^8 (256) colors ("palate-based" or "indexed")
   15 bpp -- 2^15 (32,768) colors
   16 bpp -- 2^16 (65,536) colors
   24 bpp -- 2^24 (1,6777,216) colors ("true color" or "RGB color")
      Each R,G, and B value can have a value of 0-255, so 256^3 = (2^8)^3 = 2^24.
See also: Resolution

POP

1. Post Office Protocol -- a protocol used to retrieve e-mail from a network mail server, using client software on a remote computer. Eudora is an example of an e-mail program that retrieves e-mail from a network server using the POP3 protocol (the 3 represents POP version 3).
   See: RFC-1939
   See also: SMTP
2. Point Of Presence

POTS

Plain Old Telephone Service -- represents the present analog phoneline network in the US.

PPP

Point to Point Protocol -- Info...
See: RFC-1661
PPP MP -- PPP Multilink Protocol -- see: MP and MP+

PPTP

Point to Point Tunneling Protocol -- PPTP is a networking technology that supports multiprotocol virtual private networks (VPN), enabling remote users to access corporate networks securely across the Internet. Using PPTP, remote users can employ the Microsoft Windows 95/98 and Windows NT Workstation operating systems and other point-to-point protocol (PPP)-enabled systems to dial into a local Internet service provider to connect securely to their corporate network via the Internet.

PRI

Primary Rate Interface -- A type of ISDN service that offers 23 B-channels for data at 64 kbps and one D-channel for signaling at 64 kbps (23B+D). In Europe, PRI provides for 30 B-channels and two D-channels (30B+2D).
See also: BRI and ISDN