GDI
(Graphics Device Interface) The Windows graphics
language used to provide output to the screen and
printer. When an applications needs to display or print something, it makes a call to a GDI function.
GDI in turn communicates with the screen and printer drivers to produce the final output.
In order to provide fast, full-motion video, applications that use the DCI interface bypass GDI
and address the display adapter directly.
GPF
(General Protection Fault) The Windows
error name for a program that has crashed.
GPS
(Global Positioning System) A series of
continuously-transmitting satellites used for identifying earth locations. By triangulation from
three satellites, a hand-held receiving unit can pinpoint wherever you are on earth.
GUI
(Graphical User Interface) A graphics-based user
interface that incorporates icons, pull-down menus and a mouse. The GUI has become the standard way
users interact with a computer. The three major GUIs are Windows, Macintosh and Motif. In a
client/server environment, the GUI resides in the user's client machine. See desktop manager, window
manager and Star. Contrast with CUI.
hard disk
The primary computer storage medium, which is made
of one or more aluminum or glass platters. Each side of the platter is coated with a ferromagnetic
material. Older hard disks held as little as five megabytes. Today's hard disks can hold several
gigabytes.
Desktop computers use disks from 1.5" to 5" in diameter. Minicomputer and mainframe disks range
up to 12" in diameter, but are increasingly becoming as compact as the desktop drives.
Hard disks provide fast retrieval because they rotate constantly at high speed, from 3,000 to over
10,000 rpm. In laptops however, the disks can be optionally turned off to preserve battery life
after not being used for a specified period of time.
Fixed hard disks are permanently sealed in the drive. Removable hard disks are encased in disk
pack or disk cartridge modules that can be moved between computers with the same kinds of drives.
Hard disks are usually low-level formatted from the factory, which records the original sector
identification on them.
Hard Disk Measurements Capacity is measured in bytes, and speed is
measured in bytes per second (transfer rate) and in milliseconds (access time). Fast personal computer
hard disk access times range from 9 to 14ms; in larger computers as fast as 1ms.
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