GPIB

General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB) or Hewlett-Packard Interface Bus (HP-IB) is a short-range digital communications 8-bit parallel multi-master interface bus specification originally developed by Hewlett-Packard and standardized in IEEE 488.1-2003. It subsequently became the subject of several standards. Although the bus was originally created to connect together automated test equipment, it also had some success as a peripheral bus for early microcomputers, notably the Commodore PET. Newer standards have largely replaced IEEE 488 for computer use, but it is still used by test equipment.