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MB_899.txt
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Glossary
Accelerator
An expansion unit that speeds up your Amiga's CPU (Central Processing
Unit). Some games and most serious programs benefit.
A.G.A.
Advanced Graphics Architecture. This chipset is graphically far more
advanced than its predecessors. It first appeared in October 1992 in the
Amiga 4000 and then into the mass market via the Amiga 1200. It had a
higher resolution available called Super-High Res. All the resolutions
could have 256 different colours on screen beating the previous 32. The
new 8-bit HAM mode gave 262,208 colours on screen out of a possible
24-bit colour palette of 16,777,216.
AmigaDOS
Amiga Disk Operating System. This is a system which can be controlled by
CLI and Shell. It allows you to control what is happening on your disk.
Anim
The most common file format on the Amiga for storing animations. Anim5
is the most common version used.
Animation
A sequence of pictures which when displayed quickly one after the other
look like a moving picture. Each image in the animation is referred to
as a frame.
Anti-aliasing
Smoothing method used by computers to blur the transition between sharp
edges and background colours by using intermediate colours.
Archiving
A process whereby a number of files are compressed and then put into one
single file. The files can be decompressed into their original form
later on using the program you archived with.
ASCII
A universal data format which stores plain text. It doesn't allow the
text to be style e.g. underlined, but most word processors will easily
view it.
Baud Rate
A measure of the speed of the connection through the serial port (handles
modems and some printers). Usually translated as Bits Per Second.
BBS
Bulletin Board System. A place which you link up to via the telephone
line using your modem. Once connected you can send/receive messages and
software or play multi user games.
Bit
The smallest unit of memory that a computer can hold. It is either a 1
or a 0.
Blitter
Part of the internal Amiga hardware used to copy and transfer data at
extremely fast speeds. Used a lot in games.
Bubble Jet Printer
Works in a similar way to ink jet printers. Instead of electronically
forcing ink through the nozzles they, a bubble jet printer heats the
nozzles. At certain temperatures bubbles form and ink is forced out.
Buffer
This is a place where information is stored for a short time until it can
be used. E.g. a printer buffer holds the information it is going to
print until it can print it (it can receive information more quickly than
it could print it). Therefore while something is printing the Amiga
could be doing a different task.
Bump Mapping
Painting term to describe the process of shading a 2D image so it appears
to be 3D.
Byte
A byte is 8 bits. In an ASCII text one byte would be one character.
CAD
Computer Aided Design. This type of program is used for technical
drawings. They store the image data mathematically.
CD
The Compact Disk can be used to hold a large amount of information.
About 550MB which is equivalent to 640 Amiga 880K floppy disks.
CD-ROM
Compact Disc Read Only Memory.
Chrominance
The colour component of video.
CLI
Command Line Interface. A program/window that allows you to use AmigaDOS
for standard operations such as deleting or copying files.
Click
A click is when you press the left mouse button once. A double-click is
when you press the left mouse button and then quickly afterwards press it
again.
Clock Speed
Microprocessors carry out their operations strictly by the clock. Each
time the clock ticks they carry out the next thing. The faster the clock
the faster they work. In an A1200 the clock speed is 14.28Mhz, it ticks
14,280,000 times a second.
Composite Video
This is the combination of luminance and chrominance into one signal.
Compressing
This is when a file is reduced in size, usually by deleting information
which is repeated in a file. The repeated information is remembered once
and then is then called back when ever needed.
Co-processor
A chip which takes some of the work from the CPU, allowing the CPU to
concentrate on the serious number crunching. In the Amiga the
co-processors are the custom chips. One other useful co-processor is the
FPU.
CPS
Characters Per Second. A printing term showing the printer's speed.
Some times there maybe two figures, one for draft printing and one for
NLQ (Near Letter Quality) printing.
CPU
The Central Processing Unit makes all the decisions and tells everything
else what to do.
Crash
A term used to describe a fatal error in the execution of a program that
causes the computer to lock up and/or reset.
Custom Chips
One of the most important parts of the Amiga is its custom chips. This
means it does not have to rely on the CPU for all the computing work.
The custom chips are smaller processors which handle various specific
processes on the Amiga.
Daisy Chain
This is way of linking a few add-ons together. E.g. You can have up to
4 external disk drives linked together, using the drive ports at the back
of each disk drive to plug in the wires.
Data
Any form of information stored and processed by a computer such as text,
images and sound. Also an android in Star Trek the Next Generation.
Database
A computer file containing information. Useful for organization of
information e.g. address book. They are made up of records which are in
turn made up of fields
DF0: DF1: DF2:
System names for the floppy drives on the Amiga. D = Drive, F = Floppy
and the number refers to a drive, 0 being the standard internal drive and
the : means its a device.
Digitiser
A device used for grabbing images from a video signal and then importing
them on an Amiga.
Digitising
The conversion of data from the real world into a digital form that the
computer can understand. E.g. images and sound.
Dip Switches
Dual Inline Pole Switches. These are switched either on or off to allow
printers to work on different computers. Most of the time you can do
this using the front panel displays.
Disk
A medium for storing and retrieving data.
Download
To transfer a file from another computer to yours.
Dot Matrix Printer
The cheapest type of printer. It forms each part of the printout from a
group (matrix) of pins that strike the paper through a ribbon of ink. It
can be very noisy. Some dot matrix printers have 9 pins, the more
sophisticated ones have 24 pins. They produce a better printout because
there is less space between the dots.
DRAM
Dynamic Random Access Memory. A kind of RAM which is faster than SIMMs
the Amiga standard.
Drive Click
All disk drives click every few seconds to look for a disk in the disk
drive. Some programs exist to stop this, but some drives solve this
problem with hardware solutions.
DTP
Desk Top Publishing. This is the combination of pictures and words in
one document. Basically you have complete control over the lay-out and
appearance of each page you produce.
EMail
Electronic Mail. Similar to ordinary mail but the messages are delivered
electronically instead of physically, so you can't send woolly jumpers
through EMail.
Emulator
Emulators are either software or a combination of hardware and software
which allow you to pretend your computer is another machine. This is
very useful if you use a number of computers and wish to transfer
information between them.
EPS
Encapsulated Postscript. A file format for saving pictures and other
graphics.
Epson Compatible
A printer standard. The chances are that if a printer is Epson
compatible it will work on your Amiga. You will probably get better
print-outs if you have a specific printer driver for your printer (which
may just happen to be Epson because Epson is a printer manufacturer).
External Disk Drive
An external disk drive is just a copy of the internal disk drive (which
all Amigas have) but is placed in its own case outside of your Amiga. It
means you can work with 2 (or more) disks at once and many games support
external disk drives which means disk swapping is kept to a minimum. You
can have up to 4 external disk drives working with your Amiga.
Field
A database is divided into fields that contain specific pieces of
information for each record. E.g. In an address book possible fields
could be name, phone number, address, city and postcode.
File
Any collection of data stored on a disk.
Floppy Disk
Disk made with a plastic. Inside is a circle of magnetic material which
the computer can use to store information on.
Floppy Disk Drive
The unit in which floppy disks can be placed and then used.
Fonts
A style of typeface.
FPU
The Floating Point Unit or Maths Co-processor really only does a lot of
maths. Especially using decimal numbers. It is fast and therefore
useful for maths intensive operations like ray-tracing and other 3D work.
Fractal
Graphics which have been produced by some very complex maths.
Formatting
Before a blank floppy disk can be used it needs to be formatted. This
disk is then set-up to be used with your Amiga.
Frame Grabber
A device for capturing live video data and converting it into a computer
image. It doesn't require a still video signal.
Freeware
The software which a programmer has produced can be copied freely,
however the programmer still retains copyright on his work.
Gadgets
Bits around the border of a window, which allow you to resize, scroll up
or down or left or right through the window, etc.
Genlock
Add-on device used to combine the graphical out-put of your Amiga with
any video source e.g. VCR or video camera.
Gigabyte
1024 megabytes is equal to one gigabyte.
Grabbing
The process of taking images from video/TV and storing them on a disk so
they can be viewed on an Amiga.
GUI
Graphical User Interface. A means of communicating with your Amiga via a
WIMP type interface using Workbench. It makes things simpler as keyboard
commands do not have to be memorised, makes computers much easier to use.
HAM
Hold And Modify. This function holds the screen and modifies it to
display all the different coloured pixels available to you. HAM programs
vastly increase the number of colours to available to you. However this
mode is slow to use, animations are jerky and a certain amount of
fringing is produced which lowers the quality of the image. Though with
careful choices of colour good results can be achieved. Perfect for
digitised pictures with their many colours. HAM-6 which is used in the
older non-AGA Amigas displays 4096 different colours out of a 4096 colour
palette. HAM-8 which is used in the AGA Amigas displays 262,144
different colours out of a 24-bit palette of 16,777,216 colours.
Hard Disk
As the name implies the Hard Disk is hard (would you believe it?) it can
hold vast amounts of data compared with a floppy and operates much faster
than a floppy disk. Many programs benefit form being stored on a hard
disk. In fact some programs will only run from it because of the large
amounts of information involved.
Hook Up Games
Games which allow you to play another person on two or more separate
Amigas.
Host
The computer you connect to when you dial up a BBS with your modem.
Icon
A small picture on the computer screen which represents a specific thing.
Icons can be used to run programs and show that data exists.
IDE
Intelligent Drive Electronics. A device which allows you to connect
hardware to it such as hard drives. It is cheaper than the SCSI
interface, but it is slower, which fortunately is still quite fast.
IFF
Interchange File Format. A standard form of saving data. This allows
similar applications to load the same data. For example any Amiga art
package will load in IFF images.
Ink Jet Printer
Higher quality and far faster than a dot matrix printer. Works by
spraying ink on the page through tiny nozzles.
Interface
The point of communication between you and a computer.
JPEG
Joint Photographic Experts Group. A way of compressing large graphics
with staggering savings. Its really only used on true-colour images
(images with 16.8 million colours).
Kickstart
The name of the set of programs that are automatically run when you
switch on your Amiga.
Kilobyte
Abbreviated to K. Each kilobyte is 1024 bytes. A kilobyte is about 14
lines of ASCII text.
Laser Printer
The best quality type of printer. Basically the laser in the printer
creates the image of whatever you want to print by firing a charge at a
photosensitive drum, which then attracts the toner to it. The image is
transferred to paper when the paper runs over the drum.
Licenseware
Licenseware programs are a little commercial, you are not allowed to copy
them freely. When you pay for this type of program the programmer
automatically gets his cut. They only cost a little bit more than
standard PD software.
Light Pen
A device shaped like a pen. You point it at the screen to control
functions during special application programs.
Luminance
Black and white video.
Megabyte
Abbreviated to MB. A megabyte is 1024 kilobytes. At release the A600
was equipped with 1MB of RAM. At release the A1200 was equipped with
2MBs of RAM. A megabyte of memory can hold about 46 pages (1400 lines)
of ASCII text.
Memory
Memory is where a computer can remember data, for later retrieval. It
can store things in RAM in ROM or on some kind of disk. Memory can be
worked out in bits, bytes, kilobytes, megabytes and in some rare cases
gigabytes.
Menu
A list of functions and operations, usually contained as a pull down menu
in a title bar. E.g. Pressing the right mouse button on Workbench will
show the menu titles on the title bar. Moving your mouse (while still
holding the right mouse button) over the menu title will show you a list
of options which you can access.
MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface. Standard way of get your Amiga to
work with a sequencer. You need a synthesizer to actually make the
sound.
MNP
Miracom Networking Protocol. A device used with a modems and a telephone
line to filter out any rubbish from the line. A level 5 MNP filter also
compresses the data you send.
Modem
A device which allows you to connect your computer to others over the
telephone lines. You can use it to connect up with a Bulletin Board
System (BBS) and it also lets you to get connected to the Internet.
Modulator
A device used to convert the Amiga's RGB (Red, Green and Blue) and audio
signals into either RF (Radio Frequency) or television and separate audio
signals.
Monitor
A display specially designed for computers. Images are clearer than on a
TV screen, which means less strain on the eyes. If a monitor comes with
speakers the sound is also usually better than on a TV.
Morphing
A graphical technique which makes one image appear to turn into another
in front of your eyes. It can also be used to distort images.
Mouse
A device which sits on a desktop. It allows the Workbench pointer to be
moved. When its pushed around the rubber ball inside the plastic shell
moves around, this in turn rotates three little rollers which detect the
direction that the mouse is moving. The Amiga interprets in the
information and changes the position of the pointer accordingly.
Multimedia
Combination of text, images and sound in a single program. Sort of like
a computer book.
Multi-tasking
Allows a number of programs to run simultaneously. Remember the Amiga
has had this for years!
NLQ
Near Letter Quality. Most printers have at least one NLQ font, for
printing finished documents of a high standard. Printing in NLQ mode
slows down the print speed. Some top of the range printers offer SLQ
(Super Letter Quality) fonts.
NTSC
National Television Systems Committee. The 525 line television display
used in the USA. Also due to its poor quality its some times referred to
as Never Twice the Same Colour.
Null-Modem Games
Games which can be played by 2 players on 2 separate Amigas which are
joined together by a null-modem cable.
Overscan
A screen mode which allows you to work with any area of the TV. Most
screen modes leave a small vertical bar down the left side of the TV.
Overscan is only really used for video work, to achieve a far more
professional effect.
PAL
Phase Alternating Line. The 625 line display used by televisions in the
UK.
Palette
The range of colours at your disposal in a paint program.
PD
Public Domain. This is when programmers waive their copyright on their
software. It can then be copied freely. The Public Domain software can
be bought cheaply from PD libraries for little more than a price of a
disk. There are few restrictions to PD, the most common being the author
should be credited for the work.
Peripheral
Piece of hardware such as monitors, disk drives and printers which are
connected to and controlled by your Amiga.
Pixel
Picture Element. A dot of colour on the computer screen. A picture on a
computer is made up of many square pixels. Each individual square is
coloured.
Pointer
An arrow or other symbol on the screen under your control. The pointer
is used to select commands or draw in graphics programs.
Port
Socket on a computer that you can use to connect peripherals to your
Amiga.
Program
Set of instructions for the computer telling it what to do. Computer
programs are collecitively referred to as software.
Protocol
A transfer protocol is a software system whereby by two separate
computers can send and receive information over a telephone line. The
most known protocols are Kermit, XModem, YModem and ZModem.
RAM
Random Access Memory. Memory which can be altered. The main use of RAM
is store programs and program data while the program is running. Every
time the Amiga is switched off the contents of the RAM is erased unlike
ROM chips. There are 2 types of RAM they, are Chip RAM and Fast RAM.
Chip RAM is allocated to the Amiga's custom chips as well as the CPU.
Fast RAM is only accessed by the CPU. It is therefore far faster than
Chip RAM. A computer which has Fast RAM and Chip RAM will work faster
than the same type of computer with only Chip RAM.
Range
The spread of colours from one shade to another. E.g. red to white
through lots of shades of pink.
Ray-Tracing
This when realistic images are created from calculating where light
bounces and travels. This is a very mathematical process.
Record
A record is the database equivalent to a card containing information on a
single subject.
Rendering
Producing a 3D image by calculating it. Very similar to ray-tracing.
Resolution
The number of pixels across by the number down is the resolution. For
example Low-Resolution is 320 pixels across by 256 down which amounts to
81,920 pixels on screen.
The Amiga has a variety of resolutions all varying in detail. Games
usually use a Low-Resolution for speed.
RF
Radio Frequency. The method used to transmit combined video and audio
signals from a broadcaster to a receiver. There is a loss of quality
from the original source.
RGB
Red, Green and Blue. The raw colours used to make-up electronic images
such as colour TV or computer screen images. The Amiga outputs RGB video
as standard. Using an RGB monitor insures a far better display than an
RF signal on a TV.
ROM
Read Only Memory. ROMs cannot be altered and when the Amiga is switched
off the contents is retained, unlike RAM.
The most obvious use on the Amiga is to store the Kickstart
The A1200 has a 512k ROM.
RTF
Rich Text Format. RTF is text format which is interchangeable with a
variety of programs.
Sampler
A device which allows the Amiga to record sounds electronically. They
work by checking the voltage levels of the sound thousands of times a
second. The more times the voltage is checked then better the quality of
the sound when it is played back. Compact disks store data digitally at
44.1kHz (441,000 voltage changes a second) if a sampler can operate at
this rate it is said to have CD quality.
The higher the sample rate the more memory is required to hold the
information. Sampled sounds are used in many games to great affect.
Scanner
A device for converting a still, flat image like a photograph into a
computer image. Scanners are either hand held (you move them over the
image) or flat bed (used like a photocopier).
SCART
A 21-pin connector used by many Videos and TVs to send picture and sound
information into one socket.
Script File
A set of commands saved as a ASCII text file, so you don't have to type
them out by hand.
Scrolling
Moving a screen in any given direction.
SCSI
Small Computer Systems Interface. A device that allows you to connect
hardware to it such as laser printers, memory expansions and hard drives.
It is quite a fast interface.
Self-Booting Disk
A disk that starts up of its own accord. Most disks are self-booting
e.g. your Workbench disk is self-booting.
Sequencer
A means of recording all the notes and performance data to be played by a
synthesizer. No sounds are recorded, just the instructions to tell the
synthesizer what to do.
Shareware
Software which is initially free but if you like the program then you are
meant to pay for it. It allows you to try before you buy. Usually after
paying you will get the latest version of your program.
Sheet Feeder
A device which automatically gives the printer a fresh piece of paper
whenever needed.
Shell
An advanced version of CLI, which allows you to use standard AmigaDOS
operations such as deleting or copying a file.
SIMM
Single In-line Memory Management units. RAM for the Amiga usually comes
in the form of SIMM cards which plug easily into the appropriate slots on
the motherboard.
Splitter
A device for splitting a video image into red, green and blue image
components instead of with a black and white camera or filters.
Sprite
A graphic that can move over a background without affecting it. Used for
mouse pointers and in games for ships, bullets etc.
Startup-sequence
A script file which is executed by standard Amiga DOS disks on loading.
They handle the setting up of many programs and help the user by giving
them less to do.
SysOp
System Operator. The person who is in charge of a BBS.
Task
A task is one individual software application which is running. Because
the Amiga is multi-tasking it is possible to have more than one task
running at any given time.
Tractor Feed
A mechanism which pulls a continuous line of paper through a printer.
Upload
To send a file from your computer to another computer.
Virus
Nasty programs which can harm your computer data. They can damage files
stored on floppy disk or hard disk, they can crash the computer and ruin
software. Some viruses are not very harmful, but annoying. Fortunately
virus killing programs exist, check-out the Virus Checker series.
Wild Card
A function which allows you to group files together, e.g. look at all
image files ending with .iff
WIMP
Windows Icon Menu Pointer. The first user interface which did not rely
on the keyboard. It used the mouse and pointer instead.
Window
A frame which contains icons to data and programs on the computer.
Workbench
An Amiga program with a GUI which allows you to control many of the
facilities of your Amiga. Many programs can be integrated into the
Workbench environment.
WYSIWYG
What You See Is What You Get (pronounced whizzie-wig). Applies to a
program in which the screen display matches the printed out-put.
Y/C Video
By keeping luminance (Y) and chrominance (C) video components separate a
better picture quality can be obtained. This format is used in Super-VHS
systems.
Zorro
Zorro boards are expansion boards for the high-end Amigas.
Legal Stuff
This file is the COPYRIGHT of
Mark Klocek 1995
Ben Gaunt 1995
It must not be used/re-published etc. without written permission from
both parties. Who can be contacted at CHANNEL X BBS on 0181 943 5187 or
Fido - Ben Gaunt 2:256/260.12
END
===