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Backbone
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A single or series of high-speed connections which
form a major route for data within a network.
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Bandwidth
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In layman's terms it is the amount of data that can
be sent down a communications channel at once, for
example the amount of data that can be transferred
between computers on a Network at the same time.
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Banner
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An image or series of images usually displayed at
the top or bottom of a web page, generally to advertise
another web page or product.
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Baud
Rate
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The speed at which modems connect to other modems.
When the Internet first came about modems were either
9600 Baud (kbps) or 14400 Baud. Now, 56000 Baud is
not uncommon.
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BBS
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Bulletin Board System. An online 'community' where
users take part in conversations by posting messages
(similar to emails) replying to one that another user
has already posted. Real-time chat can be another
feature of a BBS where people take part in an online
'conversation' on screen.
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Beta
Version
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A term used to describe a program that has been written
but not all the errors have been removed yet. Beta
testers are used to find the errors and then report
back to the software authors so they can be removed
before the final version is released.
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Binary
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A sequence of zeros and ones that a computer uses
to display images on-screen, play sounds, and operate
in general.
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BIOS
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Basic Input/Output System. BIOS is the 'building
blocks' of the PC - it tells parts of the PC about
the other parts and how to interact with them.
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Bit
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Binary digIT. One character in binary such as a single
zero or one is a bit.
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Bookmark
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Rather like a bookmark used to mark pages in books,
these are used in Web Browsers in PCs to mark pages
for future reference.
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Boot
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The act of starting a PC and watching it go through
its initialization until it becomes ready for use.
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bps
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Bits per Second. A common 'measuring stick' to compare
data transfer speeds.
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Browser
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A program that is used to access pages on the Internet,
in particular the World Wide Web. Common browsers
include Netscape, Internet Explorer, Opera, NetPositive
and Lynx
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Byte
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A 'chunk' of data which is 8 bits long. (eg. 10101010)
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