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The name originates from the Basic Input/Output System used in the CP/M operating system in 1975. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] The BIOS firmware was originally proprietary to the IBM PC ; it was reverse engineered by some companies (such as Phoenix Technologies ) looking to create compatible systems.
An alternative method is via instruction-based I/O which requires that a CPU have specialized instructions for I/O. [1] Both input and output devices have a data processing rate that can vary greatly. [2] With some devices able to exchange data at very high speeds direct access to memory (DMA) without the continuous aid of a CPU is required. [2]
Standard PC BIOS is limited to a 16-bit processor mode and 1 MB of addressable memory space, resulting from the design based on the IBM 5150 that used a 16-bit Intel 8088 processor. [ 8 ] [ 34 ] In comparison, the processor mode in a UEFI environment can be either 32-bit ( IA-32 , AArch32) or 64-bit ( x86-64 , Itanium, and AArch64).
The processor executes the SMM code in a separate address space (SMRAM) that has to be made inaccessible to other operating modes of the CPU by the firmware. [7] System Management Mode can address up to 4 GB memory as huge real mode. In x86-64 processors, SMM can address >4 GB memory as real address mode. [8]
NetBIOS—Network Basic Input/Output System; NetBT—NetBIOS over TCP/IP; NEXT—Near-End CrossTalk; NFA—Nondeterministic Finite Automaton; NFC—Near-field communication; NFS—Network File System; NGL—aNGeL; NGSCB—Next-Generation Secure Computing Base; NI—National Instruments; NIC—Network Interface Controller or Network Interface Card
Unlike a backplane, a motherboard usually contains significant sub-systems, such as the central processor, the chipset's input/output and memory controllers, interface connectors, and other components integrated for general use. Motherboard means specifically a PCB with expansion capabilities.
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A hardware abstraction layer (HAL) is an abstraction layer, implemented in software, between the physical hardware of a computer and the software that runs on that computer. . Its function is to hide differences in hardware from most of the operating system kernel, so that most of the kernel-mode code does not need to be changed to run on systems with different hardwa