“AirDrop” is a very handy feature and easy to use for wireless file transfer between Mac, even outside the context of a home network. AirDrop arrived on the iPad and iPhone with iOS 7 and on Mac with Mac OS X Lion. Indeed not need a router or even connect to an existing Wi-Fi or Bluetooth network to use “AirDrop”. There is nothing to set up, all you need is a recent Mac (“AirDrop” indeed requires a recent Mac to be activated) and communication will be made directly between Wi-Fi cards Mac (ad-hoc mode). [Read more…] about What is AirDrop?

To understand what de-fragmentation IS, a person must first understand how data files are saved onto magnetic storage disks. Whether on a floppy disk or a hard disk, data is stored in a certain format. Formatting consists of dividing a disk into organized sections so that data can be located by the computer. Formatting organizes disks into concentric rings called tracks. Tracks are divided into sectors (pie shaped wedges) in which files and parts of files are stored. [Read more…] about What is Defragmentation?

(Multiple-instruction multiple-data) A generic description that can be applied to any MULTIPROCESSOR computer architecture in which each processor is able to execute a different program, as distinct from a SIMD architecture in which each processor executes the same program on a different data item. With MIMD architecture, the deployment of the program code onto the different processors and the interconnection TOPOLOGY of the processors become visible to the programmer, and complicate the writing of programs.

(Dual In-line Memory Module) A small PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD with RAM chips mounted on both sides and a single edge connector, via which it can be plugged into a computer MOTHER BORD. DIMM differs from a SIMM in that the chips on either side have separate pins on the edge connector, permitting a wider 128-bit data path for faster access to the memory; hence they tend to be used in more expensive systems like servers.

A trackball is an alternative to a mouse or a stylus. It looks kind of like a mouse upside-down, and you use it by rolling the ball around with your fingers. It has one or more buttons to click, just like a mouse. [Read more…] about What is Trackball?

SIMM stands for single inline memory module. Before you try to understand what a SIMM is, you should read and understand RAM and memory. [Read more…] about What is SIMM (single inline memory module)?

A serial port is the socket (also known as an “input/output connector”) where you plug in the cables to attach to a serial device, such as a printer or modem. [Read more…] about What is Serial port?

A disk has two sides (a top and a bottom). Each side of the disk has tracks (concentric rings) on the surface. Each ring is divided into arc-shaped sectors, little units of storage space on the disk, usually 512 bytes on a floppy disk and up to several thousand bytes on a hard disk. Whatever the size, a sector is the smallest unit the computer can read or write at a time; it cannot deal with portions of a sector. [Read more…] about What is Disk Sector?

SCSI (pronounced “scuzzy,” not “sexy”) stands for small computer systems interface. SCSI is a standard for interfacing, or connecting, personal computers to peripheral devices (like scanners, hard disks, or CD-ROM players) and having them send information to each other. [Read more…] about What is SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface)?

A scanner is a device that takes a picture of an image that exists outside the computer, such as a photograph or a drawing on paper. As the scanner takes the picture, it digitizes the image (breaks it up into dots that can be recreated on the computer screen with electronic signals), and send this digital information to the computer as a file. Then you can take this file of the scanned image and use it in your work. [Read more…] about What is Scanner?

These spoonfuls of alphabet-number soup designate different standards for connecting serial devices (like modems, mice, and printers) to the computer by plugging their cables into serial ports. Through a serial port, the computer exchanges information with the device back and forth “serially,” or one bit at a time. [Read more…] about What is RS-232, RS-232-C, RS-422, RS-423, RS-449?

A plotter is a graphics printer that literally uses ink pens to draw the images. The pens move around on the surface of the paper like something out of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Plotters can only draw data in vector graphics format, graphics that are made of straight lines (the curved forms are actually drawn with many tiny straight lines). There are flatbed plotters where the pen moves across the page in the x and y axes. [Read more…] about What is Plotter?

PCL, short for printer command language, consists of a large set of commands for controlling the Hewlett-Packard Laser Jet and DeskJet families of printers, and compatible printers from other manufacturers. PCL commands are used to tell the printer where to place text or graphics on the page, which font to print, whether to print bold, italic or underlined text, and so on. [Read more…] about What PCL (printer command language)?

You have probably heard of printer ports and modem ports and perhaps ADB ports or some other kind of port. A port is a plug, or receptacle (known in other computer dictionaries as an input/output connector). Once you insert one end of a cable into a port, information can flow between your computer and whatever device is attached to the other end of the cable. [Read more…] about What is Parallel port?

A CD, such as the kind you play to listen to music, is an example of an optical disc. So is a “video disc” (properly called a laser disk), such as the kind you can rent at the video store that has an entire movie on it. Optical discs for your computer can hold an incredible amount of information- up to 6,000 megabytes (which is 6 gigabytes) of data. Entire encyclopaedia, Shakespeare’s works, or representations of the art in the Louvre have been recorded onto optical discs. [Read more…] about What is Optical Disc?