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G l o s s a r y
pa pc
O - P
PAL/SECAM
P
hase
A
lternate
L
ine and
Se
quential
C
olor
a
nd
M
emory. Two
video broadcast standards of 625 scan lines every 1/25 sec-
ond. This is accomplished in 2 passes of 1/50 second each (50
Hz). These systems are used mostly in Europe, Australia and
parts of Africa.
Parallel printer
A printer that receives information from the computer one
character (letter, number, etc.) at a time through eight wires.
Additional wires are needed to exchange control signals.
Parameter
An arbitrary constant. A variable in an algebraic expression
that temporarily assumes the properties of a constant.
PC Card
This term has largely replaced the term PCMCIA. See PCMCIA.
PCI
P
eripheral
C
omponent
I
nterface. A 32/64-bit local bus archi-
tecture widely used in Pentium-based PCs. Developed by DEC,
IBM, Intel, and others, a PCI bus provides a high-bandwidth
data channel between system-board components such as the
CPU and devices such as hard disks and video adapters. The
other widely adopted local-bus standard, the VL-Bus, is pri-
marily used in 486 PCs.
