Glossary

Glossary of Terms

This section of the wiki is dedicated to terminology and (extremely) basic explanations of core concepts.

To Users: Please help make this section more complete.

Terms Beginning with Numbers

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A through G

AP (networking, wireless) = Access Point - A connection point where wireless clients clients attach to a wired network, can be configured to extend wireless coverage in repeater mode.

ATA: Analog Telephone Adapter - An ATA is a device which provides an interface between a traditional "Plain Old Telephone Service" (POTS) telephone line and a computer system, potentially including Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) bridging capabilities. Commonly found on ATAs are at least one standard telephone jack and one Ethernet jack. Examples of ATAs include the Linksys/Sipura SPA-3102 and the Obi110, among others.

ATSC: Advanced Television Systems Committee - ATSC is used to denote the North American digital television broadcast standards. ATSC standards replace the older, analog NTSC standards used before US Federal mandate required all broadcasters to switch to digital broadcast for Over The Air (OTA) television transmissions. The European equivalent is called DVB. Supported resolutions include 480i, 480p, 720i, 720p, 1080i and 1080p, among others.

BIOS: Basic Input Output System - A set of commands that a computer uses to understand itself and its internal components, used to initialize a computer prior to loading a full Operating System (OS).

CMOS: Complimentary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor - the battery savable settings made to BIOS that allow for options to be stored and recalled after power loss.

Community: Users, Testers & Developers that together make up the LinuxMCE project.

Core: The primary computer in the LinuxMCE network, the device containing LinuxMCE files and directories.

CPU: Central Processing Unit - (also referred to as; proc, processor or in multiple core processors, a single core) Typical CPU manufacturers include; Intel, AMD and the various manufacturers of ARM type CPUs who are members of that consortium.

CSS: Content Scrambling System - The weak encryption protocol used to scramble the content of most commercially available DVD disks. It is up to the User of a LinuxMCE system to determine if adding the appropriate libraries necessary to decrypt CSS are legal and appropriate in their jurisdiction, and to install those libraries themselves, should they determine so.

DCE: Data Communications Equipment - Refers to the DCE Router protocol that forms an essential part of the backbone of a LinuxMCE system. DCE Router allows the system to control seemingly disjointed applications and devices in a coherent manner.

DCE/dcerouter: The function of the LinuxMCE Core that directs commands to various plugins and devices.

Dev: Developers - Programmers who develop, implement, bug-fix and often support Users and Testers, also referred to as devel(s).

DHCP: Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol - A networking protocol used to "automatically" assign IP addressees to network devices. In LinuxMCE, the Core should be the only DHCP server at the internal network layer of a LinuxMCE home network.

DVB: (includes DVB-T & DVB-T2) Digital Video Broadcasting - DVB is used to denote the European and other regional digital television broadcast standards. DVB-T (and to a lessor extent DVB-T2, an extension of DVB-T) standards replace the older, analog PAL & SECAM standards used before regulatory mandates began requiring broadcasters to switch to digital broadcast for Over The Air (OTA) television transmissions. PAL is supposed to be completely supplanted by DVB by late 2012 through 2013 in most regions that use/used PAL.

DVI: Digital Visual Interface - A rectangular connector for digital video transmission (types are DVI-D, DVI-A and DVI-I).

Eth0/Eth1: Ethernet port 0 or 1 - Eth0 is the primary or first listed Ethernet port (default installations of LinuxMCE make this; External network), while Eth1 is the secondary or second listed Ethernet port (default installations of LinuxMCE make this; Internal network).

GNU: GNU is Not Unix - A recursive anagram used to denote software developed under the Free Software Foundation (FSF) GNU project, and released under the General Public License (GPL). GNU software is a large portion of what a typical Linux based Operating System is comprised of, the Linux kernel being a separate, but crucial component.

GPL: General Public License - A software license which is typically described as "Copyleft." The GPL license versions most typically used in Open Source software are the GPL v. 2, GPL v. 3, and the L-GPL, which provide for various requirements for additional or altered code to be contributed back to the project and/or permission to "hook" into the software with or without being released under that license.

GSD: Generic Serial Device - A device template in LinuxMCE, for serial devices that are not specifically given their own template.

H through N

HDD: Hard Drive Disk - As the BIOS understands;

Detected devices the disks are labeled as disk then partition in numbers starting with 0. Example; hdd0,0 and hdd0,1 are the same device but shown as to separate partitions.

Linux displays SCSI, SATA and USB drives differently with alphabetical designations for devices and numeric extensions for partitions.

BIOS recognizes 2 SATA hard drives with 2 partitions each as; hdd0,0 ... hdd0,1 ... hdd1,0 & hdd1,1 where Linux recognizes; sda1 ... sda2 ... sdb1 & sdb2

HDMI: High-Definition Multimedia Interface - a common connector that combines a digital video signal with a digital audio signal on a single cable and connector.

Hub (networking): A device that forwards all packets to all connected devices, each device then reads the packet to see if it contains information intended for it.

IDE: Integrated Drive Electronics - typically referring to physical drives (hard drive, dvd drive, cd drive) connected along a 44 pin IDE controller port on the motherboard.

IP: Internet Protocol - In LinuxMCE; typical usage is IP address or a location where computers can be addressed at.

ls (POSIX/Linux command): List - The Linux list command. Displays a lisiting of the contents of a directory (folder) from a command line terminal. Related commands; lsusb (lists USB devices attached to the system), lspci (lists PCI attached devices), and similar commands.

MAC: Media Access Control address - The unique identifier of a connected hardware device, not to be confused with Mac' which is abbreviated for Macintosh Computers and OS.

MD: Media Director - The term used to describe diskless nodes, which store their image on the Core and are capable of displaying media.

MotherBoard: (also; MoBo/Mainboard/SystemBoard) The main component of your computer that contains the cpu, ram and ports to connect other devices.

NAS: Networked Attached Storage - A device usually consisting of a hard drive (or drives), and electronics necessary to announce the presence of the storage media using standard network mass storage protocols, such as SMB (SAMBA compatible).

O through U

Orbiter: A device used to control a media director, with small exceptions these function as controllers only and can not display media.

OS: Operating System - Examples include; Linux (a/k/a GNU/Linux), Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, Android (based on Linux), Unix, Symbian, BSD and WebOS (based on Linux).

PATA: Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment or Parallel ATA - An uncommon used term for IDE connections, sometimes used by Linux programs such as Disk Utility.

Project: A term used to describe LinuxMCE in terms of an ongoing and ever improving software solution.

RAM: Random Access Memory - Also referred to as memory, but not to be confused with storage memory.

root (POSIX/Linux term): Can refer to the Administrator account of a Linux system or, alternatively, it can refer the the primary hard drive partition, depending on usage.

Router (networking): A device that reads incoming packets and sends them to only the addressed client (typically enabled as DHCP controller for the network).

SATA: Serial Advanced Technology Attachment or Serial ATA - a type of connect that allows connection to serial addressed devices such as hard drive, dvd-drives etc.

Serial Connector/Port: (also; RS-232) A 9 pin connector (or sometimes abbreviated to a 5 pin connector) on some computers and devices that addresses attached devices in serial. Sometimes referred to as D-Sub 9.

SIP: Session Initiation Protocol (see VOIP) - A signaling and transmission method that VOIP can be addressed via.

sudo (POSIX/Linux command): Super User DO - A command to escalate privileges in a (typically) Linux system. Requires the sudo system to be installed (default in LinuxMCE) and for the user to be on the sudoers list.

Switch (networking): A device that forwards packets of information along a network, addressing is allowed but the device does not give new devices IP addresses. Typical appearance of a switch is a small, router-like box with Ethernet ports and a port for an external power source.

TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol - Transmission protocol used on both intranets and the Internet. Each connection is assign an "IP Address," used to identify it across the network.

Template: A developed set of instructions to instruct lmce how to communicate to attached devices and programs. Created as generic for similar items or specific to one item as necessary.

terminal (POSIX/Linux term): Refers to a Linux command line interface screen, either one of several designated virtual terminals, or an application which provides a windowed virtual terminal. Typically, the graphical user interface of a Linux system is provided on terminal 7 (acquired by using the Ctrl-Alt-F7 key combination if the user is using a different virtual terminal).

Tester: Users who assist developers by communicating device and setting issues to the developers, this information is used to make the User's experience automated and problem free.

tty (POSIX/Linux term): Refers to the TTY system, which is central to Unix like systems, and the virtual terminals attached to the system, the drivers used to connect them, and can also refer to the designations of those devices (e.g.: ttyusb0; referring to the first USB device in some Linux distribution's architecture).

USB: (includes; USB-A, USB-B, etc.) Universal Serial Bus - An USB-A terminal is a typical flat rectangular USB plug/jack. An USB-B is a typical square USB plug/jack used often for printer and some modem connections. Other types include; USB-Mini and USB-Micro, etc.

User: A user of LinuxMCE, the development intention of LinuxMCE is to allow users functional home automation, media, phone, climate and communications integration without knowledge of the above listed items. The end user of LinuxMCE.

V through Z

VGA: Video Graphics Array (standard 15 pin, blue rectangular monitor plug)

VOIP: Voice Over Internet Protocol - Examples include; Skype, Google-Talk, etc.

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Note: Users adding large blocks of text for integration into the Glossary may paste the bulk text here prior to re-working, formatting and putting the entries into their proper position in the Glossary sorting structure (sort is by Alpha).