A boot device gets a computer up and running, kick starting itself from simple startup processes to a fully operating system. It is named after bootstrapping, which means to use something simple that, bit by bit, develops more complex capabilities on top of the simpler ones, essentially "pulling itself up by its own bootstraps". A computer is a machine for manipulating data according to a list of instructions - a program. ... Bootstrapping alludes to a German legend about a Baron Münchhausen, who was able to lift himself out of a swamp by pulling himself up by his bootstraps. ...
Devices that can boot a computer are usually boot disks or boot drives (normally a hard drive, but can be a floppy disk or a CD). Some network computers use boot chips that get the operating system over a network. Web phones also use such chips to identify the user to the cell network. Boot card standards may let many users boot kiosk computers with full privacy and access to all applications they own. A boot disk is a removable media, normally read-only, that can boot an operating system or utility. ... Typical hard drives of the mid-1990s. ... A floppy disk is a data storage device that is composed of a ring of thin, flexible (i. ... Interference colors. ... A network computer is a lightweight computer system that operates exclusively via a network connection. ... Early computers lacked operating systems. ... A computer network is a system for communication between computers. ...
Some people refer to the boot device as just a boot and non-boot devices as data devices, although it is not the computer but the operating system that cares about the difference between these.
Also in this jargon, a boot also puts you on the net, especially the Internet, and web - the World Wide Web.
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