WhatIs

/sī-lō/

n. The FIFO input-character buffer in an RS-232 line card. So called from DEC terminology used on DH and DZ line cards for the VAX and PDP-11, presumably because it was a storage space for fungible stuff that you put in the top and took out the bottom.

/si-lē wȯk/

[from Monty Python's Flying Circus]

vi. 1. A ridiculous procedure required to accomplish a task. Like grovel, but more random and humorous.

"I had to silly-walk through half the /usr directories to find the maps file."

2. Syn. fandango on core.

/si-li-k[ən|än] fau̇n-drē/

n. A company that fabs chips to the designs of others. As of the late 1980s, the combination of silicon foundries and good computer-aided design software made it much easier for hardware-designing startup companies to come into being. The downside of using a silicon foundry is that the distance from the actual chip-fabrication processes reduces designers' control of detail. This is somewhat analogous to the use of HLLs versus coding in assembler.

/si-li-kən/ or /si-li-kän/

n. Hardware, esp. ICs or microprocessor-based computer systems (compare iron). Contrasted with software.

See also sandbender.

/sig-nə-chu̇r ən(d) ə-then-ti-kā-shən/

proving who you are - proving you signed a document (and not someone else)

/sig-nᵊl tü nȯiz rā-shē-ō/

[from analog electronics]

n. Used by hackers in a generalization of its technical meaning. 'Signal' refers to useful information conveyed by some communications medium, and 'noise' to anything else on that medium. Hence a low ratio implies that it is not worth paying attention to the medium in question. Figures for such metaphorical ratios are never given. The term is most often applied to USENET newsgroups during flame wars.

Compare bandwidth.

/sig kwōt/

[USENET]

n. A maxim, quote, proverb, joke, or slogan embedded in one's sig block and intended to convey something of one's philosophical stance, pet peeves, or sense of humor.

"Calm down, it's only ones and zeroes."

/sig bläk/

[UNIX: often written '.sig' there]

/sīd-kär/

n. 1. Syn. slap on the side. Esp. used of add-ons for the late and unlamented IBM PCjr.

2. The IBM PC compatibility box that could be bolted onto the side of an Amiga. Designed and produced by Commodore, it broke all of the company's own rules. If it worked with any other peripherals, it was by magic.

/shəb in-tər-net/

[MUD: from H. P. Lovecraft's evil fictional deity 'Shub-Niggurath', the Black Goat with a Thousand Young]

n. The harsh personification of the Internet, Beast of a Thousand Processes, Eater of Characters, Avatar of Line Noise, and Imp of Call Waiting; the hideous multi-tendriled entity formed of all the manifold connections of the net. A sect of MUDders worships Shub-Internet, sacrificing objects and praying for good connections. To no avail -- its purpose is malign and evil, and is the cause of all network slowdown. Often heard as in