Bell —— Standard frequencies used in older modems made in the United States. The standard for 300 bps is called Bell 103. The standard for 1200 bps full duplex is called Bell 212A. Modems using these standards are normally unable to communicate with CCITT standard modems at these speeds.
Big5
——
Coding scheme developed in Taiwan for using Chinese on computers.
There are different varieties of Big5 codes, the most common being
ET Big5 (the code used by the Taiwanese program ETen, pronounced
Yi3tian1) and HKU Big5 (the code used for programs developed at
Hong Kong University).
ET Big5 files must be read with the ETen operating system.
Binary ——— The base 2 number system in which only the digits 1 and 0 are used is called the binary system. The binary system lets us express any number, if we have enough bits, as a combination of 1's and 0's. Also used to express conditions like on/off, true/false, yes/no.
Bits —— Bit is an abbreviation for Binary digIT. Computer words and data are made-up of bits, the smallest unit of information. A bit can be either zero or one, represented in a circuit by an off or on state, respectively. The bits are set on or off to store data, or to form a code that in turn sends instructions to the computer's central processing unit.
Bits per second (bps) ——————————- Bits per second (bps) is the number of binary digits sent in one second. It refers to the rate at which the bits within a single frame are sent ('frame' is another term for 'packet'). The gaps between frames can be of variable length. Accordingly, bps does not refer to the rate at which information is actually being transferred. We usually estimate the amount of characters transferred per second (cps) by dividing the number of bps by 10. Example: 2400 bps transfers around 240 characters per second.
Boolean ———- Search algorithm built on the algebraic theories of the English mathematician George Booles. Boolean algorithms are used in online databases to help narrow down the number of hits using the words AND, OR, and NOT.
Bounce ——— The return of a piece of mail because of an error in its delivery.
Bps —- Abbreviation for bits per second. See above.
Browse
———
To view and possibly edit a file of data on screen similar to
handling text in a word processing document.
Bulletin board ——————— A computer, often a microcomputer, set up to receive calls and work as an online service. The BBSes let users communicate with each other through message bases, and exchange files. They and may also offer other services (like news, data base searches, and online shopping).