Re: Which Agilent GPIB PCI card to buy?

Hi

Thanks for the insights.
A friend of mine suggested to use National Instruments card instead of 
HP.
Taking a look at the supported-hardware page I don't see any notes for 
the NI PCI cards, which makes me believe they have proper end-of-string 
detection, therefore better performance and hence the better choice than 
HP.
Is that a correct conclusion?

It seems like there are a number of different models available from NI.  
Anything in particular to prefer?

Thanks,
-Alex

On Fri, Jan 10, 2020 at 04:02:07PM +0100, dave penkler wrote:
> Hallo Alexander,
> From a user perspective they are pretty much the same as they use the same
> driver. The main difference is that the 82350A requires a firmware
> udownload when initialising it. So the 82350B is preferable from that
> point. See aslo
> https://linux-gpib.sourceforge.io/doc_html/supported-hardware.html#AGILENT-82350B
> 
> Regarding the non-system controller aspect: the cards can be used in this
> mode but you need to understand the gpib protocol to program it.
> A simple example is here:
> https://sourceforge.net/p/linux-gpib/code/HEAD/tree/trunk/linux-gpib-user/examples/slave_read_to_file.c
> cheers,
> -Dave
> 
> On Fri, 10 Jan 2020 at 13:41, Alexander Huemer <[email protected]>
> wrote:
> 
> > Hi
> >
> > I would like to build a small box based on a Soekris 5501 to be able to
> > interface various pieces of old test equipment via GPIB.
> >
> > In case that matters, the test equipment I have with GPIB interfaces
> > are:
> > * HP 54200A (Oscilloscope)
> > * HP 66311B (Power supply)
> > * HP  3478A (Multimeter)
> > * Rohde & Schwarz CMD53 (Digital Radiocommunication Tester)
> >
> > I am considering to buy either:
> > * HP 82350A Rev. B
> > * HP 82350B Rev. A
> >
> > My question is whether there are any real-world differences between
> > these cards from user perspective.
> > Looking at pictures of the boards, the implementations seems to be
> > significantly different. Having no practical experience with linux-gpib
> > yet, I cannot say whether those differences have any effect to the user.
> >
> > * HP 82350A Rev. B -> Xilinx XC5202 + PLX PCI9050
> > * HP 82350B Rev. A -> Xilinx XC2S100, no PLX
> >
> > My guess would be 'no difference', though I thought I'd ask before I
> > buy.
> >
> > Second question:
> > Can these boards act as non-controllers on the bus? I wasn't able to
> > find a good explanation of the technical situation in English, only in
> > German[1] (my mother tongue).
> > Long story short: Some GPIB adapters for general purpose computers can
> > react to ATN messages on the bus quickly enough to be able to act as
> > non-controllers, some aren't. The time budget is pretty tight for that,
> > 200ns, too quickly for interrupt-based implementations.
> >
> > I believe the ATN responses are the reason one would want to use a PCI
> > board instead of a 82357A/B.
> > Whether that ATN thing is significantly relevant in another can of
> > worms, though we don't have to open that can of worms right now.
> >
> > -Alex
> >
> > [1] https://www.mikrocontroller.net/articles/GPIB-RS232-Schnittstelle
> >
> >
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> >