Is a USB to GPIB dongle/convertor a difficult project ?

[Joerg]

Paul Mathews wrote:

On Feb 19, 7:41 am, "robb" <s...@where.on.net> wrote:
That is something like the Prologix USB to GPIB
convertor/controller ?

Is this a USB/GPIB IC chip and connectors or is there more to it
?

Thanks for any ideas
ROB

check out ebay item 290206904947

Anyone know if Softmark products are sold in the US somewhere?

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

 

[Joerg]

John Larkin wrote:

On Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:44:56 -0500, Rich Webb
bbew.ar@mapson.nozirev.ten> wrote:

On Tue, 19 Feb 2008 10:41:02 -0500, "robb" <some@where.on.net> wrote:

That is something like the Prologix USB to GPIB
convertor/controller ?

Is this a USB/GPIB IC chip and connectors or is there more to it
?
AFAIK, there is no single-chip "USB/GPIB" solution.

http://prologix.googlepages.com/gpibusb.jpg/gpibusb-full.jpg> is a
picture of one available (and relatively inexpensive) approach.

Sparkfun carries the newer, 4.2 version; I've use the bare-board rev 3
(the one pictured) with success for some automated lab test equipment.

Seems to me that GPIB is, and should be, dying. Everything should just
be Ethernet. You can buy an entire Ethernet server gadget, like an
Xport, for half the price of a GPIB cable, and it will work 1000 miles
from your computer.

Agree. However, there is lots of legacy gear that will be around for
another decade or two. Like the HP-3577. It would be nice not to have to
snap a digital camera picture every time.

Ever read the actual IEEE GPIB spec?

I'd rather read a Steinbeck ten times in a row ;-)

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

 

[Jan Panteltje]

On a sunny day (Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:57:57 -0500) it happened Spehro Pefhany
<speffSNIP@interlogDOTyou.knowwhat> wrote in
<sr5mr31dimf4gdmf52uog94ri238msjg1j@4ax.com>:

My Commodore PET 2001 (despite the name it's ca. 1979) does GPIB..

Like this one: http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/pet/h/p20018.jpg

Ah yes, I have played moonlanding game on one of those in 79.

 

[Fred Bartoli]

Joerg a écrit :

John Larkin wrote:
On Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:44:56 -0500, Rich Webb
bbew.ar@mapson.nozirev.ten> wrote:

On Tue, 19 Feb 2008 10:41:02 -0500, "robb" <some@where.on.net> wrote:

That is something like the Prologix USB to GPIB
convertor/controller ?

Is this a USB/GPIB IC chip and connectors or is there more to it
?
AFAIK, there is no single-chip "USB/GPIB" solution.

http://prologix.googlepages.com/gpibusb.jpg/gpibusb-full.jpg> is a
picture of one available (and relatively inexpensive) approach.

Sparkfun carries the newer, 4.2 version; I've use the bare-board rev 3
(the one pictured) with success for some automated lab test equipment.

Seems to me that GPIB is, and should be, dying. Everything should just
be Ethernet. You can buy an entire Ethernet server gadget, like an
Xport, for half the price of a GPIB cable, and it will work 1000 miles
from your computer.


Agree. However, there is lots of legacy gear that will be around for
another decade or two. Like the HP-3577. It would be nice not to have to
snap a digital camera picture every time.

Yup. But get hold of a LAN-GPIB gateway (HP E2050A sell for not much)
rather than a local bus GPIB card and you'll be ready for the next
ISA/PCI/PCI express/whatever bus shift.

I did that because I wanted to switch all my PCs to linux. Plus, I can
connect from either my desktop or from a wifi laptop in the lab.
Pretty useful.


--
Thanks,
Fred.

 

[Fred Bartoli]

Joerg a écrit :

Fred Bartoli wrote:
Joerg a écrit :
John Larkin wrote:
On Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:44:56 -0500, Rich Webb
bbew.ar@mapson.nozirev.ten> wrote:

On Tue, 19 Feb 2008 10:41:02 -0500, "robb" <some@where.on.net> wrote:

That is something like the Prologix USB to GPIB
convertor/controller ?

Is this a USB/GPIB IC chip and connectors or is there more to it
?
AFAIK, there is no single-chip "USB/GPIB" solution.

http://prologix.googlepages.com/gpibusb.jpg/gpibusb-full.jpg> is a
picture of one available (and relatively inexpensive) approach.

Sparkfun carries the newer, 4.2 version; I've use the bare-board rev 3
(the one pictured) with success for some automated lab test equipment.

Seems to me that GPIB is, and should be, dying. Everything should just
be Ethernet. You can buy an entire Ethernet server gadget, like an
Xport, for half the price of a GPIB cable, and it will work 1000 miles
from your computer.


Agree. However, there is lots of legacy gear that will be around for
another decade or two. Like the HP-3577. It would be nice not to have
to snap a digital camera picture every time.



Yup. But get hold of a LAN-GPIB gateway (HP E2050A sell for not much)
rather than a local bus GPIB card and you'll be ready for the next
ISA/PCI/PCI express/whatever bus shift.


Where do you find them? EBay was dry. All I really want to do is print
the screen contents, not control anything in the lab.

Yep, ebay. I paid USD35 (+73 shipping).

There're 2 for best offer right now. I find them way too high (a new
E5810A sells for $1000) but if your not hard pressed they pop up from
time to time, so just place a search and wait.

I too don't control everything in the lab (the soldering iron isn't).

Seriously, here almost every thing is permanently connected and this has
been paid back many many times. Maybe it's worth a second thought...


--
Thanks,
Fred.

 

[mike]

Joerg wrote:
snip

Where do you find them? EBay was dry. All I really want to do is print
the screen contents, not control anything in the lab.


Make sure you don't already have this capability.

My TEK scope has a menu buried in the menus that will print
a bitmap graphic of the screen out the serial port.

I won't call it GPIB, 'cause it's not anywhere near a GPIB
implementation. But if all you want is to send/receive
simple commands to a single GPIB instrument via a serial port,
you can do it with
a PIC processor and a couple of level translators for the serial port.
No part of it complies fully with ANY spec. Stated another way,
it VIOLATES EVERY spec. But it works for me.
Built it specifically to create an on-screen demo of a TEK TDS540
that I was trying to sell at a swapmeet. I set out to write a
Visual Basic Class module with the same API as the National Instruments
GPIB drivers, but don't remember what happened with that. Got bored
and moved on to something else.
mike


--
Return address is VALID!

 

[Joerg]

Fred Bartoli wrote:

Joerg a écrit :
John Larkin wrote:
On Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:44:56 -0500, Rich Webb
bbew.ar@mapson.nozirev.ten> wrote:

On Tue, 19 Feb 2008 10:41:02 -0500, "robb" <some@where.on.net> wrote:

That is something like the Prologix USB to GPIB
convertor/controller ?

Is this a USB/GPIB IC chip and connectors or is there more to it
?
AFAIK, there is no single-chip "USB/GPIB" solution.

http://prologix.googlepages.com/gpibusb.jpg/gpibusb-full.jpg> is a
picture of one available (and relatively inexpensive) approach.

Sparkfun carries the newer, 4.2 version; I've use the bare-board rev 3
(the one pictured) with success for some automated lab test equipment.

Seems to me that GPIB is, and should be, dying. Everything should just
be Ethernet. You can buy an entire Ethernet server gadget, like an
Xport, for half the price of a GPIB cable, and it will work 1000 miles
from your computer.


Agree. However, there is lots of legacy gear that will be around for
another decade or two. Like the HP-3577. It would be nice not to have
to snap a digital camera picture every time.



Yup. But get hold of a LAN-GPIB gateway (HP E2050A sell for not much)
rather than a local bus GPIB card and you'll be ready for the next
ISA/PCI/PCI express/whatever bus shift.

Where do you find them? EBay was dry. All I really want to do is print
the screen contents, not control anything in the lab.

I did that because I wanted to switch all my PCs to linux. Plus, I can
connect from either my desktop or from a wifi laptop in the lab.
Pretty useful.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

 

[JosephKK]

Joerg wrote:

none wrote:
Joerg wrote:
Winfield wrote:
On Feb 19, 12:48 pm, "Joel Koltner" <zapwireDASHgro...@yahoo.com
wrote:
"John Larkin" <jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote in
message

news:8f2mr3t13pel5aobev2ijao7rvs4b3gmhd@4ax.com...

Seems to me that GPIB is, and should be, dying. Everything should
just
be Ethernet.
USB to GPIB and Ethernet to GPIB converters are the probably the
last products
that will ever be commercially developed for GPIB.

Ever read the actual IEEE GPIB spec?
No, although from having written test programs to talk to GPIB
devices I
suspect it's quite massive and somewhat convoluted.

---Joel

Compared to USB or Firewire, it's simple.


But the hardware sure isn't.

You can actually do a simple gpib interface with just a parallel port
but then you have to deal with drivers.


Is there any link where somebody did that? Drivers would otherwise be
the big roadblock. Me and the world of software are miles apart.

Once upon a time i built a GPIB board and developed the driver software.
The board was based on the Motorola 68488 chip. It required
electrical line drivers and tight software to integrate nicely. It
connected to a SYM-1 SBC based on a 6502. Had to learn the spec pretty
well to pull it off. I also attached a bus extender, which fed the GPIB
board, a floppy disk controller (back in the 8 inch days), and a real
time clock. I integrated all this with a two chip ROM tiny basic
interpreter and got it all to play together well. Some of the best fun
i ever had.

 

[JosephKK]

John Larkin wrote:

On Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:22:46 -0800 (PST), Winfield
winfieldhill@yahoo.com> wrote:

On Feb 19, 12:48 pm, "Joel Koltner" <zapwireDASHgro...@yahoo.com
wrote:
"John Larkin" <jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote in message

news:8f2mr3t13pel5aobev2ijao7rvs4b3gmhd@4ax.com...

Seems to me that GPIB is, and should be, dying. Everything should just
be Ethernet.
USB to GPIB and Ethernet to GPIB converters are the probably the last products
that will ever be commercially developed for GPIB.

Ever read the actual IEEE GPIB spec?
No, although from having written test programs to talk to GPIB devices I
suspect it's quite massive and somewhat convoluted.

---Joel
Compared to USB or Firewire, it's simple.

I read the spec for an hour or so before I figured out that "message"
was ieee-speak for a logic level on a wire. There's one state diagram
that looks like a pot full of pasta and peas.

John

Wonderful, some over edjumacated idiot foolishly insisted on combining
the several interacting state machines into one monster which probably
now takes an "E" size sheet to be big enough to read.

 

[Klaus Kragelund]

On 20 Feb., 22:58, Jan Panteltje <pNaonStpealm...@yahoo.com> wrote:

On a sunny day (Wed, 20 Feb 2008 22:10:22 +0100) it happened Jean-Yves
no_pub_for_jypoc...@free.fr> wrote in
no_pub_for_jypochez-2FD7A8.22102220022...@web.aioe.org>:

just try this :

http://octopart.com/

Nice site, bookmarked it, thank you.



it does quite the same online !
and free (too ?)

--
Jean-Yves.- Skjul tekst i anfřrselstegn -

- Vis tekst i anfřrselstegn -

Sort of like this one (my favorite):

www.findchips.com

Regards

Klaus

 

[Klaus Kragelund]

On 20 Feb., 03:57, Joerg <notthisjoerg...@removethispacbell.net>
wrote:

none wrote:
Joerg wrote:
Winfield wrote:
On Feb 19, 12:48 pm, "Joel Koltner" <zapwireDASHgro...@yahoo.com
wrote:
"John Larkin" <jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote in
message

news:8f2mr3t13pel5aobev2ijao7rvs4b3gmhd@4ax.com...

Seems to me that GPIB is, and should be, dying. Everything should just
be Ethernet.
USB to GPIB and Ethernet to GPIB converters are the probably the
last products
that will ever be commercially developed for GPIB.

Ever read the actual IEEE GPIB spec?
No, although from having written test programs to talk to GPIB
devices I
suspect it's quite massive and somewhat convoluted.

---Joel

 Compared to USB or Firewire, it's simple.

But the hardware sure isn't.

You can actually do a simple gpib interface with just a parallel port
but then you have to deal with drivers.

Is there any link where somebody did that? Drivers would otherwise be
the big roadblock. Me and the world of software are miles apart.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/- Skjul tekst i anfřrselstegn -

- Vis tekst i anfřrselstegn -

I did something simelar once. I did not have the money to buy the NI
cards and cables and got stubborn.

So I bought USB to serial converters for the instruments and just
hooked up a USB hub. The USB to serial converter costs 20USD.
(prolific are good).

It worked well with the HP instruments, but my tek scope needed
precise timing of TX and handshaking. The simple USB serial convertes
do not handle handshaking well, so I needed to slow down the transfer
rate and thus transferring scope pictures took to long

So, I bought a 4 serial card and ran 4 serial cables instead. This way
some of the NI drivers work right off the bat

Regards

Klaus

 

[legg]

On Wed, 20 Feb 2008 01:27:15 GMT, Joerg
<notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:

Whatever works to get the HPGL image out would be fine.

For the software side, look at the program from KE5FX called hp7470.
It captures plots over the gpib and lets you manipulate, compare and
store them. I use this with my 8753, 8757, 8569 and 8562 analyzers.
It supports the NI and Prologix gpib boards. I have been meaning to
try it with one of the NI gpib-serial boxes I have sitting around.
Those boxes are cheap and plentiful. Since the Prologix uses a
serial port emulator, there may be a chance.

By the way, on your other post about ebay, search for either E2050*
or E2050A. If you leave the A off, you will not find any matches.


Thanks. Yep, that showed it. Along with fashion socks and other stuff ;-)

Seems they now run silent auctions there as well. It appears the
Prologix solution would be a bit simpler though. I'll never understand
why HP picked that dreaded GPIB bus in the first place, with its
expensive garden hose cables and all that. The site of KE5FX is very
interesting. In case others want to look:
http://www.thegleam.com/ke5fx/gpib/readme.htm

They not only picked it, they developed it before there was GPIB,
which always explained a lot of things, to me.

RL

 

[Joerg]

Klaus Kragelund wrote:

On 20 Feb., 03:57, Joerg <notthisjoerg...@removethispacbell.net
wrote:
none wrote:
Joerg wrote:
Winfield wrote:
On Feb 19, 12:48 pm, "Joel Koltner" <zapwireDASHgro...@yahoo.com
wrote:
"John Larkin" <jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote in
message
news:8f2mr3t13pel5aobev2ijao7rvs4b3gmhd@4ax.com...
Seems to me that GPIB is, and should be, dying. Everything should just
be Ethernet.
USB to GPIB and Ethernet to GPIB converters are the probably the
last products
that will ever be commercially developed for GPIB.
Ever read the actual IEEE GPIB spec?
No, although from having written test programs to talk to GPIB
devices I
suspect it's quite massive and somewhat convoluted.
---Joel
Compared to USB or Firewire, it's simple.
But the hardware sure isn't.
You can actually do a simple gpib interface with just a parallel port
but then you have to deal with drivers.
Is there any link where somebody did that? Drivers would otherwise be
the big roadblock. Me and the world of software are miles apart.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/- Skjul tekst i anfřrselstegn -

- Vis tekst i anfřrselstegn -

I did something simelar once. I did not have the money to buy the NI
cards and cables and got stubborn.

So I bought USB to serial converters for the instruments and just
hooked up a USB hub. The USB to serial converter costs 20USD.
(prolific are good).

It worked well with the HP instruments, but my tek scope needed
precise timing of TX and handshaking. The simple USB serial convertes
do not handle handshaking well, so I needed to slow down the transfer
rate and thus transferring scope pictures took to long

So, I bought a 4 serial card and ran 4 serial cables instead. This way
some of the NI drivers work right off the bat

But the problem with much of the lab equipment, especially HP, is that
they do not have any serial interface. There is only the GPIB.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

 

[Joerg]

legg wrote:

On Wed, 20 Feb 2008 01:27:15 GMT, Joerg
notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:


Whatever works to get the HPGL image out would be fine.

For the software side, look at the program from KE5FX called hp7470.
It captures plots over the gpib and lets you manipulate, compare and
store them. I use this with my 8753, 8757, 8569 and 8562 analyzers.
It supports the NI and Prologix gpib boards. I have been meaning to
try it with one of the NI gpib-serial boxes I have sitting around.
Those boxes are cheap and plentiful. Since the Prologix uses a
serial port emulator, there may be a chance.

By the way, on your other post about ebay, search for either E2050*
or E2050A. If you leave the A off, you will not find any matches.

Thanks. Yep, that showed it. Along with fashion socks and other stuff ;-)

Seems they now run silent auctions there as well. It appears the
Prologix solution would be a bit simpler though. I'll never understand
why HP picked that dreaded GPIB bus in the first place, with its
expensive garden hose cables and all that. The site of KE5FX is very
interesting. In case others want to look:
http://www.thegleam.com/ke5fx/gpib/readme.htm

They not only picked it, they developed it before there was GPIB,
which always explained a lot of things, to me.

Still doesn't make sense. Around the time it became popular others had a
much simpler serial bus figured out, for example the institute where I
did my master's project. Instead of prohibitively expensive garden hose
cables we could use cheap telephone wire and did not have the length
restrictions.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

 

[JosephKK]

Joerg wrote:

Klaus Kragelund wrote:
On 20 Feb., 03:57, Joerg <notthisjoerg...@removethispacbell.net
wrote:
none wrote:
Joerg wrote:
Winfield wrote:
On Feb 19, 12:48 pm, "Joel Koltner" <zapwireDASHgro...@yahoo.com
wrote:
"John Larkin" <jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote in
message
news:8f2mr3t13pel5aobev2ijao7rvs4b3gmhd@4ax.com...
Seems to me that GPIB is, and should be, dying. Everything
should just
be Ethernet.
USB to GPIB and Ethernet to GPIB converters are the probably the
last products
that will ever be commercially developed for GPIB.
Ever read the actual IEEE GPIB spec?
No, although from having written test programs to talk to GPIB
devices I
suspect it's quite massive and somewhat convoluted.
---Joel
Compared to USB or Firewire, it's simple.
But the hardware sure isn't.
You can actually do a simple gpib interface with just a parallel port
but then you have to deal with drivers.
Is there any link where somebody did that? Drivers would otherwise be
the big roadblock. Me and the world of software are miles apart.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/- Skjul tekst i anfřrselstegn -

- Vis tekst i anfřrselstegn -

I did something simelar once. I did not have the money to buy the NI
cards and cables and got stubborn.

So I bought USB to serial converters for the instruments and just
hooked up a USB hub. The USB to serial converter costs 20USD.
(prolific are good).

It worked well with the HP instruments, but my tek scope needed
precise timing of TX and handshaking. The simple USB serial convertes
do not handle handshaking well, so I needed to slow down the transfer
rate and thus transferring scope pictures took to long

So, I bought a 4 serial card and ran 4 serial cables instead. This way
some of the NI drivers work right off the bat


But the problem with much of the lab equipment, especially HP, is that
they do not have any serial interface. There is only the GPIB.

Of course HP keeps using it, they invented it.

 

[JosephKK]

Joerg wrote:

legg wrote:
On Wed, 20 Feb 2008 01:27:15 GMT, Joerg
notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:


Whatever works to get the HPGL image out would be fine.

For the software side, look at the program from KE5FX called hp7470.
It captures plots over the gpib and lets you manipulate, compare and
store them. I use this with my 8753, 8757, 8569 and 8562 analyzers.
It supports the NI and Prologix gpib boards. I have been meaning to
try it with one of the NI gpib-serial boxes I have sitting around.
Those boxes are cheap and plentiful. Since the Prologix uses a
serial port emulator, there may be a chance.

By the way, on your other post about ebay, search for either E2050*
or E2050A. If you leave the A off, you will not find any matches.

Thanks. Yep, that showed it. Along with fashion socks and other stuff
;-)

Seems they now run silent auctions there as well. It appears the
Prologix solution would be a bit simpler though. I'll never
understand why HP picked that dreaded GPIB bus in the first place,
with its expensive garden hose cables and all that. The site of KE5FX
is very interesting. In case others want to look:
http://www.thegleam.com/ke5fx/gpib/readme.htm

They not only picked it, they developed it before there was GPIB,
which always explained a lot of things, to me.


Still doesn't make sense. Around the time it became popular others had a
much simpler serial bus figured out, for example the institute where I
did my master's project. Instead of prohibitively expensive garden hose
cables we could use cheap telephone wire and did not have the length
restrictions.

Well there were two issues, HPIB (later renamed GPIB) was available on
HP instruments and serial was not. And with the advent of logging DMMs,
VNAs, digitizing 'scopes, digital SAs and such, the 1000 to 1 data
transfer speed advantage added up. GPIB also has group execute trigger
(GET) which can cause a group of instruments to go through a sequence of
measurement and switching accumulating a chunk of measurements is a
short time. Followed by reading the instrument data at a more
reasonable pace.

 

[Joerg]

JosephKK wrote:

Joerg wrote:
legg wrote:
On Wed, 20 Feb 2008 01:27:15 GMT, Joerg
notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:


Whatever works to get the HPGL image out would be fine.

For the software side, look at the program from KE5FX called hp7470.
It captures plots over the gpib and lets you manipulate, compare and
store them. I use this with my 8753, 8757, 8569 and 8562 analyzers.
It supports the NI and Prologix gpib boards. I have been meaning to
try it with one of the NI gpib-serial boxes I have sitting around.
Those boxes are cheap and plentiful. Since the Prologix uses a
serial port emulator, there may be a chance.

By the way, on your other post about ebay, search for either E2050*
or E2050A. If you leave the A off, you will not find any matches.

Thanks. Yep, that showed it. Along with fashion socks and other
stuff ;-)

Seems they now run silent auctions there as well. It appears the
Prologix solution would be a bit simpler though. I'll never
understand why HP picked that dreaded GPIB bus in the first place,
with its expensive garden hose cables and all that. The site of
KE5FX is very interesting. In case others want to look:
http://www.thegleam.com/ke5fx/gpib/readme.htm

They not only picked it, they developed it before there was GPIB,
which always explained a lot of things, to me.


Still doesn't make sense. Around the time it became popular others had
a much simpler serial bus figured out, for example the institute where
I did my master's project. Instead of prohibitively expensive garden
hose cables we could use cheap telephone wire and did not have the
length restrictions.


Well there were two issues, HPIB (later renamed GPIB) was available on
HP instruments and serial was not. And with the advent of logging DMMs,
VNAs, digitizing 'scopes, digital SAs and such, the 1000 to 1 data
transfer speed advantage added up. GPIB also has group execute trigger
(GET) which can cause a group of instruments to go through a sequence of
measurement and switching accumulating a chunk of measurements is a
short time. Followed by reading the instrument data at a more
reasonable pace.

Sure the bus has a few (very few) advantages but let's face it, 99% of
users wanted to do one thing: Document the results.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

 

[Joerg]

JosephKK wrote:

Joerg wrote:
Klaus Kragelund wrote:
On 20 Feb., 03:57, Joerg <notthisjoerg...@removethispacbell.net
wrote:
none wrote:
Joerg wrote:
Winfield wrote:
On Feb 19, 12:48 pm, "Joel Koltner" <zapwireDASHgro...@yahoo.com
wrote:
"John Larkin" <jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote in
message
news:8f2mr3t13pel5aobev2ijao7rvs4b3gmhd@4ax.com...
Seems to me that GPIB is, and should be, dying. Everything
should just
be Ethernet.
USB to GPIB and Ethernet to GPIB converters are the probably the
last products
that will ever be commercially developed for GPIB.
Ever read the actual IEEE GPIB spec?
No, although from having written test programs to talk to GPIB
devices I
suspect it's quite massive and somewhat convoluted.
---Joel
Compared to USB or Firewire, it's simple.
But the hardware sure isn't.
You can actually do a simple gpib interface with just a parallel port
but then you have to deal with drivers.
Is there any link where somebody did that? Drivers would otherwise be
the big roadblock. Me and the world of software are miles apart.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/- Skjul tekst i anfřrselstegn -

- Vis tekst i anfřrselstegn -

I did something simelar once. I did not have the money to buy the NI
cards and cables and got stubborn.

So I bought USB to serial converters for the instruments and just
hooked up a USB hub. The USB to serial converter costs 20USD.
(prolific are good).

It worked well with the HP instruments, but my tek scope needed
precise timing of TX and handshaking. The simple USB serial convertes
do not handle handshaking well, so I needed to slow down the transfer
rate and thus transferring scope pictures took to long

So, I bought a 4 serial card and ran 4 serial cables instead. This way
some of the NI drivers work right off the bat


But the problem with much of the lab equipment, especially HP, is that
they do not have any serial interface. There is only the GPIB.


Of course HP keeps using it, they invented it.

And the users around them have moved on. I bought a Taiwan-engineered
scope. Has three (!) USB ports. Don't want to schlepp the laptop? No
problem. Stick a little USB flash memory into the front connector, hit
"Save". It lets you select whether to store just an image file or the
whole works plus CSV data. Sweet.

If you store in PNG each screen shot is around 5kB. Comes out crisp and
clean when imported into a PDF report. You still can store thousands of
them even if there is only a really old 16MB stick in your tool box.
AFAIR there is also a way to pipe them to a cell phone. "Hey, Joe, can
you take a look at the weird spike about 40% up the slope?"

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

 

[Fred Bartoli]

Joerg a écrit :

JosephKK wrote:
Joerg wrote:
legg wrote:
On Wed, 20 Feb 2008 01:27:15 GMT, Joerg
notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:


Whatever works to get the HPGL image out would be fine.

For the software side, look at the program from KE5FX called hp7470.
It captures plots over the gpib and lets you manipulate, compare and
store them. I use this with my 8753, 8757, 8569 and 8562 analyzers.
It supports the NI and Prologix gpib boards. I have been meaning to
try it with one of the NI gpib-serial boxes I have sitting around.
Those boxes are cheap and plentiful. Since the Prologix uses a
serial port emulator, there may be a chance.

By the way, on your other post about ebay, search for either E2050*
or E2050A. If you leave the A off, you will not find any matches.

Thanks. Yep, that showed it. Along with fashion socks and other
stuff ;-)

Seems they now run silent auctions there as well. It appears the
Prologix solution would be a bit simpler though. I'll never
understand why HP picked that dreaded GPIB bus in the first place,
with its expensive garden hose cables and all that. The site of
KE5FX is very interesting. In case others want to look:
http://www.thegleam.com/ke5fx/gpib/readme.htm

They not only picked it, they developed it before there was GPIB,
which always explained a lot of things, to me.


Still doesn't make sense. Around the time it became popular others
had a much simpler serial bus figured out, for example the institute
where I did my master's project. Instead of prohibitively expensive
garden hose cables we could use cheap telephone wire and did not have
the length restrictions.


Well there were two issues, HPIB (later renamed GPIB) was available on
HP instruments and serial was not. And with the advent of logging
DMMs, VNAs, digitizing 'scopes, digital SAs and such, the 1000 to 1
data transfer speed advantage added up. GPIB also has group execute
trigger (GET) which can cause a group of instruments to go through a
sequence of measurement and switching accumulating a chunk of
measurements is a short time. Followed by reading the instrument data
at a more reasonable pace.


Sure the bus has a few (very few) advantages but let's face it, 99% of
users wanted to do one thing: Document the results.

I guess not, at least at the time it was invented (no GUI OS,...)
Almost all what people wanted was automation. For documentation purpose
they had either... cameras, printers/plotters,...

--
Thanks,
Fred.

 

[Joerg]

Fred Bartoli wrote:

Joerg a écrit :
JosephKK wrote:
Joerg wrote:
legg wrote:
On Wed, 20 Feb 2008 01:27:15 GMT, Joerg
notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:


Whatever works to get the HPGL image out would be fine.

For the software side, look at the program from KE5FX called hp7470.
It captures plots over the gpib and lets you manipulate, compare and
store them. I use this with my 8753, 8757, 8569 and 8562 analyzers.
It supports the NI and Prologix gpib boards. I have been meaning to
try it with one of the NI gpib-serial boxes I have sitting around.
Those boxes are cheap and plentiful. Since the Prologix uses a
serial port emulator, there may be a chance.

By the way, on your other post about ebay, search for either E2050*
or E2050A. If you leave the A off, you will not find any matches.

Thanks. Yep, that showed it. Along with fashion socks and other
stuff ;-)

Seems they now run silent auctions there as well. It appears the
Prologix solution would be a bit simpler though. I'll never
understand why HP picked that dreaded GPIB bus in the first place,
with its expensive garden hose cables and all that. The site of
KE5FX is very interesting. In case others want to look:
http://www.thegleam.com/ke5fx/gpib/readme.htm

They not only picked it, they developed it before there was GPIB,
which always explained a lot of things, to me.


Still doesn't make sense. Around the time it became popular others
had a much simpler serial bus figured out, for example the institute
where I did my master's project. Instead of prohibitively expensive
garden hose cables we could use cheap telephone wire and did not
have the length restrictions.


Well there were two issues, HPIB (later renamed GPIB) was available
on HP instruments and serial was not. And with the advent of logging
DMMs, VNAs, digitizing 'scopes, digital SAs and such, the 1000 to 1
data transfer speed advantage added up. GPIB also has group execute
trigger (GET) which can cause a group of instruments to go through a
sequence of measurement and switching accumulating a chunk of
measurements is a short time. Followed by reading the instrument
data at a more reasonable pace.


Sure the bus has a few (very few) advantages but let's face it, 99% of
users wanted to do one thing: Document the results.


I guess not, at least at the time it was invented (no GUI OS,...)
Almost all what people wanted was automation. For documentation purpose
they had either... cameras, printers/plotters,...

Nope. My Dolch Logic Analyzer always provided nice files via its RS232
port which I could then import into DOS-Word. You do not need a GUI at
all to create nice-looking documents with graphics and instrument screen
shots in there. The drill was always the same: Find problem such as bus
contention or glitch, insert picture to show the problem, type up
solution, draw solution on OrCAD SDT or in some cases Futurenet Dash,
insert schematic into document, done.

Of course then there were those instruments such as HP that didn't have
RS232 and we had to use the old Polaroid cameras. The goo from the back
of those instant pictures could cause really nasty stains on clothing.
Afterwards I used a Logitech hand scanner (ScanMan or something like
that) in order to create an image file that could be imported into DOS-Word.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/