Definition: CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor): An energy-saving chip made to duplicate the functions of other chips, such as momry chips or microprocessors. CMOS chips are used in battery-powered portable computers and in other applications where reduced electrical consumption is desired. CMOS also refers to a special CMOS chip that operates the real time clock included on a motherboard and stores the basic system configuration, including floppy and hard disk types, amount of installed momery, and wat state settings. These settings are retained while the computer is off with only nominal battery support. From QUECID
* Linux/Unix/Computing Glossary
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