Comptia A+

PS/2 port

6-pin mini DIN port that connects keyboards or mice on legacy computers; not interchangeable between them

CGA

320x240 - Analog format

EGA

640x350 - Analog format

VGA

640x480 - Analog format

SVGA

800x600 - Analog format

XGA

1024x768

WXGA

1366x768

XGA+

1152x864

WXGA+

1440x900

Super XGA

1400x1050

WSXGA+

1680x1050

Ultra XGA

1600x1200

WUXGA

1920x1200

DVI port

Digital Visual Interface; accepts both analog and digital signals but only through specific connectors. DVI-D, DVI-A, and DVI-A/D or DVI-I. DVI-I and DVI-D also support Dual-Link connections by having extra pins.

DisplayPort

Compact 20-pin connector; supports up to 2560 x 1600 and 120 Hz refresh rates. Can drive up to four displays by a single port and is capable of signal encryption and transmission of audio. Also comes in Mini Displayport.

HDMI port

High Definition Multimedia Interface; also comes in mini and micro variations

S/PDIF

Sony/Phillips Digital Interface; digital audio output that comes in both electrical and optical variations. Electrical usually uses RCA on coax, optical uses fiber.

RG-6 cable

Coaxial connection 75 Ohms

RG-59 cable

Coaxial connection 75Ohms

F connector

Coaxial connector, pin center, outer threaded ring

Component video

Uses 3 RCA connectors that split the signal into its components, 1 for brightness and 2 for color (Yellow, red, white)

S-Video

Sends video signal from a computer to a TV, shaped similarly to PS/2

MIDI/Joystick port

On legacy systems, a female DB-15 port with the pins arranged in 2 rows instead of 3

ST connector

Fiber connector (stick it in and twist it)

SC connector

Fiber connector (stick and click)

LC connector

Fiber Connector

BNC connector

Bayonet-style coax connector used for 10Base2 or Thinnet networking

FDDI, MT-RJ, and FC

Fiber internet connectors, less popular

USB Max devices

Can support up to 127 devices on a single port

USB 1.0/1.1 Low speed data rate

Conn type with 1.5 Mbps max speed

USB 1.0/1.1 Full Speed data rate

Conn type with 12 Mbit/s speed

USB 1 Max Length

Older connector with max length=3 meters

USB 2.0 Hi-speed data rate

Conn type with 480 Mbps max speed

USB 2.0 Hi-speed max length

Conn type with max length 5 meters

SuperSpeed USB 3.0 data rate

Conn type with 5 Gbps max speed

SuperSpeed USB 3.0 max length

Recent conn type with max length=3 meters

SuperSpeed+ USB 3.1 max speed

Conn type with 10 Gbps max speed

SuperSpeed+ USB 3.1 max length

Current conn type with max length 3 meters

USB mini

USB micro

USB 3 B

IEEE 1394a max speed

firewire 400 Mbps

IEEE 1394a max length

Firewire 400 4.5 meters cable length

IEEE1394a no of pins?

Firewire 400 with 6 pin connector

IEEE 1394a firewire max devices

Conn type with 63 max devices

IEEE standard for firewire?

1394a standard better known as?

IEEE 1394a

Firewire 400, 6 pins, 400Mbps

IEEE 1394b

FireWire 800 - 9-pins, max speed 800 Mbps;

Firewire S1600 speed

Connection runs at 1.6Gbps

Firewire S3200 speed

Connection runs at 3.2 Gbps

Firewire max devices

Technology that allows 63 devices in a daisy chain

Thunderbolt connector

Combines PCIe and DisplayPort into a single connection, used for peripherals. Max length 3 m on copper, 60 m on fiber

Thunderbolt distance

provides 100M with optical, 3M with copper

Thunderbolt 1 speed and conn type

Max speed 10 Gbps; MDP connector

Thunderbolt 2 speed and conn type

Max speed 20 Gbps; MDP connector

Thunderbolt 3 speed and conn type

Max speed 40 Gbps; USB Type-C connector

EMI

Electromagnetic Interference; occurs when two signals in close proximity interfere with each other

UPS

Uninterruptible Power Supply

SPS

Standby Power System; monitors power line, incurs split-second delay as power switches over

Online UPS

Acts as system's power source while charging internal batteries; switches instantly to battery during an outage; most also act as power conditioners

Line-interactive UPS

SPS with added circuitry for moderate AC surges and sags; may increase current consumption loads on fuses or circuit breakers

BIOS defn

Basic Input/Output System

TPM

Trusted Platform Module; hardware platform for accelerating cryptographic processing; commonly used for hard drive encryption

Secure Boot

Requires drivers and OS software to be properly signed by a trusted party; only available on Intel CPUs with UEFI BIOS and OS designed for it

UEFI

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface

NMI

Non-Maskable Interrupt

NIC

Network Interface Card

FRU

Field Replaceable Unit (spare part)

MSDS

Material Safety Data Sheet

Active PFC

Active Power Factor Correction; eliminates harmonics

JBOD

Just a Bunch of Disks

FAT 16 partition and file size limits

2.1 GB max partition size; no local file-level security & limits files to 4 GB

FAT 32 partition and file size limits

2 TB max partition size; no local file-level security & limits files to 4 GB

exFAT partition and file size limits

2 TB max partition size currently, theoretically supports up to 128 PB; no local file-level security (FAT 64)

NTFS

New Technology File System; has permissions, encryption, and disk quotas

MFT

Master File Table; used by NTFS; critical parts backed up in middle of disk

HFS+

Hierarchical File System Plus; used by Mac OSX; can read and write to FAT32 and exFAT; read-only support for NTFS

ext4

Fourth Extended File System; Linux; supports 1 EB volumes, 16 TB files; backwards-compatible with ext3 and ext2; can read and write to NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, HFS+, ext2, ext3, ext4

SMART

Self Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology; sed by HDDs and SSDs to detect failures

DVD Single Layer

4.7 GB capacity

DVD Dual Layer

8.5 GB capacity

RAID

Redundant Array of Independent Disks

RAID 0

Striping

RAID 1

Mirroring

RAID 5

Striping with parity; only protects against single drive failure

RAID 1+0

Stripe of Mirrors; best redundancy

GUID

Globally Unique Identifier; a unique ID number hard coded into bios/cmos

GPT

GUID Partition Table; newer basic disk partitioning scheme that requires UEFI

MBR

Master Boot Record; older basic disk partitioning scheme

MBR's job

To check the partition table for a partition with a valid OS; only 1 MBR and 1 partition tablw exist per disk

Number of partitions MBR supports

Format supporting 4 partitions

Max disk capacity of MBR

Format supporting 2.2 TB disk capacity

EFS

Encrypting File System; feature of NTFS

> format f: /fs:ntfs

Formats drive f: with NTFS file system

EPROM

Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory

EEPROM

Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory

CMOS stands for?

Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor abbreviation

AT Motherboard

ATX Form Factor

MicroATX Form Factor