| ISP Dictionary - ISP Glossary Definitions for 'r' |
| Rack - A metal frame used for holding server computers and networking equipment. A standard rack is 19" wide. There are wider racks that are 23" wide, built to... |
| Rack Units - This refers to the distance of 1.75" between screw holes in a rack used to hold server equipment. Most computer equipment racks are between 24 and 42 rack... |
| Radio Button - A GUI term denoting that the user has a group of selections to make, and that he or she can only make one selection at a time. As it relates loosely to... |
| Radio Frequency - The range or frequencies between 10 kilocycles per second to 300,000 megacycles per second in which radio waves can be transmitted. It can also refer to... |
| RADSL - Acronym for Rate Adaptive Digital Subscriber Line, currently being introduced by US West. See DSL. |
| RAID - Redundant Arrays of Independent Disks. Using duplicated disks for error recovery and more efficient operation. |
| RAID 0 - Also known as disk striping, this form of RAID combines two or more hard drives into a single logical drive. Any data is written in blocks first to one... |
| RAID 1 - There are two forms of RAID 1: disk duplexing and disk mirroring. Disk mirroring involves two hard drives that are on the same drive controller. The same... |
| RAID 10 - This form of RAID was originally called RAID 1+0, and is now commonly referred to as RAID 10. This is basically a bunch of RAID 1 drives linked together... |
| RAID 2 - This form of RAID protection stripes data across two or more drives, and also stripes an ECC parity code across one or more drives. This code is used to... |
| RAID 3 - A form of RAID protection that uses at least three drives, where one drive holds all of the parity data. The other two or more drives contain data striped... |
| RAID 4 - This is similar to RAID 3 in that an extra drive is used to store all parity information. However, data is striped by drive sector instead of by bits or... |
| RAID 5 - A RAID 5 configuration utilizes three or more hard drives and stripes the data across them, much like RAID 0. The difference is that parity information... |
| RAM - A type of memory chip that can be written, read, and re-written. You can write to any part of it, thus the "random access" in the term. The slang term... |
| Rambus DRAM - One possible future successor to SDRAM, and competitor to DDR SDRAM. DRDRAM (also now simply called RDRAM) was originally developed by Rambus, Inc. This... |
| Rambus In-line Memory Module - The form factor for Rambus RDRAM. By comparison, SDRAM is mainly found on DIMMs, and EDO RAM is usually on SIMMs. RIMMs require that if you do not fill... |
| RAMDAC - The part of a graphics card that transfers the digital color signals into analog signals that a CRT monitor can understand, or to digital signals that... |
| Random Access Memory - A type of memory chip that can be written, read, and re-written. You can write to any part of it, thus the "random access" in the term. The slang term... |
| Rar - The file extension of a type of compressed file created by the WinRAR program by RarSoft. It is considered by many to be more versatile than other compression... |
| RAS - see Remote Access Services or Remote Access Server |
| Raster Graphics - This form of graphics is probably what you are looking at now. Composed of pixels on a bitmap, it allows for solid colored objects and graphics as we know... |
| Raster Operation - A set of low-level graphics operations in Windows, i.e., operations that deal with raster graphics. |
| Raw - Any data that has not been translated. It also refers to sending print data directly to a printer instead of translating it first to an EMF file. Printing... |
| RCA cables - The standard, single-ended analog cables used to connect audio and video devices to each other. Typically a red input is for the left channel of sound,... |
| RDF - Acronym for Resource Description Framework. A formal data model from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for machine understandable metadata used to provide... |
| RDRAM - One possible future successor to SDRAM, and competitor to DDR SDRAM. DRDRAM (also now simply called RDRAM) was originally developed by Rambus, Inc. This... |
| re, re's - Chat shorthand for "rehi", meaning "hello again". |
| Read Only - This means that the object cannot be written to, which means that you can't save any modifications you make to it. An operating system can have a file... |
| Read Only Memory - Memory containing a program, data, or information about the device that has been programmed onto the chip at the factory and cannot be changed. There is... |
| Real-time - Tasks that are time-critical and must happen in our time (as opposed to the much faster computer time). Real-time is the highest priority you can give... |
| Reboot - To restart a computer. It comes from "boot," which is a term that means starting the operating system on the computer. When you are using your computer... |
| Reception - The act of downloading or receiving data. Often, the term "RX" is used on indicator lights on modems or network cards to indicate that data is flowing... |
| Recommended Standard 232 - This is the de facto standard for communication through PC serial ports. It can refer to cables and ports that support the RS-232 standard. Common usage... |
| Recursion - A programming term describing a process that defers its operations as it runs, growing in memory size. Once all operations are deferred, there is a computation... |
| Recursive - A programming term describing a process that defers its operations as it runs, growing in memory size. Once all operations are deferred, there is a computation... |
| Red Hat Package Manager - A packaging system based on files with the .rpm extension that contain dependency information, pre- and post-install scripts, and the actual user runtimes... |
| Reduced Instruction Set Computing - This type of chip use a simpler instruction set than CISC chips to get its work done. This results in more instructions that need to be processed by the... |
| Redundancy - In a redundant system, if you lose part of the system, you can continue to operate. For example, if you have two power supplies and one takes over if the... |
| Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives - A method of linking storage devices together so that they function as a single logical unit. RAID requires all drives to be of the same size, as compared... |
| refresh - A meta tag that will let you either periodically refresh the current page or switch to another page. It is formatted like this: |
| Refresh Rate - This is how often something is rewritten or updated. With CRT monitors, the refresh rate of the screen is very important to provide an image that appears... |
| reg exp - Unix term for "regular expression", a series of characters used in a search. The characters &, $, ^, \, and square brackets are given special meanings... |
| Register - A CPU contains registers that it uses for temporary storage of data. You can think of a register as a kind of L0 cache. If the processor has to add the... |
| Registry - This was first introduced in Microsoft's Windows NT, and then to consumers with Windows 95, as a centralized repository for all the miscellaneous settings... |
| Relative URL - An URL that does not include strict directory information; instead, you give the link directions like "back two directories and up one directory" in standard... |
| Release Engineer - The individual whose job it is to oversee the mechanics of the development process of software. The release engineer controls when new code is entered... |
| Remote Access - A means of contacting a remote network and becoming a node on that network. The problem with remote access is that the connection to the network is generally... |
| Remote Access Server - A general term for any server that offers remote access to a network over phone line, WAN link, or even over a LAN. |
| Remote Access Services - A Microsoft service first included with Windows NT 3.51 that allows access to a network over a phone line, WAN link, or LAN. |
| Remote Control - A means of taking control of a remote computer, usually on a remote network. Programs like Symantec's pcAnywhere and a host of others offer this ability.... |
| Remote Monitoring - Part of the MIB that is used in SNMP. RMON defines 9 types of information that can be used to monitor networks and network devices. RMON2 is an extension... |
| Remote Procedure Call - A method a program can use to make a call to another program across a network without specifically dealing with network protocols. It is often used for... |
| Removable Canister - A removable hard drive casing. There are two parts to the canister: the bay itself, and the casing that goes around the hard drive. These canisters can... |
| Removable Storage - This type of storage allows you to remove the actual storage media from a drive and replace it with other media. DVD-ROM, CD-ROM, floppy drives, and Zip... |
| Render - This synonym for hacking up animals for human consumption determines how colors are used on each triangle displayed in a 3D image. Very complex images... |
| Repeater - A device used to repeat a signal to send it further away or to many more devices. The earliest network hubs are also called repeaters, as they had no switching... |
| Report Program Generator - A programming language for minicomputer mainframes such as the IBM AS/400. RPG began as a program to generate reports--as you could have guessed from the... |
| Request For Comments - A document that was created to define accepted or proposed Internet standards or standards of practice. The acceptance of a document as an RFC is governed... |
| Reseat - The disconnection and reconnection of an add-on board, memory, processor, hard drive, or other accessory. The reason for reseating an accessory is usually... |
| Reseller - Anyone who buys computer equipment or software and sells it. In most states in the U.S. you need a reseller license to purchase goods without paying taxes,... |
| Resistor - A two-terminal electronic component that resists an electrical current and turns the extra current into heat. Resistors are rated in ohms, and can be used... |
| Resolution - The amount of pixels that are displayed on a screen measured in pixels horizontal by pixels vertical, such as 1024 x 768. The higher the resolution, the... |
| Restart - The process of an operating system on a computer shutting down, and then starting back up automatically. During a restart the user does not need to hit... |
| Retention Mechanism - This typically refers to the mechanisms attached to a motherboard that hold onto a Slot 1, Slot 2, or Slot A cartridge so that it doesn't come loose during... |
| Reverse Engineering - The process of understanding a system without knowing how the system actually functions internally, but only judging how the system responds to various... |
| reverse lookuup - A telephone directory service where, given the phone number, you can look up the name. |
| Revolutions per Minute - A measurement that applies commonly to hard drives, and removable drives like CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs. It also applies to anything that moves in a circular... |
| Rewriteable - This means that what was written can be erased so that it can be written to again. CD-R media is not rewriteable, but CD-RW media is. It is also more expensive.... |
| RFC - A document that was created to define accepted or proposed Internet standards or standards of practice. The acceptance of a document as an RFC is governed... |
| RGB - RGB is short for the colors red, green, and blue often used in color coding on web pages, particularly for GIF files. 64K color values can be represented... |
| Rich Media - A type of Internet advertisement that allows for more interaction than a simple click. It may incorporate a useable dropdown menu, radio buttons, or even... |
| RIMM - The form factor for Rambus RDRAM. By comparison, SDRAM is mainly found on DIMMs, and EDO RAM is usually on SIMMs. RIMMs require that if you do not fill... |
| Ring topology - A network that is connected on both ends to one source, with client machines hanging off of the ring. If you break the ring, all computers in the ring... |
| Rip - The action of copying music track(s) off of a music CD, and also possibly converting them into some form of compressed file, typically MP3. |
| RISC - This type of chip use a simpler instruction set than CISC chips to get its work done. This results in more instructions that need to be processed by the... |
| Riser Card - A card that plugs into a motherboard and enables other cards to be plugged into it horizontally. Architectures that support riser cards are typically designed... |
| RJ-11 - The type of modular jack used with telephones. It connects one to three pairs of wires with a transparent connector that plugs into your phone on one end... |
| RJ-45 - A modular jack that can connect up to four pairs of wires. It resembles the RJ-11 telephone jack, but is a bit larger. It is commonly used to connect twisted... |
| rlogin - Remote login, a protocol similar to |
| RMON - Part of the MIB that is used in SNMP. RMON defines 9 types of information that can be used to monitor networks and network devices. RMON2 is an extension... |
| RMON2 - An updated specification for RMON that was finalized in 1997 as RFC 2021. It includes 10 additional types of information that can be monitored and collected,... |
| RMS - Mathematically, this refers to the square root of the average of a group of numbers. You will most often see RMS referring to the power rating of an audio... |
| ROB - A tall, bearded, long-haired person who is scarily intelligent and often dangerous (ROBs have been known to be photographed with axes and chainsaws). A... |
| Robot - Besides being a mechanical device used to mimic human form, usually to accomplish some repetitive task, this term refers to a computer program that scans... |
| ROFL - Online speak for "Rolling On The Floor Laughing." |
| ROFL, ROTFL, ROTFLMAO, ROTFLMAOSTC - Chat shorthand for Rolling On the Floor Laughing. Commonly used in chat or messages to signify mirth in response to another's comment. Often expanded to... |
| ROM - Memory containing a program, data, or information about the device that has been programmed onto the chip at the factory and cannot be changed. There is... |
| Root - In UNIX this refers to the main system user who has full access to all files on a system. It also refers to the base directory of a file system. |
| Root directory - The base directory of an operating system. This term is typically used for the UNIX OS, but can apply to a webserver as the directory to which a browser... |
| Root Mean Square - Mathematically, this refers to the square root of the average of a group of numbers. You will most often see RMS referring to the power rating of an audio... |
| rootkit - a set of programs used to hack into a system and gain administrative-level access. May also monitor traffic and keystrokes; create a "backdoor" into the... |
| ROP - A set of low-level graphics operations in Windows, i.e., operations that deal with raster graphics. |
| router - A router connects networks together, controlling the routing of packets from source to destination and providing alternate paths when necessary. Routers... |
| RPC - A method a program can use to make a call to another program across a network without specifically dealing with network protocols. It is often used for... |
| RPG - A programming language for minicomputer mainframes such as the IBM AS/400. RPG began as a program to generate reports--as you could have guessed from the... |
| RPM - see Revolutions Per Minute or Red Hat Package Manager |
| RS-232 - This is the de facto standard for communication through PC serial ports. It can refer to cables and ports that support the RS-232 standard. Common usage... |
| rsn - Chat shorthand for "real soon now". It represents an indefinite period of time somewhat longer than the time "the check is in the mail." |
| rtf - Rich Text Format. A text format that allows a lot of specific formatting and layout. Uses the .rtf extension. |
| rtfm - Chat shorthand for "read the fine (or another four letter F word) manual". |
| RTM - Online speak for "Read The Manual." A more excited version of this is RTFM. |
| Runtime - The time when a program or process is being executed. When it's running it may need runtime libraries and have runtime variables with runtime values. The... |
| Runtime Error - An error that happens when a program is executed. When you run/execute a program and get a runtime error, that means that there is as error in the program... |
| Runtime Library - A group of programming functions that are called when a program is run, as opposed to being embedded into the program when it is compiled. |
