| Word or
Term |
Description
or Explanation |
| Sampler |
an add-on that takes a sound signal as input
and turns it into digital data that can stored and/or manipulated within the
computer and then be output again through a DAC (digital to analogue
converter) |
| Scanner |
an add-on that enables the user to read
visual images into the computer from originals such as photographs and
books |
| SCART |
Syndicat des Constructeurs d'Appariels de
Radio et de Television - well, you wanted to know, didn't you! - a means of
connecting computers, video recorders, etc., to televisions and monitors using
standard connections (sometimes referred to as 'Peritel') |
| Scrap |
see !Scrap |
| Screen blanking |
within RISC OS 3 is an optional facility (set
in the configuration) which switches the screen to black after a user-definable
length of time if the computer is not being used - as soon as a key is pressed
or the mouse is moved, the screen returns to normal - this reduces the
likelihood of monitors having patterns 'burned in' to the face of the tube (and
reduces the power consumption of the monitor to some extent) |
| Screen mode |
information can be displayed on TV or monitor
screens in a number of different formats - the numbers of pixels that make up
the screen may be different (from, say, 480 × 512 to 1600 × 1200 or
more) and the colour depth of each pixel may vary - the amount of memory used
to display the screen will increase as both the number of pixels and the colour
depth are increased - there is a trade-off between the two as the amount of
video memory is usually limited - aparticular size and colour depth is referred
to as a screen mode |
| Scroll arrow |
the arrows within a window that are used to
allow you to scroll through a document or list or to move around the contents
of a window that is too big to display in the current size of window |
| Scrolling |
if a file or document is too large to be
displayed on the screen all at once, it is displayed in a window with scroll
bars and scroll arrows so that you can move around and view different parts of
it as necessary |
| SCSI |
Small Computer Systems Interface - this is an
agreed standard system for communicating data between computers and data
storage and acquisition devices, the data being transmitted along parallel data
paths - it is commonly used to link a computer to hard drives, CD-ROMs and/or
scanners, but it can also be used to link computers together, subject to the
limitation that you can only link a total of eight different 'devices'
together |
| SCSI 2 |
a faster version of SCSI - comes in fast,
wide and fast/wide versions |
| SCSI 3 |
an even faster SCSI, yet to be fully defined,
though products are becoming available |
| SCSIFS |
a RISC OS filing system used for
communicating with devices attached to the SCSI interface |
| SDTV |
Standard Definition TV |
| Search engine |
a facility that allows you to search for
keywords in databases, archives or web pages - well known ones include
Alta-Vista, Excite, Yahoo, Webcrawler, Google, etc. |
| Second
processor |
in computers such as the RiscPC it is
possible to have more than one processor working together sharing memory, data
storage and peripherals - in the RiscPC, the ARM610 takes charge when the
computer is first switched on and it then allows the other processor (the
'second processor') access to memory, etc. |
| Select box |
a rectangular box used to outline an area
within which any objects are selected |
| Self-test |
when a computer is switched on, it runs
through a series of tests to check, as far as it is able, that it is
functioning correctly - in a RISC OS 3 (or later) computer, if any of these
self-tests fails, it will usually issue some sort of error message - if the
system has not managed to get as far as producing a working display on the VDU,
it will send a coded message about the likely error by flashing the LED on the
floppy drive |
| Serial |
a device or communication channel is said to
be serial if the data is sent sequentially, one bit at a time, as opposed to
being sent several bits at a time down a number of parallel wires |
| Server |
a computer or system that provides resources
to a number of other computers or clients on a computer network - it shares
(some of) its files and/or peripherals with other computers on the same
network |
| Set-Top Box
(STB) |
a generic term referring to a piece of
electronic hardware which sits on or alongside a television set, and provides
information on the TV screen - examples of this are: satellite TV receivers,
cable TV receivers and some types of network computer - when digital television
arrives, many people will require some kind of set-top box in order to receive
it |
| SGML |
Standard Generalised Markup Language - an
international standard for encoding documents according to their logical
structure and typographical style - HTML is a subset of SGML |
| Shareware |
software which you can try out for free
before buying it |
| Shovelware |
this is a derogatory term for software and
other data of inferior quality that is used to 'pack out' a CD-ROM and make it
up to 600Mb, or whatever, to convince the potential purchaser that the disc is
worth buying |
| Shutdown |
a menu option on the task manager iconbar
menu which 'clears up' the computer prior to switching it off - it can also be
done by using <ctrl-shift-f12> |
| Signal-to-noise ratio |
the amount of useful information to be found
in a given Usenet newsgroup - often used derogatorily, for example: "the
signal-to-noise ratio in this newsgroup is pretty low" |
| Signature |
this is a small area of text at the bottom of
a message which is configured by the user - whenever he or she posts a message
or Usenet article, the signature is attached automatically by the mailing
software - it may take the form of a set of words and/or ASCII graphics |
| Signature separator |
a line consisting of the characters "-- "
(including the space), which is the standard way of indicating the start of a
signature at the bottom of an email message or Usenet post - if this line is
present, most mail or news readers will strip the signature automatically when
the message is quoted in an email reply or followup post |
| SIMM |
Single In-line Memory Module - an industry
standard plug-in memory card as used in the RiscPC, for example - there are two
standard sizes, 30-pin and 72-pin - RiscPCs use 72-pin SIMMs |
| Site |
a computer system holding information that
can be accessed by other computers |
| Slice |
Single Layer Item of Computer Expansion! -
the name applies to a single extra layer of case in a RiscPC - it includes a
new backplane with two more slots than previously and four locking pins longer
than the ones they replace |
| SLIP |
Serial Line Internet Protocol - a link
protocol which enables IP packets to be transmitted down a serial line by
adding a simple header - used extensively by dial-up Internet Providers since
RS232 signals can be modulated and sent along a telephone wire using a modem -
however, more complex protocols, such as CSLIP (compressed SLIP) and PPP
(point-to-point protocol) are gaining popularity since they allow better data
throughput |
| Smalltalk |
a high level computer programming language
that allows you to use object-oriented techniques |
| SMD |
Surface Mount Device - a progression from DIL
packaging - ICs, resistors, etc, are directly mounted onto the PCB tracks,
rather than mounted through a hole - this greatly enhances the reliability of
the machine, whilst reducing size - all Acorn machines make use of surface
mount technology |
| Smileys :-) |
sideways on, it looks like a little smiling
:-) face, or a sad :-( face, or even an amazed :-o face - often used in
newsgroups to indicate sarcastic or silly comments because no one can see your
expression on the Internet - other faces include ;-) winking, :-* oops!, :->
sarcastic remark and >:-> devilish remark |
| SMS |
Short Message Service - a method of sending
short text messages via a digital telephone |
| SMTP |
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol - a method of
passing email messages from one machine to another - the other popular mail
protocol is POP |
| Snailmail |
a pejorative term referring to the
conventional (postal) mail system as opposed to email |
| SNTP |
Simple Network Time Protocol (RFC 2030 -
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2030) is used when the full functionality of NTP is
not required. UDP is used via port 123. The data is sent as a block. |
| Software Interrupt |
see SWI |
| SOHO (market) |
Small Office Home Office - a defined market
into which companies try to sell their computer goodies |
| Source code |
the name given to the program written in a
high level language which is converted by a compiler into machine executable
code |
| Spam (1) |
to post an article to multiple, inappropriate
newsgroups, rather like illegal bill posters - this is often unwanted
advertising and "Get rich quick" type schemes - do not do it! - it is
very heavily frowned upon and will result in mailbombs and most likely the
killing of your access |
| Spam (2) |
to flood someone else's screen with useless
'noise' - on IRC, this usually translates into annoying beeps or unprintable
characters - spamming is considered a punishment for behaviour that runs
against the grain of the net culture, typically corporate advertising |
| Spammer |
a person who generates spams! |
| SPDIF |
Sony/Philips Digital InterFace - a proprietry
means of connecting digital audio equipment together - using either optical
fibre or co-axial cable, digitised sound can be transfered between computers,
digital storage devices and digital effects units |
| Spoiler |
a Usenet posting that reveals the ending or
important facts of a plot - do not read unless you want to know in advance what
happens |
| Sprite |
a graphic made up of coloured pixels |
| Sprite pool |
an area of memory used by RISC OS for storing
sprites |
| SQL |
Structured Query Language - language for
extracting information from a database - developed by a team led by Frank King
at IBM and is a powerful database language |
| SSD |
Solid State Drive - a memory chip used like a
disc drive in Pocket Book / Psion 3 |
| SSL |
Secure Sockets Layer - a protocol for
encrypted communications on the internet, commonly used for "secure Web
pages" |
| ST506 |
the type of hard disc interface fitted to
pre-A5000 computers - now obsolete |
| Stacks |
you will often hear the TCP/IP protocols
referred to as "stacks" - this comes from the way the protocols build up, each
new one sitting on top of the others to provide more services - FTP uses TCP
which uses IP which uses SLIP - see Protocol stack |
| Static RAM |
Random Access Memory which does not require a
refresh cycle - data stored can be maintained by a few µA from a battery
- this type of RAM is ideal for storing data when a computer is switched off -
Acorn computers use static RAM to store default settings |
| STB |
see Set-Top
Box |
| Style sheet |
a file that defines the general layout and
appearance of a document by specifying parameters like page size, fonts,
etc. |
| Subdirectory |
within any directory, you can store files and
other directories - a directory that appears inside another directory is
referred to as a subdirectory |
| Subscribe |
to join a newsgroup for the purpose of
reading articles posted to it - the subscription is recorded by the NNTP client
program (such as Newsbase) and simply tells it which articles to download from
the news server - no record of subscriptions is kept at the server itself |
| SVGA |
Super Video Graphics Array - an upgrade of
the earlier VGA display standard, giving 800 × 600 pixels with up to 16
colours - sometimes called EVGA (Enhanced VGA) - in Acorn-speak: mode 31 |
| SWI |
SoftWare Interrupt - a name given to a
routine in RISC OS - it can be one provided by the operating system itself or
one which an application creates - it is then available to be used by other
applications and so is, effectively, an extension to the operating system |
| Switch |
a device to connect computers on the same
network/segment of a network together - every piece of information is
transmitted to a specific destination computer/device connected to the switch -
some switches require configuring to enable them to do this, others configure
themselves automatically |
| Syquest |
a company making a range of removable hard
drives, ideal for back-up and transport of valuable data |
System application
(!System) |
an application that contains many of the
resources that can be used by any or all other applications |
| System disc |
a floppy disc containing a copy of
!System |