Letter F
FAQ Frequently Asked Questions. A list of questions and answers
people frequently ask experts about things.
FAT File Allocation Table. A table that holds information about
the names of files and directories on a disk and their location
on the disk (in a bitmap). DOS uses FAT16, and Windows 9x can
use FAT32 for more efficient use of disk space.
FAX Facsimile. A machine which digitally copies documents and sends
them to another machine over the phone line to another machine
which prints it out.
FCPGA Flip-Chip Pin Grid Array sockets for high speed processor chips.
Similar to Socket technology. Used by new Celeron processors.
FDISK Fixed Disk. Program to manage hard disk partitions. On any computer
a hard disk needs a least One partition for the operating system
to recognise it and install a file system e.g. FAT, NTFS etc.
Fedora A Linux distribution, which is a variant of Red Hat Linux.
FibreOptic Replaces copper cable with fibre optical cable that transmits
laser light rather than electrons.
Fidonet Special message based system used on BBS' (Bulletin Boards),
people can join message groups called Echos which concentrate on
particular subjects to which they can read and contribute.
Now superceded by NewsGroups and Mailing Lists on the Internet.
See Fidonet home page.
File A collection of bytes that can be a program, a document,
a database or picture etc that is given a name and stored
on a disk.
Firefox A web browser by Mozilla for various platforms including Windows,
MacOS, Linux, Android. Replaced the Netscape Navigator browser.
Firewall A computer which sits between networks using between the Internet
and a LAN and blocks unwanted data to/from each network and
prevents hacking and trojans entering your LAN.
Firewire A high speed communcation port, replaces SCSI. Used for disks,
video and so on.
Firmware Software that is written onto read-only chips such BIOS, Flash ROMs etc.
Flash Player An animation web plugin developed by Macromedia/Adobe until 2021.
It was used widely on popular web browsers: IE, Edge, Firefox, Chrome, Safari.
Replaced with HTML 5 standards, Canvas 3D and WebGL.
Flash ROM A reprogrammable ROM chip used in various devices such as
Modems and expansion cards. Instead of replacing the chip as
before, updates can be 'flashed' onto the ROM instead.
Floppy disk A removable storage device. The PC can handle 3.5 disks or
the older 5.25 disks. They can hold 360K, 720K or 1440K.
Floppy Drive A device that reads and writes to floppy disks. On the PC they
are referred to as A: and B:. Also referred to as FDDs.
Folder Another name of a directory or drawer of files on a disk.
Font Refers to the typeface and font used to display characters on
the screen. The type include Bitmap and Compugraphic Fonts,
PostScript and TrueType fonts.
Format Function needed to prepare disks with a specific File System so
that files can be saved onto them. Creates a disk bitmap and
directory structure on the disk. PCs use FAT, FAT32, NTFS etc.
ForTRAN Formula Translation. An early computer language for mathematics.
FPM Fast Page Memory. Type of memory SIMMs used in the majority
of older PCs such as 486 and early Pentium machines.
FPU Floating Point Unit. A Processor chip designed specifically to
process decimal numbers with high precision. This was seperate
in older 80x86 processors but now included in Pentium processors
and so forth.
FQDN Fully qualified domain name is the full DNS name e.g. www.bbc.co.uk.
FreeBSD A free community driven variant of the BSD operating system.
FreeDOS A Free DOS operating system for the PC.
FSB Front Side Bus. Speed in MHz of the motherboard. The faster the
better.
FTP File Transfer Protocol. Method used on the Internet to transfer
programs between computers.
FTP-S File transfer protocol with Security addon using SSL/TLS certificates.
Converted with g2h, © 24.06.1998 N. DARNIS