MAE
Metro Area Ethernet, now a generic term for any location where numerous providers "peer" (exchange traffic).
MAC Address
The low-level address assigned to a device on an ethernet, MAC addresses are translated to IP addresses via ARP. Each NIC is assigned a unique address at the factory.
MACH
An open source operating system, using by NeXT and others. See also HURD.
Man
The Unix command for viewing the online manual pages on a Unix system.
Mail
Electronic Mail is a means of exchanging private text messages through the Internet and other networks. The most popular mail readers on Unix are Elm and Pine. It is also possible to read mail across a SLIP connection with a client program connected to a popmail server. The most popular client for home computers is Eudora.
mega
Prefix conventionally meaning "thousand", in computers sometimes a megabyte can refer to either to 1,024 kilobytes or exactly one million bytes. Marketers usually use the 'incorrect' value of one million bytes because it inflates the total by about 5%. (molly)
meta
A prefix meaning to provide added meaning, transcending or going beyond, however meta is nearly as abused a term as cyber. A 'meta' key is a key (shift, control, etc) that is used to change the meaning of other keys when used in combination. From the Greek, meaning 'with'. You can basically think of 'meta' as meaning 'this, but something more'. Transcendental metatation?
MIB
Management Information Base. A set of parameters used to define the information available from an SNMP-capable device.
Microsoft
A major operating system corporation, operated by Bill Gates.
MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface. Extensive documentation is provided by the MMA. (dana)
MIME
An acronym for
MIPS
Acronym for Millions of Instructions Per Second, a measure of the speed of computing devices. Due to the lack of correlation between this measure and real-life performance, some redefine it as Meaningless Indicator of Processor Speed (congournet)
Mkdir
The Unix command to create a new directory.
Modem
Shorthand for MODulator/DEModulator, a modem allows the transmission of digital information over an analog phone line. A modem dictionary is available that defines all the basic terms.
Mosaic(tm)
A graphical browser available for Unix, MS-Windows(tm) and Macintosh(tm), created by the NCSA. Often used as a generic term for any graphical browser.
Morph
Meaning 'to change forms', in computer graphics 'morphing' is an animation transforming a picture from one image to another, as in this example.
MPP
Acronym for massively parallel process(ing|er), a method of solving a equation or other problem by breaking it down into numerous smaller equations that can be solved in parallel. Often used in cryptography. (wick@mac.mei.co.jp)
MS/DOS
Microsoft DOS, an older non-graphical operating system, predecessory to Microsoft Windows.
MUD
Acronym for Multi-User Dungeon, a type of text based adventure game accessed with telnet or a specialized client program. There are many types of MUD including Diku, MOO, and MUSE.
mv
A Unix command, 'mv' can be used to rename a single file, or to move multiple files to a different directory. (shinchey)
MX
Acronym for Mail eXchange. MX is a DNS record used to define the host(s) willing to accept mail for a given machine.