A User's Guide to Macspeak

Every field has its jargon. Computers seem to spawn more than their fair share. For the most part, these are Mac-specific terms.

68K, 680x0 - Motorola family of processors including 68000, 68020, 68030, and 68040.

ADB - Apple Desktop Bus, connector used for keyboard and mouse since Mac II and SE of 1987.

AppleTalk - hardware designed to support LocalTalk.

Centris - a short-lived line of 68040-based Macs between the 68030-based Mac II line and the faster 68040-based Quadra line.

Clean ROMs - ROMs that work correctly with 32-bit addressing.

DIN-8 - the serial connector on all Macs since the Plus.

Dirty ROMs - ROMs that will not work correctly with 32-bit addressing; Mode 32 patches the ROMs and allows use of 32-bit addressing. (Without 32-bit addressing, the Mac sees no more than 8 MB RAM.)

FDHD - Apple's designation for a high density (1.44MB) floppy drive.

FireWire - the peripheral bus of the future, already in use on some consumer video gear.

GeoPort - high speed serial port introduced with Centris 660av and Quadra 840av; also used on all Power Macs.

Intel Inside - advertising slogan denoting computers less sophisticated then any Macintosh; one alternative is POWER inside.

Jobs - one of the founders of Apple Computer; what many Apple employees have lost over the years.

LocalTalk - 230.4Kbps network protocol invented by Apple.

Maclone - generic term for a Mac OS computer not made by Apple.

NuBus - 10 MHz expansion bus standard from Mac II to first generation Power Macintosh.

Performa - a line of relabeled Macs intended for the consumer market; discontinued in 1997.

PhoneNet - Localtalk hardware from Farallon that uses inexpensive phone wire for networking.

SCSI - small computer system interface; fast peripheral bus introduced with Mac Plus and used on all Macs since.

PCI - industry standard 33 MHz expansion bus standard since second generation Power Macintosh.

PDS - processor direct slot; expansion slot specific to one processor or family of computers (such as LC series, SE/30 and IIsi, Quadras).

Plug-n-Play - advertising slogan denoting purported ability of Windows 95 to emulate a Macintosh by recognizing and automatically configuring itself for new components; often called Plug-n-Pray by Windows users.

PPC - PowerPC family of processors including 601, 603, 603e, 604, 604e, 740, and 750.

SuperDrive - Apple's other designation for a high density (1.44MB) floppy drive. Later, Apple's designation for the DVD-ROM burner in the Power Mac G4.

TiBook - Shorthand for Titanium PowerBook G4.

Wintel - an amalgamation of Windows and Intel; the other computing platform.

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