Access rights

System to manage the permission on who can do what with a file. Common access rights are "read" and "write". You can grant these rights for different users.

Command line

In contrast to a graphical user interface you can control the computer with UNIX-like operating systems, such as Linux, with commands entered with the keyboard. In the KDE interface you can call up a command line in a console window. You can find an icon for the program "konsole" in the grey bar at the bottom of the screen.

CPU

"Central Processing Unit", the main processor of the computer. Known examples are the Pentium series by Intel that is used in standard PCs and the PowerPC processor by IBM/Motorola that is used for example in Apple computers.

Device

The mechanism used under UNIX to access (external) devices. A device is actually nothing but a special file, usually in the folder "/dev". With the help of this special file you can read and write data on any device, such as a CD burner.

File header

Many file formats contain in addition to and independent from their contents a standardized header or "lead text" that is used to recognize the file format and that may contain additional information. In the case of (pixel) image files this header often contains information not directly in relation to the image data, such as the resolution.

File name extension, suffix

Similar to the file header programs are able to recognize the format of a file by its file name extension. This suffix is usually separated from the rest of the file name by a dot. The file test.atf would have the suffix atf. In this case the suffix atf is an abbreviation for the ArtCom Tile Format, one of our image formats.

File system

Software to manage files on a data carrier such as hard disk drives, CDs or diskettes. Known file formats are the FAT system by MSDOS. Linux can use among others ext2, ext3, reiserfs or xfs. File systems have different approaches on how and where to save information on a data carrier.

Job queue administration, Job administration

A part of the ArtCom software that takes care that not too many ArtCom processes run in parallel. Many ArtCom programs use the Job administration to carry out large or extensive process tasks not directly or immediately but spool them in a queue to process them consecutively. You can configure the maximum number of ArtCom jobs running in parallel.

KDE

The standard interface of SuSE Linux. Distinctive elements are the grey bar at the bottom of the screen with the hierarchical menu on the left side.

Linux

An operating system that is used mostly on PCs compatible to Intel hardware. It is a UNIX-like system, similar to Solaris (Sun) and IRIX (SGI) that are also supported by ArtCom.

Network printer

A printer that is not directly connected to a single computer but can be used by several computers because it has a network interface of its own.

Network software

Part of the operating system that provides network services. This usually means a specific network protocol that makes the exchange of data between different operating systems over a common network possible. One example for a network software is SMB or Samba under Linux because it performs the information exchange between computers running with Windows and Linux. In the Unix world this is often realized by NFS.

Operating system

Software that offers the basic functions of a computer system, such as file management, network, printing, etc.

PostScript RIP

Software that can convert descriptions in the PostScript format into a (pixel) image. RIP stands for "Raster Image Processor". Raster in this case refers to the pixel raster of the output device (printer, imager, screen, etc.) and not the print screen per se.

Printer management

Printers can print many print jobs one after the other. The print process usually takes longer than the processing of the print data, as a result the print jobs are temporarily saved in a spool. The job of the printer administration is to receive these jobs and send them one after the other to the printer. You can also use the printer management to delete jobs or change their order.

Service program

Part of every ArtCom installation. You can always start this program even without a valid license key. If not set up differently, you can start this program on the command line by typing in the command startService.

Software, compiling

The transformation of program source text into executable software. Programs are written in the form of a text file that the compiler has to transform into machine (processor) commands.

Text screen

In contrast to today's commonly used graphical user interface a simple, often black/white display of text symbols. Is usually used to start the operating system before switching into the graphical mode.