Terminology

This page attempts to catalogue the various IBM-isms used through the years and translate them to terms more synonymous with the rest of the computer industry. As this is an IBM-focused wiki relying heavily on IBM sales brochures, manuals, and service information, we use the IBM terminology where possible.

AKA AS/400 As She Is Spoke

A

B

C

D

DASD, direct access storage device

Hard drive

display station

An interactive terminal consisting of display, input device, and keyboard

E

EIA-232

Electronic Industries Association standard RS-232-C, commonly known as RS-232

F

file

context dependent; disk or diskette file refers to a physical hard drive or floppy disk while file refers to a database on the machine

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

main storage

Random Access Memory, RAM - termed "main storage" because IBM's marketing department felt that calling it "memory" would imply that computers would just forget things like people do

midrange computer

What the rest of the industry called a minicomputer, a computer in between microcomputer and mainframe computer

N

O

P

planar, planar board

Motherboard

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

workstation, work station