Glossary
© National Instruments Corporation G-5 NI PXI-8183 User Manual
NNI-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.
PPCI 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
POST Power On Self Test
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.
RRAM 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