- Alpha
A RISC (Reduced Instruction
Set Computer) architecture
developed by Digital Equipment Corporation.
- ATAPI
An abbreviation for AT
Attachment Packet
Interface. ATAPI is the protocol by which CD-ROM
drives communicate with a computer system over an IDE interface.
- Binary
Although the base two-numbering system used by computers is known as
binary, the word often refers to the executable form of a program.
Contrast with "source code."
- BIOS
An abbreviation for Basic
Input/Output
System. On PC-compatible systems, the BIOS is
used to perform all necessary functions to properly initialize the
system's hardware when power is first applied. The BIOS also controls
the boot process, provides low-level input/output routines (hence its
name) and (usually) allows the user to modify details of the system's
hardware configuration.
- Boot
Short for "bootstrap." The process by which a computer starts running
an operating system when power is applied.
- Boot Disk
A diskette used to start many Red Hat Linux installations.
- Bootstrap
See "Boot."
- CISC
An abbreviation for Complex
Instruction Set
Computer. A design philosophy for computers
whereby the processor is designed to execute a relatively large number
of different instructions, each taking a different amount of time to
execute (depending on the complexity of the instruction). Contrast
with RISC.
- CMOS
Originally an abbreviation for Complementary
Metal Oxide
Semiconductor -- a semiconductor technology used
in many integrated circuits. Now often used to describe the low-level
hardware that contains a personal computer's BIOS setting, and the
computer's hardware clock.
- Cylinder
When referring to disk drives, the number of different positions the
disk drive's read/write heads can take over the unit's disk platters.
When viewed from above the platters, each head position describes an
imaginary circle of different diameters on the platter's surface, but
when viewed from the side, these circles can be thought of as a series
of cylinders nested within each other, hence the term. See also
Geometry.
- Daemon
A daemon is a program that runs, without human intervention, to
accomplish a given task. For example, lpd is a
daemon that controls the flow of print jobs to a printer.
- Dependencies
When referring to packages, dependencies are requirements that exist
between packages. For example, package foo may
require files that are installed by package bar.
In this example, bar must be installed, or else
foo will have unresolved dependencies. RPM will
not normally allow packages with unresolved dependencies to be
installed.
- Device Driver
Software that controls a device that is connected to, or part of, a
computer.
- Disk Drive
See Hard Disk.
- Disk Druid
Disk Druid is a component of the Red Hat Linux installation program that is
used to partition disk drives during the installation process.
- Diskette
A small mass storage device in a removable cartridge, meant to be
read/written to, in a compatible drive.
- Distribution
An operating system (usually Linux) that has been packaged so as to be
easily installed.
- Domain Name
A domain name is used to identify computers as belonging to a
particular organization. Domain names are hierarchical in nature,
with each level in the hierarchy being separated from other levels
with a period (pronounced "dot"). For example, Foo Incorporated's
Finance department might use the domain name "finance.foo.com."
- Driver
See Device Driver.
- Dual Boot
The act of configuring a computer system to boot more than one
operating system. The name is something of a misnomer, as it is
possible to boot more than the two operating systems the word "dual"
implies.
- EIDE
An abbreviation for Enhanced
Integrated Drive
Electronics, which is a newer version of the IDE
interface standard and another term for a particular implementation
for IDE interfaces. EIDE makes larger and faster disk drives possible;
most systems sold today use EIDE.
- Errata
Errata is Latin for "Ooops."[1] When software is found to have bugs,
quite often the software is fixed, and released as errata. Red Hat Linux is
no exception to the rule; we have an Errata Web page at http://www.redhat.com/errata.
- Extended Partition
A segment of a disk drive that contains other partitions. See
Partition.
- FAQ
An abbreviation for Frequently Asked Questions. Linux information is
often presented in the form of lists of questions and answers called
FAQs.
- fdisk
fdisk is a utility program that is used to create,
delete or modify partitions on a disk drive.
- Filesystem
A filesystem is the method by which information is stored on disk
drives. Different operating systems normally use different
filesystems, making it difficult to share the contents of a disk drive
between two operating systems. However, Linux supports multiple
filesystems, making it possible, for example, to read/write a
partition dedicated to Windows.
- Floppy
A somewhat historical term for a small mass storage device in a
removable cartridge, meant to be read/written to in a compatible
drive. See "diskette."
- Formatting
The act of writing a filesystem on a disk drive.
- FQDN
An abbreviation for Fully
Qualified Domain
Name. An FQDN is the human-readable name that
includes a computer's hostname and associated domain name. For
example, given a hostname of "foo," and a domain name of "bar.com,"
the FQDN would be "foo.bar.com."
- FTP
An abbreviation for File
Transfer Protocol. Also the
name of a program that, as the name implies, permits the copying of
files from one system on a network to another.
- Gateway
In networking terms, refers to a device that connects one or more
computers on a network to other networks. The device may be
specialized hardware (such as a router), or may be a general-purpose
computer system configured to act as a gateway.
- Geometry
When referring to disk drives, the physical characteristics of the
disk drive's internal organization. Note that a disk drive may report
a "logical geometry" that is different from its "physical geometry,"
normally to get around BIOS-related limitations. See also Cylinder,
Head and Sector.
- GID
Short for Group ID. The
means by which a user's membership in a group is identified to various
parts of Red Hat Linux. GIDs are numeric, although human-readable names are
stored in the /etc/group file.
- Group
Groups are a way of assigning specific access rights to certain
classes of users. For example, all users working on Project X could
be added to group xproj. System resources (such
as disk space) devoted to Project X could then be configured to permit
only members of xproj full access.
- Hard Disk
A hard disk contains rotating magnetic media (in the shape of disks)
that spin rapidly. Small heads float over the surface of each disk,
and are used to write to and read from the disk as it rotates.
- Head
When referring to disk drives, the number of read/write heads within a
disk drive. For each platter in a disk drive, there are normally two
heads for each platter -- one for each surface -- although one surface
may go unused. See also Geometry.
- Hostname
A hostname is a human-readable string of characters used to identify a
particular computer system.
- I18n
See Internationalization.
- IDE
An abbreviation for Integrated
Drive Electronics, which is
the name of a standard interface used to connect primarily disk and
CD-ROM drives to a computer system. See also "EIDE" and "ATAPI."
- IMAP
Internet Message
Access Protocol. A mail
server type.
- Intel
Company responsible for producing the microprocessors that most
commonly appear in PC-compatible personal computers. These processors
include the 80386, 80486, and the Pentium line.
- Internationalization
The practice of designing and writing programs that can be easily
configured to interact with the user in more than one language. Often
referred to as "i18n," due to the number of letters between the
starting "i" and the ending "n."
- IP Address
IP addresses are the method by which individual computer systems (or
from a more strictly accurate interpretation, the network interfaces
on those computer systems) are identified on a TCP/IP network. All IP
addresses consist of four number blocks, each ranging from 0 to 255,
and separated by periods.
- ISP
Internet Service
Provider.
- Kernel
The central part of an operating system upon which the rest of the
operating system is based.
- Library
When speaking of computers, refers to a collection of routines that
perform operations which are commonly required by programs. Libraries
may be shared, meaning that the library routines reside in a file
separate from the programs that use them. Library routines may also
be "statically linked" to a program, meaning that copies of the
library routines required by that program are physically added to the
program. Such statically linked binaries do not require the existence
of any library files in order to execute. Programs linked against
shared libraries will not execute unless the required libraries have
been installed.
- LILO
A commonly-used bootstrap loader for Linux systems based on an
Intel-compatible processor.
- Linus Torvalds
Created Linux in 1991 while a university student.
- Linuxconf
A versatile system configuration program written by Jacques Gelinas.
Linuxconf provides a menu-based approach to system configuration via
several different user interfaces.
- Linux
A full-featured, robust, freely-available operating system originally
developed by Linus Torvalds.
- Logical Partition
A partition that exists within an extended partition. See also
"partition" and "extended partition."
- Master Boot Record
The master boot record (or MBR) is a section of a disk drive's storage
space that is set aside for the purpose of saving information
necessary to begin the bootstrap process on a personal computer.
- MBR
See "Master Boot Record."
- Memory
When referring to computers, memory (in general) is any hardware that
can store data for later retrieval. In this context, memory usually
specifically refers to RAM.
- MILO
A commonly-used bootstrap loader for Linux systems based on the Alpha
processor.
- Module
In Linux, a module is a collection of routines that perform a
system-level function, and may be dynamically loaded and unloaded from
the running kernel as required. Often containing device drivers,
modules are tightly bound to the version of the kernel; most modules
built from one version of a kernel will not load properly on a system
running another kernel version.
- Mount
The act of making a filesystem accessible to a system's users.
- Mount Point
The directory under which a filesystem is accessible after being
mounted.
- Name Server
In TCP/IP networking terms, a name server is a computer that can
translate a human-readable name (such as "foo.bar.com") into a numeric
address (such as "10.0.2.14").
- Netmask
A netmask is a set of four number blocks separated by periods. Each
number is normally represented as the decimal equivalent of an
eight-bit binary number, which means that each number may take any
value between 0 (all eight bits cleared) and 255 (all eight bits set).
Every IP address consist of two parts (the network address and the
host number). The netmask is used to determine the size of these two
parts. The positions of the bits that are set in the netmask are
considered to represent the space reserved for the network address,
while the bits that are cleared are considered to represent the space
set aside for the host number.
- NFS
An abbreviation for Network
File System, NFS is a method
of making the filesystem on a remote system accessible on the local
system. From a user's perspective, an NFS-mounted filesystem is
indistinguishable from a filesystem on a directly-attached disk drive.
- Operating System
A collection of software that controls various resources of a
computer.
- Packages
Files that contain software, and written in a particular format that
enables the software to be easily installed and removed.
- PAM
An acronym for Pluggable
Authentication Modules. PAM
is an authentication system that controls access to Red Hat Linux.
- Partition
A segment of a disk drive's storage space that can be accessed as if
it was a complete disk drive.
- Partition Table
The partition table is a section of a disk drive's storage space set
aside to define the partitions that exist on that disk drive.
- Partition Type
Partitions contain a field that is used to define the type of
filesystem the partition is expected to contain. The partition type
is actually a number, although many times the partition type is
referred to by name. For example, the "Linux Native" partition type
is 82. Note that this number is hexadecimal.
- PC Card
See PCMCIA.
- PCMCIA
Acronym for Personal
Computer Memory
Card International
Association. This organization produced a series
of standards that define the physical, electrical and software
characteristics of small, credit card-sized devices that can contain
memory, modems, network adapters and more. Also known as PC Cards,
these devices are mainly used in laptop computers (although some
desktop systems can use PCMCIA cards, too).
- PCMCIA Support Diskette
A diskette required for Red Hat Linux installations that require the use of a
PCMCIA device during the install.
- Permissions
The set of identifiers that control access to files. Permissions
consist of three fields: user, group, and world. The user field
controls access by the user owning the file, while the group field
controls access by anyone matching the file's group specification. As
the name implies, the world field controls access by everyone else.
Each field contains the same set of bits that specify operations that
may or may not be performed, such as reading, writing and executing.
- PLIP
An abbreviation for Parallel
Line Internet
Protocol. PLIP is a protocol that permits TCP/IP
communication over a computer's parallel port using a
specially-designed cable.
- POP
Post Office
Protocol. A mail server type.
- POSIX
A somewhat mangled abbreviation for Portable
Operating System
Interface. A set of standards that grew out of
the UNIX operating system.
- PPP
Point-to-Point
Protocol. A protocol that permits a dialup
connection to an Internet Service Provider.
- Process
A process (in somewhat simplistic terms) is one instance of a running
program on a Linux system.
- PS/2 Mouse
A PS/2 mouse gets its name from the original computer in which this
type of mouse was first used -- the IBM PS/2. A PS/2 mouse can be
easily identified by the small, round connector at the end of its
cable.
- RAM
An acronym for Random Access
Memory. RAM is used to hold programs while they
are being executed, and data while it is being processed. RAM is also
volatile, meaning that information written to RAM will disappear when
the computer's power is turned off.
- RAM disk
A virtual drive which uses part of a computer's RAM to store data. A
RAM disk provides quick access to information, but unlike written
data, that data in a RAM disk is lost when the computer is turned off.
- Reboot
To restart the boot process. See also "Boot."
- Red Hat, Incorporated
A North Carolina software company. Produces and markets software for
the Linux operating system, including Red Hat Linux.
- Rescue Diskette
A diskette containing a rudimentary system environment. As the name
implies, a rescue diskette is normally used in an attempt to "rescue"
an ailing system from the necessity of re-installing the entire
operating system.
- RISC
An abbreviation for Reduced
Instruction Set
Computer. A design philosophy for computers
whereby the processor is optimized to execute a relatively small
number of different instructions in a predictably small amount of
time. Contrast with CISC.
- ROM
An abbreviation for Read
Only Memory. ROM is used to
hold programs and data that must survive when the computer is turned
off. Because ROM is non-volatile; data in ROM will remain unchanged
the next time the computer is turned back on. As the name implies,
data cannot be easily written to ROM; depending on the technology used
in the ROM, writing may require special hardware, or may be
impossible. A computer's BIOS may be stored in ROM.
- Root
The name of the login account given full and complete access to all
system resources. Also used to describe the directory named "/"as in,
"the root directory."
- RPM
An abbreviation that stands for RPM
Package Manager. RPM is
also the name of a program that enables the installation, upgrading
and removal of packages.
- SCSI
An abbreviation for Small
Computer System
Interface, SCSI is a standard interface for
connecting a wide variety of devices to a computer. Although the most
popular SCSI devices are disk drives, SCSI tape drives and scanners
are also common.
- Sector
When referring to disk drives, the number of fixed-size (normally 512
byte) areas that can be accessed by one of the disk drive's read/write
heads, in one rotation of the disk, without that head changing
position. See Also Geometry.
- Serial Mouse
A serial mouse is a mouse that is designed to be connected to a
computer's serial port. A serial mouse can be easily identified by
the rectangular-shaped connector at the end of its cable.
- setgid
A system call that can be used to set the GID of a process. Programs
can be written using setgid such that they can assume the group ID of
any group on the system.
- setuid
A system call that can be used to set the UID of a process. Programs
can be written using setuid such that they can assume the user ID of
any process on the system. This is considered a possible security
problem if a program is "setuid root."
- Shadow Password
Normally, each user's password is stored, encrypted, in the file
/etc/passwd. This file must be readable by all
users so that certain system functions will operate correctly.
However, this means that copies of user's encrypted passwords are
easily obtained, making it possible to run an automated
password-guessing program against them. Shadow passwords, on the other
hand, store the encrypted passwords in a separate highly-protected
file, making it much more difficult to crack passwords.
- SILO
A commonly-used bootstrap loader for Linux systems based on the SPARC
processor.
- SLIP
An acronym for Serial Line
Internet Protocol. SLIP is
a protocol that permits TCP/IP communication over serial line
(typically over a dial-up modem connection).
- SMB
Short for Server Message
Block, SMB is the communications protocol used by
Windows-based operating systems to support sharing of resources across
a network.
- SMTP
Simple Mail
Transfer Protocol. A mail
server type.
- source code
The human-readable form of instructions that comprise a program. Also
known as "sources." Without a program's source code, it is very
difficult to modify the program.
- SPARC
A RISC (Reduced Instruction
Set Computer) architecture
developed by Sun Microsystems.
- Swap
Also known as "swap space." When a program requires more memory than
is physically available in the computer, currently-unused information
can be written to a temporary buffer on the hard disk, called swap,
thereby freeing memory. Some operating systems support swapping to a
specific file, but Linux normally swaps to a dedicated swap
partition. A misnomer, the term swap in Linux is used to define demand
paging.
- System Call
A system call is a routine that accomplishes a system-level function
on behalf of a process.
- TCP/IP
An abbreviation for Transmission
Control
Protocol/Internet
Protocol, TCP/IP is the name given to the
networking standard commonly used on the Internet today.
- Torvalds, Linus
See Linus Torvalds.
- UID
Short for User ID. The
means by which a user is identified to various parts of Red Hat Linux. UIDs
are numeric, although human-readable names are stored in the
/etc/passwd file.
- UNIX
A set of Linux-like operating systems that grew out of an original
version written by some guys at a phone company.[2]
- Unmount
The act of revoking access to a filesystem. (Note that the program
that unmounts filesystems is called umount.)
- Virtual Console
Virtual consoles provides multiple "screens" on which a user may log
in and run programs. One screen is displayed on the computer's
monitor at any given time; a key sequence is used to switch between
virtual consoles.
- Widget
A standardized on-screen representation of a control that may be
manipulated by the user. Scroll bars, buttons, and text boxes are all
examples of widgets.
- X Window System
Also known as "X," this graphical user interface provides the
well-known "windows on a desktop" metaphor common to most computer
systems today. Under X, application programs act as clients,
accessing the X server, which manages all screen activity. In
addition, client applications may be on a different system than the X
server, permitting the remote display of the applications graphical
user interface.
- XFree86
A free implementation of the X Window System.
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