The HP-IB bus is more commonly known by the name IEEE-488 or GPIB bus. Most computers are not sold with an integral IEEE-488 interface. An HP compatible IEEE-488 interface card for the PC can be purchased from TransEra, either bundled with HTBasic or as a later upgrade. Various third-party IEEE-488 interfaces are also supported.
The TransEra Model 900 IEEE-488 card gives full IEEE-488 compatibility. Other interfaces usually lack minor functionality. For example, PC IEEE-488 interface cards that use the NEC 7210 IEEE-488 controller chip are incompatible in the following areas: All READIO and WRITEIO registers are different. Bit 0, IFC, is not supported in STATUS register 5 or the ENABLE INTR mask. The REM and LOC bits of STATUS register 6 are not supported as well as the DAV, NDAC, NRFD, and IFC bits of STATUS register 7.
