The unit of data sent across a network. Packet is a generic term used to describe a unit of data at any layer of the OSI protocol stack, but it is most correctly used to describe application layer data units ("application protocol data unit", APDU).
The method used to move data around on the Internet. In packet switching, all the data coming out of a machine is broken up into chunks, each chunk has the address of where it came from and where it is going. This enables chunks of data from many different sources to co-mingle on the same lines, and be sorted and directed to different routes by special machines along the way. This way many people can use the same lines at the same time.
One of the easiest, fastest and most powerful image viewing, editing and converting programs you may ever use on the Windows platform. It supports over 30 image formats, and contains several drawing and painting tools, plus effects and the ability to use Adobe Photoshop plugins. This is an excellent choice for converting and preparing GIF's and JPEG's for use on the World Wide Web.
A secret combinations of letters and other symbols needed to login to a computer system.
A computer device packaged in a small card about the size of a credit card and conforming to the PCMCIA standard. PC Cards provide additional memory (ROM or RAM), modem and fax modem capabilties, and can even acts as portable disk drives on portable (laptop) computers.
Personal Computer Memory Card International Association - was formed by several modem card manufacturers in the late 1980s to define the card's physical design, computer socket design, electrical interface, and associated software. PCMCIA used some of the Japanese Electronic Industry Development Association's (JEIDA) principles in developing their standard. Both organizations continue to support international standards for PC Cards as they are now called. In fact, the newest release of the standard incorporates both PCMCIA and JEIDA developments which further enhances compatibility between products. PC Cards are now used in many varied applications including several types of RAM memory, pre-programmed ROM cards, modems, sound cards, floppy disk controllers, hard drives, CD ROM and SCSI controllers, Global Positioning System (GPS) cards, data acquisition, LAN cards, pagers, etc. PCMCIA also provides the abilty for hot plugging.
Portable Document Format - The file format of documents viewed and created by the Adobe Acrobat Reader, Acrobat Capture, Adobe Distiller, Adobe Exchange, and the Adobe Acrobat Amber Plug-in for Netscape Navigator. This file format was developed in hopes to standardize formatting of documents that are used on the Internet. One of the benefits of using Acrobat and PDFs is that whether you're an executive using Microsoft(R) Office products, an engineer using a CAD program, or an art director using desktop publishing software, you can quickly deliver business documents to a colleague or to the entire company, without reauthoring or learning new applications.
The Ph system allows you to look up directory information, usually including e-mail addresses at universities, research institutions, and some governmental agencies throughout the world. You need a program that lets you use Ph. Tell that program which Ph server to use, and then enter a name you would like to search for.
A shareware utility for compressing and decompressing files developed by PKWARE in 1986. Their are versions for both Microsoft Windows as well as MS-DOS based systems. SEE ALSO WinZIP.
Packet INnternet Groper - An Internet program used to determine whether a specific IP address is accessible. It works by sending a packet to the specified address and waiting for a reply. PING is used primarily to troubleshoot Internet connections. In addition, PING reports how many hops are required to connect two Internet hosts. There are many freeware and shareware PING utilities available for personal computers.
A file that lists anything you want others on the Net to know about you. You place it in your home directory on your public-access site.
The type of computer or operating system on which a software application runs. For example, some common platforms are PC, Macintosh, Unix, and NeXT. When someone knows more than one of these platforms or when a program can be used on more than one of these platforms, it is known as cross-platform.
A smaller "add-on" computer program which works in conjuction with a larger application. Usually a plug-in enhances the capabilities of the program it is "plugged" into. Web browsers like Netscape Navigator have many plug-ins which allow a user to do everything from viewing Quicktime VR animations to visiting VRML worlds to hearing realaudio.
Post Office Protocol - The protocol used by mail clients to retrieve messages from a mail server. Comes in three flavors POP1, POP2, and POP3 the number denoting the different version number of the protocol. SEE ALSO: IMAP.
The first and most generally used meaning is a place where information
goes into or out of a computer, or both. E.g. the "serial port" on a
person computer is where a modem would be connected.
Secondly, on the Internet, port often refers to a number that is part of a
URL, appearing after a colon (:) right after the domain name. Every
service on an Internet server "listens" on a particular port number on that
server. Most services have standard port numbers, e.g. Web servers
normally listen on port 80. Services can also listen on non-standard
ports, in which case the port number must be specified in a URL when
accessing the server, so you might see a URL of the form:
gopher://peg.cwis.uci.edu:7000/
which shows a gopher server running on a non-standard port (the standard
gopher port is 70).
Finally, "port" also refers to translating a piece of software to bring it
from one type of computer system to another, e.g. to translate a Windows
program so that is will run on a Macintosh.
Subscribers to newsgroups and mailing lists take part in discussions by sending, or posting their articles or comments on-line. Means the same as "to put up".
A single message entered into a network communications system.
The person to contact at a particular site to ask for information about the site or complain about one of his/her user's behavior.
PostScript is a programming language designed to be used to describe printing on pages. Apple helped make PostScript popular by selling printers with built in PostScript interpreters. Many programs have evolved to produce PostScript programs as their output, making PostScript the lingua franca of printing.
Until recently, in order to print a PostScript file, you had to have a relatively expensive laser printer. The development that changed this was the software PostScript interpreter. These programs allow your computer to interpret PostScript programs, and produce the matrix of dots to send to your normal graphics printer.
One of the benefits of PostScript is that it is resolution independent. What this means is that it can support the highest resolution of your device -- and that you can reasonably preview PostScript on a low resolution screen.
plain old telephone system or public switched telephone network the collection of interconnected systems operated by the various telephone companies and administrations(PTTs) around the world. The PSTN or POTS started as human-operated analogue circuit switching systems (plugboards), progressed through electromechanical switches and are now (1994) almost completely digital except for the final connection to the subscriber. Other things that make the PSTN less than bit-transparent include A-law to mu-law conversion or vice versa on international calls; robbed-bit signalling in North America (56kbps <--> 64 kbps); data compression to save bandwidth on long-haul trunks; signal processing such as echo suppression and voice signal enhancement such as AT&T TrueVoice. All this is in contrast to an integrated services digital network or ISDN.
Point-to-Point Protocol - Communication protocol used over serial lines to support Internet connectivity.
The act of placing your mouse arrow onto a link to direct it to another web page. "Point your browser to" means "go to" that web site.
A database of popular web sites that will direct you to areas of interest. Some web sites display the "top 5%" seal indicating the site was selected for it's excellence in content, presentation, and experience .
Short for probably.
The flashing symbol where you type or place your mouse on the screen. This is when the host system asks you to do something and waits for you to respond. For example, if you see "login:" it means type your user name.
A specification that describes how computers will talk to each other on a network.
or proxy server - A technique used to cache information on a Web server and acts as an intermediary between a Web client and that Web server. It basically holds the most commonly and recently used content from the World Wide Web for users in order to provide quicker access and to increase server security. This is common for an ISP especially if they have a slow link to the Internet.
Proxy servers are also constructs that allow direct Internet access from behind a firewall. They open a socket on the server, and allow communication via that socket to the Internet. For example, if your computer is inside a protected network, and you want to browse the Web using Netscape, you would set up a proxy server on a firewall. The proxy server would be configured to allow requests from your computer, trying for port 80, to connect to its port 1080, and it would then redirect all requests to the proper places.