The upgraded versions of the Amiga's Agnus and Denise coprocessor chips. The Enhanced Chip Set offers additional display modes (ECS modes) and expands previous graphics capabilities. Many of the benefits of the ECS are available only in conjunction with Release 2 or higher of the operating system.
A program that lets you create and/or modify certain types of files. The Amiga provides Preferences editors to change Prefs settings and the text editors, MEmacs and ED, for changing text files.
A sequence of characters, beginning with the Escape character, that performs a special function when entered on a command line or printed as part of a string. Escape sequences are typically used to alter the style of type used by a printer or in a console window.
The process of selecting several icons at once by holding down Shift while selecting each icon with the mouse.
A sequence of characters beginning with a period, such as .info, added to the end of a filename to identify the type of file.
A special graphics mode that doubles the number of colors on the screen by duplicating existing colors at half their brightness.
The screen area behind the text of a Workbench icon label. The color of the field can be changed with the Font editor.
The organization and software that controls the data, files, and directories stored on a volume. The primary types of Amiga file systems are FFS (FastFileSystem) and OFS (OldFileSystem).
A removable magnetic storage medium. The Amiga uses 3.5 inch, double-sided, floppy disk in a rigid plastic case.
Also called typeface. A particular design of a set of letters, symbols, and numbers used for text display, such as Topaz and Helvetica. Fonts are usually available in several sizes, defined in points (10 point, 12 point, and so on).
A scattered distribution of data on a disk or in memory. Disk fragmentation results in slower disk performance; memory fragmentation can prevent some programs from running properly.
Keys at the top of the Amiga keyboard, labeled F1 to F10, that can be programmed to perform special tasks.
Any of various programmed graphic images that may appear in a window, requester, or screen and can be manipulated with the mouse to perform a certain function. Each gadget is of a specific type and performs a specific action. Most gadgets appear raised and when selected, appear to sink into the screen.
A piece of hardware that allows Amiga graphics to be overlaid onto another video source, for example, from a camera or VCR. A genlock is typically used for applying titles or captions to video media.
Displaying menu or gadget items on the screen less distinctly than normal to indicate that they are currently unavailable.
GUI (Graphical User Interface)
A visually-oriented system allowing you to tell a computer what to do by manipulating graphic symbols rather than by typing in commands. The Workbench is the Amiga GUI.
A high-speed, large-capacity mass-storage device from which the disks usually cannot be removed. Often called a hard drive or hard disk drive.
A term used to describe the multi-leveled AmigaDOS file structure in which directories can contain other directories and/or files.
The pixel in a pointer, normally the tip of an arrow or the center of a crosshair, that must be touching an object on the screen to select it.
An image appearing on the screen to represent a disk, drawer, project or tool. Icons can be moved and selected with the mouse to allow you to work with the items they represent.
A file that determines the arrangement of characters on the keyboard and determines the meaning of each key. Different languages have different keymaps.
