| Glossary of Terms |
| All Numbers 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 |
T
T-Connector
In networks a T-shaped device with two female and one male BNC connectors.
tape
Magnetic tape similar to video or acoustic recording tape, but used as a storage device. Tapes can hold very large amounts of data, and are widely employed as back-up devices. However, because data can be read off them only by sequential access, tapes are far slower at finding the required data than random access storage devices.
TAPI
(See "Telephony Applications Programming Interface (TAPI)".)
TCP/IP
(See "Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)".)
telecommunications
The linking of two or more points for the purpose of communication through the use of electronic signals.
Telephony Applications Programming Interface (TAPI)
Microsoft's API for interfacing Windows-based CTI applications with a telephony environment.
Telephony Services Applications Programming Interface (TSAPI)
Novell's Application Programming Interface (API) for interfacing telephone switches with Novell networks.
Telnet
TCP/IP for remote terminal connection to a network server.
terabyte (Tb)
Approximately 1,000,000,000,000 or 10 to the power of 12 characters of stored information (Actually 2 to the power of 40 or 1,099,511,627,776 because of the binary basis of computers)
Terminate and Stay Resident (TSR)
A program that remains in the memory while you run other programs. Also called a Memory Resident program.
text
Characters, numbers, punctuation marks, special characters on the keyboard and arithmetic signs. Not graphics.
text file
File containing only printable characters, not graphics or numeric fields. The term 'Text File' is often taken as synonymous with 'ASCII file' because many text-only files are in that format. Files containing encrypted material or files of proprietary formats such as those used by most word processor packages are not generally thought of as text files.
text-based
Character-only screens and systems; ie, with no graphics; contrast with GUI.
thermal-fusion printer
A nonimpact printer that uses heat to generate an image onto paper.
ThinWire
Thin co-axial cable similar to television/video cable.
throughput
A measure of the data transfer rate through a typically complex communications system or of the data processing rate in a computer system.
tilt
The angle of the CRT with respect to the horizontal mounting bracket of the chassis. Tilt can vary depending on the monitors orientation to the Earth�s magnetic poles. Monitor manufacturers orient and align their products in the Eastern direction. When the monitor is facing a north/south direction, there may be a slight rotation of the image.
token bus network
A local area network formed in a bus topology (stations connected to a single, shared data highway) that uses token passing as a means of regulating traffic on the line. On a token bus network, a token governing the right to transmit is passed from one station to another, and each station holds the token for a brief time, during which it alone can transmit information. The token is tranforred in order of priority from the "upstream" station to the next "downstream" station, which might or might not physically be the next station on the bus. When the token reaches the last designated station on the bus, it returns to the beginning and starts over again. In essence, the token "circles" through the network in a logical ring rather than a physical one.
(Also see "token ring network".)
token ring network
A local area network formed in a ring (closed loop) topology that uses token passing as a means of regulating traffic on the line. On a token ring network, a token governing the right to transmit is passed from one station to the next in a physical circle. If a station has information to transmit, it "seizes" the token, marks it as being in use, and inserts the information. The "busy" token, plus message, is then passed around the circle, copied when it arrives at its destination, and eventually returned to the sender. The sender removes the attached message and then passes the freed token to the next station in line.
(Also see "token bus network".)
toner
Powdered ink used in copiers and printers to reproduce images.
tower case
Upright computer case that hold the components of a system.
trackball
A popular pointing device that can be roughly described as a mouse on its back. A trackball consists of a ball resting on two rollers at right angles to each other, which translates the ball�s motion into vertical and horizontal movement on the screen. A trackball also typically has one or more buttons to initiate other actions. The only functional difference between a mechanical mouse and a trackball is in how the ball is moved: With a mouse, the ball is rolled by moving the entire unit over a desktop or other surface; with a trackball, the housing is stationary, and the ball is rolled with the hand. A trackball is useful for fine work, because the user can exert fingertip control; a mouse is better for bold moves, such as those used in navigating within a graphical user interface.
tractor feed
A method of feeding paper through a printer using pins mounted on rotating belts. The pins engage holes near the edges of continuous-form paper and either push or pull the paper through.
traffic
Messages traveling on a network.
transfer rate
The rate at which a circuit or communications channel transfers information from source to destination, as over a network or to and from a disk drive; usually measured in bits per second (bps) or characters per second (cps).
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
A popular standardized protocol found in Unix environments and throughout the Internet. TCP/IP was developed by the Department of Defense for communication between computers.
transmission speed
The speed at which information is sent over a communication line.
triad
A triad contains three phosphor filled dots-one red, one green, and one blue-arranged in a triangular fashion. Each of the three electron guns is dedicated to one of these colors (for example, the red gun excites only a triad�s red phosphor dot). As the guns scan the screen, each active triad produces a single color, which depends on the combination of excited color dots and how active each dot is.
TSAPI
(See "Telephony Services Applications Programming Interface (TSAPI)".)
TSR
(See "Terminate and Stay Resident (TSR)".)
twisted-pair
(See "twisted-pair cable".)
twisted-pair cable
Inexpensive, copper cable comprised of one or more pairs of 18- to 24- gauge strands. The strands are twisted to improve protection against electromagnetic interference. It is used either shielded or unshielded in low-speed communications, such as telephone cable. In computing it is used only in baseband networks.
Type II PCMCIA slot
A standard form factor (unit of measurement) for a PCMCIA device, height 5mm.
Type III PCMCIA slot
A standard form factor (unit of measurement) for a PCMCIA device, height 10.5mm.
typeface
A specific, named design of a set of printed characters, such as Helvetica or Times Roman, that has a specified obliqueness (degree of slant) and stroke weight (thickness of line). A typeface is not the same as a font, which is a specific size of a specific typeface, such as 12-point Helvetica or 10-point Times Roman.
Several glossary definitions supplied and copyrighted by:
Microsoft® Corporation. To order the Microsoft Press Computer Dictionary, call Microsoft Press at 800-MSPRESS.
MDA Computing Ltd. For MDA Computing�s complete glossary of terms, go to www.mdagroup.com.
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