HELP..Agilent ISA/PCI Gpib Controller Board Questions

[rfdes]

Hello...
I need some answers that I cannot seem to get from Agilent. With the
National Instruments, NI-488 function library, it is possible to set one of
their Gpib cards to a 'Listen-Only' mode. The Agilent
cards only support their SICL and VISA languages and thus there doesn't seem
to be a way to do this. Please tell me if I am wrong.

I am trying to design some software for use with either the NI or Agilent
cards and need to place them in the Listen-Only mode. Does anyone know of
some code that could be used to 'patch' the appropriate registers on the
Agilent card so that they, too, will function in the Listen - Only mode?
As I understand it, the Agilent cards use either the TI TMS9914 or NEC 7210
controller chip(I think!). Both of these chips have internal register bits
that will disable the address decoding and allow the chips to function as
'Listen-Only'. Since the SICL and VISA languages don't support R/W in this
manner. I thought that maybe, I could write a small application that would
force the register bit to this state. This would be something that I could
run from within my application.

In any event, I need some guidance as to whether this is possible and to
point me in the right direction. Any help that you can offer would be
appreciated..

Thanks..
Jim

 

[maxfoo]

Hello...
I need some answers that I cannot seem to get from Agilent. With the
National Instruments, NI-488 function library, it is possible to set one of
their Gpib cards to a 'Listen-Only' mode. The Agilent
cards only support their SICL and VISA languages and thus there doesn't seem
to be a way to do this. Please tell me if I am wrong.

I am trying to design some software for use with either the NI or Agilent
cards and need to place them in the Listen-Only mode. Does anyone know of
some code that could be used to 'patch' the appropriate registers on the
Agilent card so that they, too, will function in the Listen - Only mode?
As I understand it, the Agilent cards use either the TI TMS9914 or NEC 7210
controller chip(I think!). Both of these chips have internal register bits
that will disable the address decoding and allow the chips to function as
'Listen-Only'. Since the SICL and VISA languages don't support R/W in this
manner. I thought that maybe, I could write a small application that would
force the register bit to this state. This would be something that I could
run from within my application.

In any event, I need some guidance as to whether this is possible and to
point me in the right direction. Any help that you can offer would be
appreciated..

Thanks..
Jim

NI uses the gpib32.dll file to translate, so you should be able to find a
function in the ni-488.2 library to put it in listen mode, use the NI spy tool
to monitor the card...




Remove "HeadFromButt", before replying by email.

 

[RWatson767]

Jim

HELP..Agilent ISA/PCI Gpib Controller Board Questions

<<it is possible to set one of their Gpib cards to a 'Listen-Only' mode. The
Agilent>> ...

From many years ago I seem to remember that only peripheals can be set to
"listen only". This would make sense to me since the card in question would be
a controller and would not be useful in a "Listen-Only mode. Perhaps to
"emulate", I think the word is, you could simply stop the GPIB functions of the
card by using the CPU and then start again when you have achieved your goal.
Bob AZ

 

[rfdes]

Jim

<<it is possible to set one of their Gpib cards to a 'Listen-Only' mode. The
Agilent>> ...

From many years ago I seem to remember that only peripheals can be set to
"listen only". This would make sense to me since the card in question would be
a controller and would not be useful in a "Listen-Only mode. Perhaps to
"emulate", I think the word is, you could simply stop the GPIB functions of the
card by using the CPU and then start again when you have achieved your goal.
Bob AZ

Yes, That is what I want to do. Turn the card/PC into a 'device'
(non-controller) so that another instrument can talk to it. The problem is
that the card has hardware address decoding, so that the talking PC must
first send the 'listen - address' before the device will listen. If you
want the GPIB card to disable this addressing capability, you must first
write some disable data to a hardware register on the card. The National
Instruments GPIB software utilities have a specific function for doing this.
The Agilent does not, as far as I can tell. My hunch is that the Agilent
card(s) have the hardware capability to do this, only the software remains
as the 'stumbling block'. The early Agilent gpib cards (not sure about the
present) used the TI TMS9914 as the basis for their GPIB cards. I know that
that device had this capability. Supposedly, the current GPIB controllers
that Agilent uses are of their own design (ASICs). But they, supposedly,
are still based on the TMS9914, so, hopefully, the address decoding
registers are still present. Sounds like alot of reverse engineering that I
do not have time for. Getting the right technical support for this is
highly unlikely.

Take care..
Jim

Jim