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IBM
International Business Machines
IBM-compatible
A PC designed to be compatible with an original design by, IBM whether it is made by IBM or one of many clone
manufacturers. The Macintosh is not IBM-compatible although there is Mac software which will emulate PC. Sometimes
called industry standard compatible or IBM clone by clone manufacturers.
informatics
Various definitions exist for this term, but we use it to refer to the practical use of information technology in a way that puts the
user first and technology second. In medicine informatics may be used to assist research or improve delivery of patient care.
information technology
The producton storage and retrieval of data and information using computer software and hardware. See informatics
initialisation
Getting a modem ready to send and receive data using an initialisation string composed of Hayes AT commands. Also refers
to the formatting of a floppy disk or hard disk in preparation for storing data on the disk.
installation
The process of setting up hardware or loading new software on to a computer.
Integrated Circuit
A very small circuit consisting of thousands of elements on one small peice of semiconducting material, such as crystaline
silicon. See chip
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)
A high-speed digital telephone line that achieves data transmission rates over 64000 bits per second by sending the data as a
stream of data packets, rather than converting it to sound for transmission like a modem does.
interface
Refers to the hardware and software components of a connection between two elements of a computer or its peripheral
devices. Operating systems and applications have a user interface, described in terms of the characteristics of their
presentation of information to the user.
International Business Machines (IBM)
American corporation who originally devised the PC and DOS standard.
Internet
Originally set up by the US military in 1969 the Internet is a world-wide network of computers networks that communicate
using the TCP/IP protocol suite.
Internet Protocol (IP) addresses
A unique identifying number assigned to every computer directly connected to the Internet. Comprised of a group of four
numbers separated by full stops, it corresponds to an easier-to-remember domain name.
Internet Services
A collective term for applications available over the Internet. The main tools are electronic mail, File Transfer Protocol, and
Telnet. Later generation tools, such as Archie, Gopher, Wide Area Information Servers and the World-Wide Web, are based
around these original applications.