93
N
N/A Not available or not applicable.
NACK Negative-Acknowledge reply. A reply from the printer
to the host indicating that an exception has occurred.
Contrast with acknowledge character.
NAK Negative-Acknowledge character. A transmission
control character transmitted by the printer as a
negative response to an enquiry from the host.
NL New Line (3287 only).
nibble A unit of storage containing half of a byte, usually
four bits.
NLQ Near Letter Quality.
Not Ready mode Offline. The printer is not ready to receive and
process commands and data.
nS Nanosecond (one billionth of a second)
NVFU Direct Access Vertical Format Unit. See also
DAVFU.
NVRAM NonVolatile Random-Access Memory. A type of
RAM in which stored data are not lost when the
power is interrupted or turned off. A battery supplies
power to NVRAM when the system does not. Unlike
ROM (another type of nonvolatile memory), NVRAM
is accessible and its contents can be altered.
O
OCR Optical Character Recognition. A process by which a
machine can “read” characters printed in a special
standardized font. Data are read by a photoelectric
optical scanner and recorded on magnetic tape or
disk. OCR-A and OCR-B are two widely used OCR
fonts.
off-line An operational state in which the printer cannot
accept commands or data from the host computer,
but can perform self-tests, form settings, and record
configuration changes.
Ohm A unit of measurement for electrical resistance.
on-line An operational state in which the printer is under
direct control of the host computer. In this state, the
printer accepts commands and data sent from the
host computer, and acts on them immediately.