How to connect my 54645D to my PC

D

david

Guest
I have an HP 54645D with a GPIB module installed, and I'd like to get data
into my computer. I don't need anything fancy and I don't want to control or
program the 'scope.

I'm using the phase function to measure the drift between 10 Mhz oscillators
in pairs of Z3801A's. All I want is to get a listing of the phase values
on a periodic basis, (every 1 sec. or 10 sec. or 100 sec., etc).

I figure I need a GPIB card for the PC, but I know nothing about all the
styles I see, compatibility, drivers etc. I've read about LabView but
that's super over-kill. A nice ASCII listing would suffice.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,
David
 
"david" <none@home.net> wrote in message
news:ueWdndfOLNWyYy-iRTvUrg@speakeasy.net...
I have an HP 54645D with a GPIB module installed, and I'd like to get data
into my computer. I don't need anything fancy and I don't want to control
or
program the 'scope.

I'm using the phase function to measure the drift between 10 Mhz
oscillators
in pairs of Z3801A's. All I want is to get a listing of the phase
values
on a periodic basis, (every 1 sec. or 10 sec. or 100 sec., etc).

I figure I need a GPIB card for the PC, but I know nothing about all the
styles I see, compatibility, drivers etc. I've read about LabView but
that's super over-kill. A nice ASCII listing would suffice.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,
David
Click to expand...
Agilent sells a basic data transfer program, called Benchlink, for about
$300. It will talk to your scope, using the HPIB or RS-232. It runs on a PC
in Windows.

If you can afford the HP Basic for Windows, about $1100, then you will get a
fine Basic that will include graphics & HPIB support. You can write a quick
and dirty data transfer routine in Basic, and then expand it as you want to
add more capabilities.

I'm not sure, but I think any Basic, like maybe even the old Q-Basic, would
be able to do the job. Just write and read to/from the appropriate HPIB card
registers. But this is likely to cost more of your time, unless you work
very cheap, than going the Benchlink route.

Ed
 
On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 03:56:33 -0800, "Ed Price" <edprice@cox.net> wrote:

"david" <none@home.net> wrote in message
news:ueWdndfOLNWyYy-iRTvUrg@speakeasy.net...
I have an HP 54645D with a GPIB module installed, and I'd like to get data
into my computer. I don't need anything fancy and I don't want to control
or
program the 'scope.

I'm using the phase function to measure the drift between 10 Mhz
oscillators
in pairs of Z3801A's. All I want is to get a listing of the phase
values
on a periodic basis, (every 1 sec. or 10 sec. or 100 sec., etc).

I figure I need a GPIB card for the PC, but I know nothing about all the
styles I see, compatibility, drivers etc. I've read about LabView but
that's super over-kill. A nice ASCII listing would suffice.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,
David



Agilent sells a basic data transfer program, called Benchlink, for about
$300. It will talk to your scope, using the HPIB or RS-232. It runs on a PC
in Windows.
Click to expand...
I think this ridiculously overpriced software is now obsolete, and has been replaced with FREE
instrument toolbar utilities for Word or Excel that allow data to be easily pasted into documents or
saved to file.
There are versions for the at least the 54645D and 34401A DMM - the latter allows automated logging
of data into a spreadsheet at programmable intervals - very handy!
 
I searched on "instrument toolbar" etc., and found the IntuiLink software at
Agilent. It's exactly what I was looking for - one of the included sample
macros for the 54645D is for periodic data logging.

It looks like I can use any GPIB board that that will fit a slot in the PC,
data transfer speed isn't an issue here.

Thank you very much,
David

"Mike Harrison" <mike@whitewing.co.uk> wrote in message
news:5367rv08senvgp4rnjib50gt4btgcui164@4ax.com...
On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 03:56:33 -0800, "Ed Price" <edprice@cox.net> wrote:


"david" <none@home.net> wrote in message
news:ueWdndfOLNWyYy-iRTvUrg@speakeasy.net...
I have an HP 54645D with a GPIB module installed, and I'd like to get
data
into my computer. I don't need anything fancy and I don't want to
control
or
program the 'scope.

I'm using the phase function to measure the drift between 10 Mhz
oscillators
in pairs of Z3801A's. All I want is to get a listing of the phase
values
on a periodic basis, (every 1 sec. or 10 sec. or 100 sec., etc).

I figure I need a GPIB card for the PC, but I know nothing about all
the
styles I see, compatibility, drivers etc. I've read about LabView but
that's super over-kill. A nice ASCII listing would suffice.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,
David



Agilent sells a basic data transfer program, called Benchlink, for about
$300. It will talk to your scope, using the HPIB or RS-232. It runs on a
PC
in Windows.

I think this ridiculously overpriced software is now obsolete, and has
been replaced with FREE
instrument toolbar utilities for Word or Excel that allow data to be
easily pasted into documents or
saved to file.
There are versions for the at least the 54645D and 34401A DMM - the latter
allows automated logging
of data into a spreadsheet at programmable intervals - very handy!
Click to expand...
 
"Mike Harrison" <mike@whitewing.co.uk> wrote in message
news:5367rv08senvgp4rnjib50gt4btgcui164@4ax.com...
On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 03:56:33 -0800, "Ed Price" <edprice@cox.net> wrote:


"david" <none@home.net> wrote in message
news:ueWdndfOLNWyYy-iRTvUrg@speakeasy.net...
I have an HP 54645D with a GPIB module installed, and I'd like to get
data
into my computer. I don't need anything fancy and I don't want to
control
or
program the 'scope.

I'm using the phase function to measure the drift between 10 Mhz
oscillators
in pairs of Z3801A's. All I want is to get a listing of the phase
values
on a periodic basis, (every 1 sec. or 10 sec. or 100 sec., etc).

I figure I need a GPIB card for the PC, but I know nothing about all
the
styles I see, compatibility, drivers etc. I've read about LabView but
that's super over-kill. A nice ASCII listing would suffice.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,
David



Agilent sells a basic data transfer program, called Benchlink, for about
$300. It will talk to your scope, using the HPIB or RS-232. It runs on a
PC
in Windows.

I think this ridiculously overpriced software is now obsolete, and has
been replaced with FREE
instrument toolbar utilities for Word or Excel that allow data to be
easily pasted into documents or
saved to file.
There are versions for the at least the 54645D and 34401A DMM - the latter
allows automated logging
of data into a spreadsheet at programmable intervals - very handy!
Click to expand...

As far as ridiculously over-priced goes, those of us used to HP pricing
(like I paid $8k for an HP application program, and then another $4k to
update it; and it ran on about $120k of HP hardware) might have felt that
$300 was a good deal.

However, free is even better, although Intuilink claims support of just a
handful of newest Agilent gear. Most labs have a LOT of older HP (and other
manufacturers too), mostly with IEEE-488 bus IO. I'm going to explore the
use of Intuilink for talking to those "non-supported" instruments.

Thanks for the reference to this software; I doubt that I would have even
gone looking for it until you described it.

Ed
 
Just an update and some further info for anyone interested in doing the
same. - It works and it's cheap!

Got my AT-GPIB/TNT board yesterday (ISA card, $39 new on ebay *including*
new 2m cable).

IntuiLink Excel toolbar control works well. The basic toolbar control lets
you import any measurement the 54645D displays at the push of a button.
For measurements that the 54647A GPIB/Measurement/Storage module takes, e.g.
FFT, phase, delay etc., you have to program in the VBA of Excel.

However, working VBA examples are included (for Excel 97) . And with the aid
of Agilent's downloadable Programming Guide for the 54645D (and quick
reference), simple modifications can get you most of what you might want.

National Instruments lists many different part numbers for the AT-GPIB/TNT
ISA card, for many different operating systems. After calling their tech
department (very good IMO) I learned that the cards are the same, only the
included drivers differ.

Further, all the drivers are available for free download, so it doesn't
matter which version of the board you buy, you can make it work on your
system (if a driver is listed for d/l).

That being said, National's drivers are NOT req'd for the AT-GPIB/TNT, it's
supported by Agilent's driver for IntuiLink. (But I didn't know that since
I got the drivers and installed them before I had the card in hand).

Regards,
David







"Ed Price" <edprice@cox.net> wrote in message
news:Jo8tb.2641$cX1.2042@fed1read02...
"Mike Harrison" <mike@whitewing.co.uk> wrote in message
news:5367rv08senvgp4rnjib50gt4btgcui164@4ax.com...
On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 03:56:33 -0800, "Ed Price" <edprice@cox.net> wrote:


"david" <none@home.net> wrote in message
news:ueWdndfOLNWyYy-iRTvUrg@speakeasy.net...
I have an HP 54645D with a GPIB module installed, and I'd like to get
data
into my computer. I don't need anything fancy and I don't want to
control
or
program the 'scope.

I'm using the phase function to measure the drift between 10 Mhz
oscillators
in pairs of Z3801A's. All I want is to get a listing of the phase
values
on a periodic basis, (every 1 sec. or 10 sec. or 100 sec., etc).

I figure I need a GPIB card for the PC, but I know nothing about all
the
styles I see, compatibility, drivers etc. I've read about LabView
but
that's super over-kill. A nice ASCII listing would suffice.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,
David



Agilent sells a basic data transfer program, called Benchlink, for
about
$300. It will talk to your scope, using the HPIB or RS-232. It runs on
a
PC
in Windows.

I think this ridiculously overpriced software is now obsolete, and has
been replaced with FREE
instrument toolbar utilities for Word or Excel that allow data to be
easily pasted into documents or
saved to file.
There are versions for the at least the 54645D and 34401A DMM - the
latter
allows automated logging
of data into a spreadsheet at programmable intervals - very handy!



As far as ridiculously over-priced goes, those of us used to HP pricing
(like I paid $8k for an HP application program, and then another $4k to
update it; and it ran on about $120k of HP hardware) might have felt that
$300 was a good deal.

However, free is even better, although Intuilink claims support of just a
handful of newest Agilent gear. Most labs have a LOT of older HP (and
other
manufacturers too), mostly with IEEE-488 bus IO. I'm going to explore the
use of Intuilink for talking to those "non-supported" instruments.

Thanks for the reference to this software; I doubt that I would have even
gone looking for it until you described it.

Ed
Click to expand...
 
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