GPIB

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
IEEE 488
GBIP
General Purpose Interface Bus
GPIB
Hewlett-Packard Interface Bus
HP-IB

   <hardware, standard> (GPIB, General-Purpose Interface Bus,
   HP-IB, Hewlett-Packard Interface Bus) An 8-bit parallel {bus}
   common on {test equipment}.

   The IEEE-488 standard was proposed by {Hewlett-Packard} in the
   late 1970s and has undergone a couple of revisions.  HP
   documentation (including data sheets and manuals) calls it
   HP-IB, or Hewlett-Packard Interface Bus.

   It allows up to 15 intelligent devices to share a single bus,
   with the slowest device participating in the control and data
   transfer handshakes to drive the speed of the transaction.
   The maximum data rate is about one {megabit} per second.

   Other standards committees have adopted HP-IB (American
   Standards Institute with ANSI Standard MC 1.1 and
   International Electro-technical Commission with IEC
   Publication 625-1).

   To paraphrase from the HP 1989 Test & Measurement Catalog (the
   50th Anniversary version): The HP-IB has a party-line
   structure wherein all devices on the bus are connected in
   parallel.  The 16 signal lines within the passive
   interconnecting HP-IB (IEEE-488) cable are grouped into three
   clusters according to their functions (Data Bus, Data Byte
   Transfer Control Bus, General Interface Management Bus).

   In June 1987 the IEEE approved a new standard for programmable
   instruments called IEEE Std. 488.2-1987 Codes, Formats,
   Protocols, and Common Commands.  It works with the IEEE
   Standard Digital Interface for Programmable Instrumentation,
   IEEE 488-1978 (now 488.1).  HP-IB is Hewlett-Packard's
   implementation of IEEE 488.1.

   (1996-05-10)