PNP

1. Short for Plug and Play, PnP is an ability of a computer to detect and configure a new piece of hardware automatically, without the requirement of the user to physically configure the hardware device with jumpers or dipswitches. Plug and Play was introduced on IBM compatible computers with the release of Microsoft Windows 95, where Apple Macintosh computers have always supported the ability to automatically detect and install hardware.  

For Plug and Play to operate properly on IBM compatible computers the user must have the following:

BIOS supporting Plug and Play.
Windows 95, 98, 2000 or other operating systems supporting PnP.
Peripheral with PnP support.

Today, all new computers have PnP capabilities.

• Computers running Microsoft Windows XP no longer support non PnP devices. See document CH000488 for additional information.

Note: Some users sarcastically refer to PNP as "Plug and Pray", indicating that you pray for the device to work after plugging it in. This term was commonly used when PnP was first introduced because it was notorious for not working.

2. Type of bipolar transistor.

Also see: Bipolar, Hardware, Operating System definitions