S

Scanner
A device that can read text, illustrations, or images printed on paper and translate the information into a form the computer can use.

Sector
The smallest unit of storage on a disk, usually 512 bytes.

Security
Protection of data and denies system access to unauthorized users. Standard Linux security features include user passwords and identification numbers.

SGML Source
Standard Generalized Markup Language. A system for organizing and tagging elements of a document. SGML itself does not specify any particular formatting; rather, it specifies the rules for tagging elements.

Shell
An interface between the user and the kernel. The shell acts as an interpreter or translator by accepting commands issued by you, interpreting these commands, and executing the appropriate programs. Another term for shell is user interface and command shell.

Shell Prompt
Location where you can type commands, also known as the command prompt.

Standard Input
The primary method of sending data to a command, usually the keyboard.

Standard Output
The primary method of recieving data from a command, usually the monitor.

Sticky
A selection made by the mouse that will stick the selected window to your desktop. Whenever you change the desktop, the "sticky" window will move with you.

String
A group of characters.

Subdirectory
Any directory below another directory. Every directory except the root directory is a subdirectory. Also called subfolders.

Subshell
This is a shell that is running within another shell.

Superuser
Special user account called root, which has total access to the system. The superuser account is used to run system administration commands and edit critical system administration files (e.g., the hosts file).

Swap Space
When a program requires more memory than is physically available in the computer, currently unused information can be written to a temporary buffer on the hard disk, called swap space, thereby freeing memory. Some operating systems support swapping to a specific file, but Linux normally swaps to a dedicated swap partition.