E
EISA: Extended ISA, an expansion bus design which maintains compatibility with ISA but
provides a 32-bit data path and additional features. It provides much faster
data throughput than ISA and is used in high performance servers.
emulation: A technique in which a device or program imitates another device or program.
enable: To turn on a computer option.
erase: See delete.
error-correcting code: Code designed for transmission of electronic data, that encodes
data in such a way that transmission errors may be detected and corrected by
examination of the encoded data on the receiving end. Error-correcting code is
used in most modem and in some RAM. In the latter case, circuitry is used that
generates checksums to correct errors greater than one bit.
escape: 1) To cancel the task currently in progress. 2) A code (ASCII code 27, generated
by the ESC key) telling the computer that what follows are commands, not
data. Used with peripheral devices such as printers and modems.
Ethernet: A local area network (LAN) standard for hardware, communications and
cabling. It links network nodes in a bus topology using coaxial cable, or in a
star topology using fiber-optic cable or twisted-pair cable. Normally, all nodes
share the total bandwidth, which is 10 Mbps (Ethernet), 100 Mbps (Fast
Ethernet) or 1000 Mbps (Gigabit Ethernet). With switched Ethernet, each
sender and receiver pair have the full bandwidth.
execute: To perform a command or run a program.
executable file: A computer program that is ready to run. Application programs and batch
files are examples of executable files. Names of executable files usually end
with a .BAT, .COM or .EXE extension.
extended memory: Memory beyond 1MB. Windows 95/98 and OS/2 and some MS-DOS
programs use extended memory.
extension: See file name extension.
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