> I think your best bet would be to have GPIB added to the scope. It is a
> $400 accessory with p/n TDS3GV. At that point you get a supported driver.
I'm not sure I understand what the original poster wants to do, so
there are some fundamental concepts that I think are worth mentioning.
Most LAN-capable instruments (at least from major instrument vendors
like Agilent and Tektronix) support VXI-11. VXI-11 has nothing to do with
VXI; it's just a protocol for how you send messages to and from instruments
over TCP/IP. VXI-11 is very similar to GPIB in that it supports reading and
writing messages, triggering, clearing, asserting SRQ, etc. (Can you tell
it was defined by major instrument vendors who already invested in GPIB?)
NI-VISA and Agilent VISA both know how to talk to VXI-11 instruments.
Thus, if you write a program using VISA for a GPIB interface, it will
probably work with no modifications if you switch to a LAN interface. (More
on the "probably" in a moment.) You just have to open up a different
resource--instead of "GPIB0::22::INSTR", you open
"TCPIP::10.0.20.30::INSTR".
So, I'm wondering if Jim Hetrick (the original poster) just needs to
point his existing application at the LAN device and if it will work. You
should be able to send regular SCPI commands, or you could probably use the
existing VXIpnp driver from Tek.
One caveat... I have a TDS3054B with the TDS3GV option, and it speaks
VXI-11. I have not tried removing the TDS3GV and tested whether I can still
use VXI-11. I can't imagine that Tek would disable that, but you never
know.
Someone else suggested you could just try to use your own socket
connections to talk to the scope. I would suggest that this is way more
trouble than it's worth. VXI-11 is based on Remote Procedure Calls, which
is significantly more complicated than just socket reads and writes. Use
VISA instead. Really.
A note on the "probably work with no modifications"... Be sure you get
the latest firmware from Tektronix and the latest VISA library you want to
use. I know there were some bugs in early Tek TDS 3xxx firmware revisions
that kept SRQ from working correctly. Also, unless you have source code to
the driver, you never know what sort of interface-specific code might be
going on inside the driver. E.g., if the author had code that did low-level
GPIB configuration, it would return an error with VXI-11. This sort of code
is rare (except for serial I/O), but you never know. That's why you want
source code for your instrument drivers.
Anyway, I hope this helps. If you could be clearer what you are really
trying to do, I think we could provide more assistance.
Brian H. Powell
Sr. Group Manager
LabVIEW R&D
brian@ni.com
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> $400 accessory with p/n TDS3GV. At that point you get a supported driver.
I'm not sure I understand what the original poster wants to do, so
there are some fundamental concepts that I think are worth mentioning.
Most LAN-capable instruments (at least from major instrument vendors
like Agilent and Tektronix) support VXI-11. VXI-11 has nothing to do with
VXI; it's just a protocol for how you send messages to and from instruments
over TCP/IP. VXI-11 is very similar to GPIB in that it supports reading and
writing messages, triggering, clearing, asserting SRQ, etc. (Can you tell
it was defined by major instrument vendors who already invested in GPIB?)
NI-VISA and Agilent VISA both know how to talk to VXI-11 instruments.
Thus, if you write a program using VISA for a GPIB interface, it will
probably work with no modifications if you switch to a LAN interface. (More
on the "probably" in a moment.) You just have to open up a different
resource--instead of "GPIB0::22::INSTR", you open
"TCPIP::10.0.20.30::INSTR".
So, I'm wondering if Jim Hetrick (the original poster) just needs to
point his existing application at the LAN device and if it will work. You
should be able to send regular SCPI commands, or you could probably use the
existing VXIpnp driver from Tek.
One caveat... I have a TDS3054B with the TDS3GV option, and it speaks
VXI-11. I have not tried removing the TDS3GV and tested whether I can still
use VXI-11. I can't imagine that Tek would disable that, but you never
know.
Someone else suggested you could just try to use your own socket
connections to talk to the scope. I would suggest that this is way more
trouble than it's worth. VXI-11 is based on Remote Procedure Calls, which
is significantly more complicated than just socket reads and writes. Use
VISA instead. Really.
A note on the "probably work with no modifications"... Be sure you get
the latest firmware from Tektronix and the latest VISA library you want to
use. I know there were some bugs in early Tek TDS 3xxx firmware revisions
that kept SRQ from working correctly. Also, unless you have source code to
the driver, you never know what sort of interface-specific code might be
going on inside the driver. E.g., if the author had code that did low-level
GPIB configuration, it would return an error with VXI-11. This sort of code
is rare (except for serial I/O), but you never know. That's why you want
source code for your instrument drivers.
Anyway, I hope this helps. If you could be clearer what you are really
trying to do, I think we could provide more assistance.
Brian H. Powell
Sr. Group Manager
LabVIEW R&D
brian@ni.com
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<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>From:</span></b> Chris Potter[mailto:chris.potter@aphena.com]
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Monday, April 12, 2004 1:10PM
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> Hetrick, Jim; 'VRF'
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> RE: [vrf] GPIB to LAN</span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><spanstyle='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Arial><spanstyle='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Dear</span></font> <fontsize=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Jim,</span></font></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><spanstyle='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Arial><spanstyle='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Most adaptors are configured fromthe host side via some kind of driver. If you connect the host side of aGPIB-LAN adaptor to your instrument, it probably won't know how to communicatewith the GPIB-LAN adaptor to configure it correctly. </span></font></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><spanstyle='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Arial><spanstyle='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Maybe we need more information onyour task...</span></font></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><spanstyle='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Arial><spanstyle='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>I'm not sure why the PC needs tocontrol the instrument via GPIB, could it also use a LAN connection and talkdirectly to the instrument?</span></font></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><spanstyle='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Arial><spanstyle='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>What's the instrument expecting viathe LAN connection? Is it providing socket services or a telnet session orsomething more obscure? Is it a standard piece of test equipment (model no?)</span></font></p></div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><spanstyle='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p><p style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>best regards,</span></font> </p><p style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Chris Potter</span></font>
<font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>-----------------------------------------------</span></font>
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<font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><ahref="http://www.softplot.com/" target="_blank">http://www.softplot.com</a></span></font></p><p style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>** Aphena is the new company brand name for softwarepreviously sold by P&H Technology Consultants</span></font>
<font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>-----------------------------------------------</span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>-----OriginalMessage-----
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>From:</span></b> jim.hetrick[mailto:jim.hetrick@delphi.com]
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> 12 April 2004 05:42 PM
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> VRF
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> [vrf] GPIB to LAN</span></font></p><p style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><!-- Converted from text/rtf format -->I am lookingfor an adapter to go from a PC with a GPIB card to an instrument with only aLAN connection. I found that Tektronix has an adapter to go from LAN toGPIB instruments, but I’m not sure if it also works backwards so I could useit for my application.</span></font></p><p style='margin-left:.5in'><a name=""><font size=3 color=blackface="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Thanks,</span></font></a></p><p style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><spanlang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>James Hetrick</span></font></p><p style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><spanlang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>EMC EngineeringTechnician/Software Developer</span></font></p><p style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><spanlang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>CSE Test Center</span></font></p><p style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><spanlang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>(330) 306-1166</span></font></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><spanstyle='font-size:12.0pt'>---
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poster specified VEE 6.2 which doesn't support direct TCP for instruments.
Second, I was all over the Tek site and saw no indications that this low end
scope supported VXI-11. It explicitly said that their supported drivers
were only supported through GPIB, so I assumed that they did not support
VXI-11. The Tek catalog has some holes that I am not sure are real
limitations or just catalog failures. For example the 3014 lists the GPIB
interface as an option, but the 3012 and 3002 do not. I was bidding a job
last night and raan into that. Since I couldn't rely on the 3012 having
GPIB, I ended up bidding a different scope. It's obviously something to
check, but I wouldn't rely on it.
Nonetheless, the only way that VEE 6.2 is going to support a direct lan
connection is by doing the I/O outside of VEE and bringing it in through a
dll or com interface. That means either finding a supported driver or
rolling one on your own. If you need to write that, it becommes more cost
effective to simply spend the $400 and have a supported path.
Jay Nemeth-Johannes
Complete Test
720 SW 14th Street
Loveland, Colorado 80537
(970) 663-0006
www.completetest.com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brian H. Powell [mailto:brian@ni.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2004 9:05 AM
> To: VRF
> Subject: [vrf] RE: GPIB to LAN
>
> > I think your best bet would be to have GPIB added to the
> scope. It is
> > a $400 accessory with p/n TDS3GV. At that point you get a
> supported driver.
>
> I'm not sure I understand what the original poster wants
> to do, so there are some fundamental concepts that I think
> are worth mentioning.
> Most LAN-capable instruments (at least from major
> instrument vendors like Agilent and Tektronix) support
> VXI-11. VXI-11 has nothing to do with VXI; it's just a
> protocol for how you send messages to and from instruments
> over TCP/IP. VXI-11 is very similar to GPIB in that it
> supports reading and writing messages, triggering, clearing,
> asserting SRQ, etc. (Can you tell it was defined by major
> instrument vendors who already invested in GPIB?)
> NI-VISA and Agilent VISA both know how to talk to VXI-11
> instruments.
> Thus, if you write a program using VISA for a GPIB interface,
> it will probably work with no modifications if you switch to
> a LAN interface. (More on the "probably" in a moment.) You
> just have to open up a different resource--instead of
> "GPIB0::22::INSTR", you open "TCPIP::10.0.20.30::INSTR".
> So, I'm wondering if Jim Hetrick (the original poster)
> just needs to point his existing application at the LAN
> device and if it will work. You should be able to send
> regular SCPI commands, or you could probably use the existing
> VXIpnp driver from Tek.
> One caveat... I have a TDS3054B with the TDS3GV option,
> and it speaks VXI-11. I have not tried removing the TDS3GV
> and tested whether I can still use VXI-11. I can't imagine
> that Tek would disable that, but you never know.
> Someone else suggested you could just try to use your
> own socket connections to talk to the scope. I would suggest
> that this is way more trouble than it's worth. VXI-11 is
> based on Remote Procedure Calls, which is significantly more
> complicated than just socket reads and writes. Use VISA
> instead. Really.
> A note on the "probably work with no modifications"...
> Be sure you get the latest firmware from Tektronix and the
> latest VISA library you want to use. I know there were some
> bugs in early Tek TDS 3xxx firmware revisions that kept SRQ
> from working correctly. Also, unless you have source code to
> the driver, you never know what sort of interface-specific
> code might be going on inside the driver. E.g., if the
> author had code that did low-level GPIB configuration, it
> would return an error with VXI-11. This sort of code is rare
> (except for serial I/O), but you never know. That's why you
> want source code for your instrument drivers.
> Anyway, I hope this helps. If you could be clearer what
> you are really trying to do, I think we could provide more assistance.
>
> Brian H. Powell
> Sr. Group Manager
> LabVIEW R&D
> brian@ni.com
>
>
>
> ---
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