Glossary
©
National Instruments Corporation
G-5
N
NI-488 or NI-488.2
The National Instruments software for GPIB systems.
NI-DAQ
The National Instruments software for data acquisition instruments.
NI-VISA
The National Instruments implementation of the VISA standard—An
interface-independent software that provides a unified programming
interface for VXI, GPIB, and serial instruments.
NMI
Non-maskable interrupt—High-priority interrupt that cannot be disabled
by another interrupt. It is used to report malfunctions such as parity, bus and
math coprocessor errors.
P
PCI
Peripheral Component Interconnect—The PCI bus is a high-performance
32-bit or 64-bit bus with multiplexed address and data lines.
PCMCIA
Personal Computer Memory Card International Association.
peripheral
Any hardware device connected to a computer, such as a monitor,
keyboard, printer, plotter, disk or tape drive, graphics tablet, scanner,
mouse, and so on.
POSC
Power On Self Configuration.
PXI
PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation—An open implementation of
CompactPCI that adds electrical features that meet the high-performance
requirements of instrumentation applications by providing triggering,
local buses, and system clock capabilities. PXI also offers two-way
interoperability with CompactPCI products.
R
RAM
Random Access Memory—the computer’s primary workspace.
RAMDAC
Random Access Memory Digital to Analog Converter—the VGA
controller chip that maintains the color palette and converts data from
memory into analog signals for the monitor.