Acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. A coding scheme using 7 or 8 bits that assigns numeric values to up to 256 characters, including letters, numerals, punctuation marks, control characters, and other symbols. ASCII was developed in 1968 to standardize data transmission among disparate hardware and software systems and is built into most minicomputers and all personal computers.
Software that uses the services of a server in a network.
A program which is part of the operating system of a computer and controls part of the hardware of the computer.
See Router
The IEEE standard, which includes support for transmission rates of 1,000 megabits per second (Mbps) over an Ethernet network. The usual Ethernet standard supports only up to 100 Mbps.
Private directory provided for each UNIX user. The home directory is the current directory as soon as you log in to a server.
In this manual, the UNIX computer on which the HELIOS software runs.
A cabling system which allows a number of devices such as workstations and printers to communicate with each other. Each device on the network can offer specific services or be a user of services provided by other devices. For example, when a printer offers services to the network (the printing of documents), it can be used by any of the workstations on the network.
Network Information Service (NIS) is the formal term for the concept of “Yellow Pages”, which is the former name of a UNIX utility, provided by SunSoft (Sun Microsystems system software), that maintains a central database of names and locations of the resources on a network. NIS enables processes on any node to locate resources by name.
A node is a data-link addressable entity on a network.
An orphan resource is the “left over” resource fork of an already deleted file in a HELIOS volume. This can happen if only the data fork of a file is deleted, e.g. by using the standard UNIX command “rm” instead of using the HELIOS “dt rm” tool. By default, the “rebuild” command updates the volume desktop database and will clean orphan resource forks.
PCShare is a high-end SMB-based file server and print server software for Windows computers which are attached to UNIX computers through Ethernet, etc. Since PCShare is compatible with EtherShare, Windows users can share network printers and files with Mac and UNIX users, too.
The Portable Document Format (PDF) is an Adobe Acrobat file format that has been created for application independent file exchange. With the Adobe Reader software – which can be downloaded from the Adobe website – you may read and print any given PDF document.
PostScript Printer Description (PPD), is a file format developed by Adobe Systems, Inc. PPD files contain information enabling software to produce the best results possible for each type of designated printer.
1. In Windows NT, a database providing a centralized administration site for resources and user accounts. The database allows users to log onto the domain, rather than onto a specific host machine. A separate account database keeps track of the machines in the domain and allocates the domain's resources to users. 2. In any local area network, the server that maintains the master copy of the domain's user accounts database and that validates logon requests.
A standardized data format which allows workstations to communicate via a network.
A Raster Image Processor (RIP) performs the final calculation of the data which are sent to the output device. The RIP may be either an external unit or part of the output device itself. A PostScript laser printer for example contains its own RIP.
The top-most directory on a UNIX computer is called “root” directory. If you are logged in as “root”, you can access all other directories and subdirectories on the system.
A program or hardware unit which interconnects two or more networks (or zones) in order to transfer data in a bidirectional way between them.
Software which provides services to a network, such as printing (print server) or the storage of files (file server).
A socket is an addressable entity within a node connected to a TCP/IP network. Sockets are owned by software processes known as socket clients.
A spooler is a set of programs which manage print jobs. A spooler acts as a buffer for the files that have been sent to an output device. A spooler may also be called a “printer queue”.
An internet network is a virtual data network specification based on a packet-oriented protocol (Internet Protocol = IP) which allows data to be transferred between otherwise incompatible networks. Thus, the internet specification describes a hardware-independent data protocol that lies above the hardware protocol (such as Ethernet). The Internet protocol (IP), however, is only able to exchange data packets between computers. The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) extends this ability to allow processes to be addressed on the target computer and to improve the reliability of the inter-process communication. TCP/IP has been implemented by all major software and hardware providers.
WebShare is a high-performance HELIOS file server which enables fast and secure real time file access via any web browser. Since WebShare is compatible with PCShare and EtherShare, web users can share network printers and files with Mac, Windows, and UNIX users, too.
A group of users working on a common project and sharing computer files, often over a local area network.
Any computer which is not used as a server connected to a network for example a Mac computer or a PC-compatible computer.