drop-outs

2 definitions found

drop-outs - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  drop-outs
  
     1. A variety of "power glitch" (see glitch); momentary 0
     voltage on the electrical mains.
  
     2. Missing characters in typed input due to software
     malfunction or system saturation (one cause of such behaviour
     under Unix when a bad connection to a modem swamps the
     processor with spurious character interrupts; see screaming tty
     ).
  
     3. Mental glitches; used as a way of describing those
     occasions when the mind just seems to shut down for a couple
     of beats.  See glitch, fried.
  
     [Jargon File]
  
     (2001-02-22)
  

drop-outs - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  drop-outs
   n.
  
     1. A variety of power glitch (see glitch); momentary 0 voltage on
     the electrical mains.
  
     2. Missing characters in typed input due to software malfunction or
     system saturation (one cause of such behavior under Unix when a bad
     connection to a modem swamps the processor with spurious character
     interrupts; see screaming tty).
  
     3. Mental glitches; used as a way of describing those occasions when
     the mind just seems to shut down for a couple of beats. See glitch,
     fried.