| Word or
Term |
Description or
Explanation |
| E-IDE |
Extended IDE - a development of IDE allowing
four drives to be connected at once |
| EASI |
Extended Acorn System Inferface - expansion bus
for RiscPCs and A7000s |
| EBCDIC |
Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code
- the character set used on IBM Extended Capabilities Port - used by Hewlett
Packard's all-in-one printer/scanners - supported by Windows95 and later, and
usually found in PCs manufactured from 1998 onwardsinframes |
| Econet |
this is a means of connecting two or more
computers together so that they can exchange information and share the use of
peripherals such as printers - it is a type of Local Area Network (LAN)
developed in the early '80s by Acorn Computers Ltd |
| ECP (parallel port) |
Extended Capabilities Port - used by Hewlett
Packard's all-in-one printer/scanners - supported by Windows95 and later, and
usually found in PCs manufactured from 1998 onwards |
| Editor (1) |
an application that allows you to edit the
contents of a file |
| Editor (2) |
someone who is daft enough to take on the task
of putting together a massive glossary! |
| EDO-RAM |
Extended Data Out Random Access Memory - a type
of memory which is faster than standard DRAM and provides enhanced performance
- if the motherboard can cope with EDO RAM, it can provide higher resolutions
on monitors if the computer has no VRAM fitted |
| EEPROM |
Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only
Memory - a form of non-volatile memory that remains unchanged, even when the
power is switched off but which can be altered in situ by using appropriate
electronic circuitry, i.e. it can be reprogrammed through software |
| EFF |
Electronic Frontier Foundation - an
organisation concerned with the social and legal issues surrounding the use of
computers |
| EISA |
the Extended ISA bus |
| EMACS |
Editor Macros - a text editor often used on
Unix systems - not easy for beginners to use |
| Email |
electronic mail - sending messages by using any
interconnection of computers, either locally or over a wide area network |
| Email address |
a unique description of the 'place' to which
messages are sent if they are for a particular person or group, e.g.
paul@archivemag.co.uk |
| Emoticon |
see Smileys |
| Encryption |
the manipulation of a packet's data in order to
prevent any but the intended recipient reading that data |
| EPG |
Electronic Programme Guide |
| EPOC |
highly efficient, compact, pre-emptive
multitasking operating system for ARM processors, developed for Psion/Symbian
for their 5, 5mx and 7 series of palmtop computers - now licenced out to a
number of other palm manufacturers - it is being developed for use in mobile
phones/organisers and, as such, it is something of a rival to Windows CE |
| EPP (parallel port) |
Enhanced Parallel Port - an enhanced
specification of Centronics and Bi-directional |
| EPROM |
Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory - a form
of non-volatile memory that remains unchanged even when the power is switched
off but which can be altered by using ultraviolet radiation to erase the
information and high voltages to re-program it (but see
Flash ROM and
EEPROM) |
| EPS |
Encapsulated PostScript - this is a type of
computer-generated file containing the necessary PostScript commands to
reproduce the picture - it usually includes a 'snapshot' of the picture that
can be used for positioning purposes - EPS is a defined standard allowing
output from one application to be used within another |
| Error box |
a special type of dialogue box that gives
information to a user about the type of error that has occurred, requiring him
to acknowledge that it has been read |
| Error correction |
used with some modern modems (V42) to check
that data transmission does not contain errors |
| Ethernet |
a proprietary method of connecting two or more
computers together to operate within a Local Area Network for information
exchange and for use of common peripherals such as printers (see also
Econet) - it was developed by Xerox Corporation
in the late '70s |
| EUNet |
the European part of Usenet |
| Expansion
card |
formerly called podules or peripheral modules -
an extra circuit board fitted to your computer that will allow it to perform
various extra functions which cannot be done with software alone |
| Ezine |
the Internet equivalent of a magazine - these
can either be mail to your Internet account or you can access them on-line |