Glossary
©NationalInstruments Corporation G-5 NI8171 Series User Manual
N
NI-488or NI-488.2 TheNational Instruments software for GPIB systems
NI-DAQ TheNational Instruments software for data acquisition instruments
NI-VISA TheNational Instruments implementation of the VISA standard; an
interface-independentsoftware that provides a unified programming
interfacefor VXI, GPIB,and serialinstruments
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 buswit h multiplexedaddress and dat ali nes.
PCMCIA PersonalC omputerM emory Card InternationalAssociation
peripheral anyhardwaredevice connected to a computer, such as a monitor,keyboard,
printer,plotter, disk or tape drive, graphics tablet, scanner, mouse, and so on
POSC PowerOn Self Configuration
PXI PCIeXtensions for Instrumentation; an open implementation of
CompactPCIt hat adds electrical features that meet the high-performance
requirementsof 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’sprim ary workspace
RAMDAC RandomAccess Memory Digital to Analog Converter; the VGA controller
chip that maintains the color palette and convertsdata from memory into
analog signals for the monitor
resource hardware settings used by devices in a computer system, including ISA
interruptlevel, DMA channel, and I/O address