Computers: Jargon buster

Friday 25 March 1994 00:02 GMT

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8-bit sampling: Low-quality digital recording process suitable for speech and sound effects.

16-bit sampling: High - near CD - quality digital recording suitable for music and more serious work.

Emulator: A piece of hardware or, more usually, a software program that makes one computer or component act like another.

Midi: Musical Instrument Digital Interface - the industry standard remote control and data exchange system used by keyboards, synthesisers and computers. Midi only transmits performance details - keys pressed and buttons pushed - rather than the final sound of the music, in the same way a piano roll controls a player piano, but does not make any sound.

Sound card: A circuit board that can be added to the main processor board to process and produce sounds of various kinds.

Bits per second (bps): the speed of transmission of data via a modem over a network. Divide by 10 to get a rough idea of characters per second. The current recommended speed is 14,400bps, known as the V32bis standard.

Download: To load information - a data file or program - into a system from a distant computer.

E-mail: Electronic mail, messages sent over a computer network.

Modem: a piece of communications equipment that enables a computer to transmit information over a telephone line or receive information from it. A modem may be separate unit or installed inside the computer.

Network: A group of computers interconnected by cables, telephone lines or other telecommunications links.

On-line: When a computer user is able to interact with a distant computer over a communications link, he or she is said to be on- line.

Server: The computer or computers that act as the centre of a network holding information and transmitting and receiving information from computers that link up to the network.

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