UART | Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter. The chip that controls the serial ports. | |
UL | Underwriters Laboratories. They test product safety. | |
ULSI | Ultra Large Scale Integration. IC's that have more than 100,000 components. The components are definitely microscopic. | |
ultralight computer | A small, lightweight computer. Smaller than a notebook computer. | |
UNIX | A multiuser operating system developed at AT&T in 1969. | |
up | Functional. When your system is powered on and ready to use. Compare down. | |
UPS | Uninterruptable Power Supply. A device that supplies power to your computer if the power goes off, allowing you time to shut down your computer normally, without losing data. | |
upload | To copy a file from your computer onto a storage device, especially if the device is another computer. Compare download. | |
upward compatibility | Software that is expected to operate correctly on future systems. Compare downward compatibility . | |
URL | Uniform Resource Locator. A standard for specifying something, such as a file, graphic, or newsgroup, on the Internet or World Wide Web. URL's are also used to specific the target of a hyperlink. | |
USB | Universal Serial Bus. A standard for communication between IBM PC compatibles and external peripherals over a cable using biserial transmission. | |
user | A person who works with a computer without bothering about the hows and whys of its functionality. A person who reports bugs instead of fixing them. | |
user-friendly | An overused term that means easy to learn and use. |