A User's Guide to MacspeakEvery field has its jargon. Computers seem to spawn more than their fair share. For the most part, these are Mac-specific terms. 68K, 680x0 - Motorola family of processors including 68000, 68020, 68030, and 68040. ADB - Apple Desktop Bus, connector used for keyboard and mouse since Mac II and SE of 1987. AppleTalk - hardware designed to support LocalTalk. Centris - a short-lived line of 68040-based Macs between the 68030-based Mac II line and the faster 68040-based Quadra line. Clean ROMs - ROMs that work correctly with 32-bit addressing. DIN-8 - the serial connector on all Macs since the Plus. Dirty ROMs - ROMs that will not work correctly with 32-bit addressing; Mode 32 patches the ROMs and allows use of 32-bit addressing. (Without 32-bit addressing, the Mac sees no more than 8 MB RAM.) FDHD - Apple's designation for a high density (1.44MB) floppy drive. FireWire - the peripheral bus of the future, already in use on some consumer video gear. GeoPort - high speed serial port introduced with Centris 660av and Quadra 840av; also used on all Power Macs. Intel Inside - advertising slogan denoting computers less sophisticated then any Macintosh; one alternative is POWER inside. Jobs - one of the founders of Apple Computer; what many Apple employees have lost over the years. LocalTalk - 230.4Kbps network protocol invented by Apple. Maclone - generic term for a Mac OS computer not made by Apple. NuBus - 10 MHz expansion bus standard from Mac II to first generation Power Macintosh. Performa - a line of relabeled Macs intended for the consumer market; discontinued in 1997. PhoneNet - Localtalk hardware from Farallon that uses inexpensive phone wire for networking. SCSI - small computer system interface; fast peripheral bus introduced with Mac Plus and used on all Macs since. PCI - industry standard 33 MHz expansion bus standard since second generation Power Macintosh. PDS - processor direct slot; expansion slot specific to one processor or family of computers (such as LC series, SE/30 and IIsi, Quadras). Plug-n-Play - advertising slogan denoting purported ability of Windows 95 to emulate a Macintosh by recognizing and automatically configuring itself for new components; often called Plug-n-Pray by Windows users. PPC - PowerPC family of processors including 601, 603, 603e, 604, 604e, 740, and 750. SuperDrive - Apple's other designation for a high density (1.44MB) floppy drive. Later, Apple's designation for the DVD-ROM burner in the Power Mac G4. TiBook - Shorthand for Titanium PowerBook G4. Wintel - an amalgamation of Windows and Intel; the other computing platform. <back to Low End Mac home page> About LEM Support Usage Privacy ContactLow End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Opinions expressed are those of their authors and may not reflect the opinion of Cobweb Publishing. Advice is presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all.Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2016 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc. unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Low End Mac, LowEndMac, and lowendmac.com are trademarks of Cobweb Publishing Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iPad, iPhone, iMac, iPod, MacBook, Mac Pro, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged. Please report errors to . LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it. Email may be published at our discretion unless marked "not for publication"; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style. PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it, and we don't share the information we have with others. For more details, see our Terms of Use. |
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