isr.co.ro : glossary bus a group of signal lines carrying address, data, or control information and the rules for using them. Most current desktop computers use one of several standard bus configurations (such as PCI, ISA, or NuBus), but portables and older computers often use proprietary designs. more loosely, the connections to the signal lines, especially the slots that allow cards to plug into such computers as the PC or the Macintosh. a way of organizing connections in a network, in which a common channel runs to all nodes on the network. A bus system needs a controller or a master device to regulate traffic, or it needs some other form of arbitration to determine which station uses the channel at any given moment.