Jargon Buster I

A - B - C -D - E - F - G - H- I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

IDE - Integrated Drive Electronics
Integrated Drive Electronics: (also known as ATA) refers to a standard used in Hard Drives and CD Roms whereby the controller is integrated into the device, this standard saw the end of separate disk controllers for IDE devices, see also SCSI.

IMAP - Internet Message Access Protocol
Internet Message Access Protocol: A new email standard that leaves a copy of your email messages on the email server for a specified time. The big advantage is that you can download email from home and then download it again at work.

Interlaced
TV/video systems in which the electron beam writes every other line, then retraces itself to make a second pass to complete the final framed image. Originally, this reduced magnetic line paring, but took twice as long to paint, which added some flicker in graphic images.

IO - Input/Output
A general term for reading and writing data to a computer. The term "input" includes data from a keyboard, pointing device (such as a mouse), or loading a file from a disk. "Output" includes writing information to a disk, viewing it on a CRT, or printing it to a printer

IP - IP Address - Internet Protocol
IP Address: This is a unique number split into 4 parts separated by full stops, every computer connected to the internet has an IP address, a typical IP address looks like this 213.22.128.66.

IRDA - InfRared Data Association
These people developed the IRDA port standard that transfers data through the use of infrared light. Of course, you must have two IRDA devices to get any real use out of this technology. Most notebooks today come standard with this port, as do PDAs and some printers as well. It's handy if you road warriors want to print a document and you've got all the right equipment.

IRQ - Interrupt ReQuest
Interrupt ReQuest: This can be thought of as a 'channel' that devices in your PC use when they want the processors attention, ie when you move the mouse or press a key, it is important that the IRQ settings in your machine are set correctly otherwise it can cause devices to conflict with each other.

ISA - Industry Standard Architecture
The Industry Standard Architecture design is found in the original IBM PC for the slots on the motherboard that allowed additional hardware to be connected to the computer's motherboard. An 8-bit, 8.33 MHz expansion bus was designed by IBM for its AT computer and released to the public domain. An improved 16-bit bus was also released to the public domain. Various other designs such as IBM's MicroChannel and EISA bus tried to improve on the design without much popularity. ISA only supports 8- and 16-bit data paths, so 32-bit alternatives such as PCI and AGP have become popular. Although ISA slots linger on most motherboards, they are on the way out, replaced by the newer 32-bit slots

ISDN - Integrated Services Digital Network
ISDN: A high speed internet connection system mainly aimed at business, now being superseded by the much faster ADSL. Requires a special type of modem called a Terminal Adaptor.

ISP - Internet Service Provider
Internet Service Provider: refers to a company which provides Internet services such as AOL, typical ISPs provide:
# A Dial-up server with which to connect to the internet along with a number, username and password.
# An Email address.
# A POP Server through which to receive emails.
# An SMTP Server through which to send emails.
Most ISPs also provide web-mail (online email access) which allows you to access your emails from any computer.

IT - Information Technology
The business of computers, electronic communica-tions, and electronic commerce.

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