Buses and interfaces

Bus is a communication line used for data transfer among the components of a computer system. A bus is a highway that allows different parts of the system to share data.

Interface is 1) the user interface, where people communicate with the software through commands and other devices; 2) the connections in software that allow an application to work with the operating system, or that allow the operating system to work with the hardware; 3) the hardware cards, plugs, and other devices used to move data from place to place.

Your computer uses different kinds of buses. The most common are:

ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) was developed in 1979 for the IBM XT and used in all PC compatible systems to date, ISA is the slowest bus architecture available for the PC, typically running at only 8 megahertz (MHz). The address space is 16 Mb.

EISA (Extended Industry Standard Architecture) was developed in 1987 to provide 32-bit data bus and address space using the standard ISA architecture, this is the next generation to the ISA bus. It is completely compatible with ISA. The bandwidth is 33 Mbps (megabyte per second).

Micro Channel was developed in 1987 to provide a 32-bit alternative to ISA, this was IBM's next generation to the ISA bus. Performance is practically the same as with EISA but it is only supported by IBM.

VESA Bus (The Video Electronics Standards Association standard) is an enhanced EISA design. This is known as local bus technology and is ten times faster than ISA.

PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) was developed by Intel in 1993, now this is the most popular bus architecture. It is also cheaper to implement than all of the buses listed above with the exception of ISA.

Word-building (2)

Ex.7 a) Read and translate the following words and pay attention to the suffixes –tion, -sion. Analyze the meaning of these suffixes.

1. specification

2. communication

3. instruction

4. combination

5. compression

6. repetition

7. collection

8. navigation

b) Translate the verbs into Russian:

1. specify

2. communicate

3. instruct

4. combine

5. compress

6. repeat

7. collect

8. navigate

c) Choose the right variant, put down the rule into your copybooks:

Суффиксы …, …,указывают на принадлежность слова к:

а)прилагательному; б)существительному; в)глаголу

и имеют значение:

а) определенного состояния,

б) инструмента, прибора, с помощью которого можно выполнять определенные действия,

в) процесса (факта) выполнения определенного действия.

But: partition– раздел, часть, сегмент;topartition– разделять, разбивать на разделы, сегменты, части

d) Translate the following words basing on their stem-forms, memorize them:

1. (to) allocate – назначать, размещать, распределять allocation

2. (to) create - создавать creation

3. (to) apply – прикладывать, применять application

4. (to) divide – разделять, делить division

5. (to) transmit - передавать transmission

6. (to) extend – расширять extension

7. (to) execute – выполнять, исполнять execution

8. (to) corrupt – нарушать, искажать corruption

e) Translate into English:

Передача, расширение, искажение, размещать, раздел, описание/характеристика, сжатие/уплотнение, повторять, приложение, общаться/связываться, выполнение.

Ex.8 Complete the following abbreviation:

1. PC/XT (Personal Computer eX----ed Technology) – персональный компьютер с расширенной технологией.

2. PC/AT (Personal Computer Ad----ed Technology) – персональный компьютер с усовершенствованной технологией.

3. ISA (-----try Standard Architecture) – архитектура промышленного стандарта.

4. MCA (Micro -----el Architecture) – микроканальная архитектура.

5. PCI (P------ral Component Interconnect) – соединение внешних устройств.

6. USB (Universal -----l Bus) – универсальная последовательная магистраль (шина).

7. AGP (Acc------ed Graphics Port) – ускоренный графический порт.

8. ACPI (Ad----ed Configuration P---- Interface) – интерфейс расширенной конфигурации по питанию.

9. DMA (D----t Memory A----s) – прямой доступ к памяти