P-Q

P?Q

PC Card

Card that fits in the PCMCIA slot that is present on most laptops. Also called PCMCIA cards.

PCI Card

Card that fits into the PCI expansion slot inside a Windows desktop computer.

PCMCIA

Personal Computer Memory Card International Association, which is the name of the organization that has devised the standard for cards than can be added to laptops. For more information see www.pcmcia.org.

PCMCIA slot

Also called an expansion slot, used to add PC cards to a laptop.

PDA

Personal Digital Assistant, a handheld computer.

peer-to-peer network

In a peer-to-peer network, computers communicate directly with each other.

physical layer (PHY)

Baked into the Wi-Fi standards; handles transmission between nodes (or devices) on a Wi-Fi network. In other words, it is primarily concerned with connectivity at the hardware level.

physical topology

The way a network is connected.

PPPoE

Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet.

protocol

An agreed-upon format for transmitting data between devices. See also standard.