BIOS

/buy"ohs/, n.

computer firmware that directs many basic functions of the operating system, as booting and keyboard control.

[B(asic) I(nput)/O(utput) S(ystem)]

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in full Basic Input/Output System

Computer program that is typically stored in EPROM and used by the CPU to perform start-up procedures when the computer is turned on.

Its two major procedures are determining what peripheral devices (keyboard, mouse, disk drives, printers, video cards, etc.) are available and loading the operating system (OS) into main memory. After start-up, the BIOS program manages data flow between the OS and the peripherals, so neither the OS nor the application programs need to know the details of the peripherals (such as hardware addresses).

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▪ computer program

in full Basic Input/Output System 

      Computer program (computer program) that is typically stored in EPROM and used by the CPU (central processing unit) to perform start-up procedures when the computer is turned on. Its two major procedures are determining what peripheral devices (keyboard, mouse, disk drives, printers, video cards, etc.) are available and loading the operating system (OS) into main memory. After start-up, the BIOS program manages data flow between the OS and the peripherals, so neither the OS nor the application programs need to know the details of the peripherals (such as hardware addresses).

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