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A hacker sufficiently familiar with ASCII bit patterns might be able to read the display anyway. |
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front end n. 1. An intermediary computer that does set-up and filtering for another (usually more powerful but less friendly) machine (a back end). 2. What you're talking to when you have a conversation with someone who is making replies without paying attention. "Look at the dancing elephants!" "Uh-huh." "Do you know what I just said?" ''Sorry, you were talking to the front end." See also fepped out. 3. Software that provides an interface to another program 'behind' it, which may not be as user-friendly. Probably from analogy with hardware front-ends (see sense 1) that interfaced with mainframes. |
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frotz /frots/ 1. n. See frobnitz. 2. mumble frotz: An interjection of mildest disgust. |
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frotzed /frotst/ adj. down because of hardware problems. Compare fried. A machine that is merely frotzed may be fixable without replacing parts, but a fried machine is more seriously damaged. |
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frowney n. (alt. frowney face) See emoticon. |
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FRS // n. Abbreviation for "Freely Redistributable Software" which entered general use on the Internet in 1995 after years of low-level confusion over what exactly to call software written to be passed around and shared (contending terms including freeware shareware, and sourceware were never universally felt to be satisfactory for various subtle reasons). The first formal conference on freely redistributable software was held in Cambridge, Massachussetts, in February 1996 (sponsored by the Free Software Foundation). The conference organizers used the FRS abbreviation heavily in its calls for papers and other literature during 1995; this was probably critical in helping establish the term. |
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fry 1. vi. To fail. Said especially of smoke-producing hardware failures. More generally, to become non-working. Usage: never said of software, only of hardware and humans. See fried, magic smoke. 2. vt. To cause to fail; to roach, toast, or hose a piece of hardware. Never used of software or humans, but compare fried. |
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FSF /F-S-F/ abbrev. Common abbreviation (both spoken and written) for the name of the Free Software Foundation, a nonprofit educational association formed to support the GNU project. |
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