PROLOGIX GPIB-USB CONTROLLER USER MANUAL VERSION 6.91 September 14, 2009 PROLOGIX.
Prologix GPIB-USB Controller User Manual Table of Contents 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Introduction ..........................................................................................................................4 Installation.............................................................................................................................4 Firmware Upgrade ...............................................................................................................4 Host Software ............
Prologix GPIB-USB Controller User Manual Change Log Sept 14, 2009 Jul 5, 2007 Added ++savecfg command descripion. Corrected maximum value of read_tmo_ms to 3000 ms. Added ++status command description. Updated ++addr, ++spoll and ++trg command descriptions to include secondary address. Added section on binary data transmission. Updated ++trg command description. Updated USB command terminator description and read_tmo_ms command description. Fixed typo in ++mode command description.
Prologix GPIB-USB Controller User Manual 1. Introduction Prologix GPIB-USB controller converts any computer with a USB port into a GPIB Controller or Device. In Controller mode, Prologix GPIB-USB controller can remotely control GPIB enabled instruments such as Oscilloscopes, Logic Analyzers, and Spectrum Analyzers. In Device mode, Prologix GPIB-USB controller converts the computer into a GPIB peripheral for downloading data and screen plots from the instrument front panel.
Prologix GPIB-USB Controller User Manual Custom applications – any programming language or environment that provides access to serial ports (if using VCP driver) or allows interfacing to DLL (if using D2XX driver) may be used to develop custom applications. Graphical programming environments like National Instruments LabView and Agilent VEE may be used as well. EZGPIB – an easy to use, programming environment developed by Ulrich Bangert for developing data acquisition applications.
Prologix GPIB-USB Controller User Manual GPIB instrument at the currently specified address (See ++addr command) to listen, and passes along the received data. When Read-After-Write feature is enabled (See ++auto command) Prologix GPIB-USB Controller will addresses the instrument to talk after sending a command, in order to read its response. All data received from instruments over GPIB is sent to host over USB. Read-After-Write feature simplifies communication with instruments.
Prologix GPIB-USB Controller User Manual As mentioned earlier, an un-escaped CR or LF acts as the USB terminator. The terminating CR or LF is removed and GPIB termination characters (specified by ++eos command) are appended before transmitting data to instruments. Any USB input that starts with the unescaped “++” character sequence is interpreted as a controller command and not transmitted over GPIB.
Prologix GPIB-USB Controller User Manual 8. Commands Prologix GPIB-USB controller provides several commands to configure its behavior. They are explained in detail in the following sections. All commands start with the “++” character sequence. Commands must be terminated with CR or LF. 8.1. addr The addr command is used to configure, or query the GPIB address. Meaning of the GPIB address depends on the operating mode of the controller.
Prologix GPIB-USB Controller User Manual Read-After-Write, saves the user from having to issue read commands repeatedly. This command enabled or disabled the Read-After-Write feature. In addition, auto command also addresses the instrument at the currently specified address to TALK or LISTEN. ++auto 0 addresses the instrument to LISTEN and ++auto 1 addresses the instrument to TALK. If the command is issued without any arguments it returns the current state of the readafter-write feature.
Prologix GPIB-USB Controller User Manual MODES AVAILABLE: CONTROLLER, DEVICE EXAMPLES: ++eoi 1 ++eoi 0 ++eoi 8.5. Enable EOI assertion with last character Disable EOI assertion Query if EOI assertion is enabled or disabled eos This command specifies GPIB termination characters. When data from host is received over USB, all non-escaped LF, CR and ESC characters are removed and GPIB terminators, as specified by this command, are appended before sending the data to instruments.
Prologix GPIB-USB Controller 8.7. User Manual eot_char This command specifies the character to be appended to USB output when eot_enable is set to 1 and EOI is detected. If the command is issued without any argument, the currently specified character is returned. SYNTAX: eot_char [] where is a decimal value less than 256 MODES AVAILABLE: CONTROLLER, DEVICE EXAMPLES: ++eot_char 42 ++eot_char 8.8.
Prologix GPIB-USB Controller ++mode 0 ++mode 8.11. User Manual Switch to DEVICE mode Query current mode read This command can be used to read data from an instrument until: • EOI is detected or timeout expires, or • A specified character is read or timeout expires, or • Timeout expires Timeout is set using the read_tmo_ms command and applies to inter-character delay, i.e., the delay since the last character was read. Timeout is not be confused with the total time for which data is read.
Prologix GPIB-USB Controller User Manual 8.14. savecfg This command enables, or disables, automatic saving of configuration parameters in EPROM. If enabled, the following configuration parameters are saved whenever they are updated – mode, addr, auto, eoi, eos, eot_enable, eot_char and read_tmo_ms. However, frequent updates may eventually wear out the EPROM. This command may be used to temporarily disable automatic saving of configuration parameters to reduce EEPROM wear.
Prologix GPIB-USB Controller User Manual 8.16. srq This command returns the current state of the GPIB SRQ signal. The command returns ‘1’ is SRQ signal is asserted (low) and ‘0’ if the signal is not asserted (high). SYNTAX: ++srq MODES AVAILABLE: CONTROLLER 8.17. status The status command is used to specify the device status byte to be returned when serial polled by a GPIB controller. If the RQS bit (bit #6) of the status byte is set then the SRQ signal is asserted (low).
Prologix GPIB-USB Controller User Manual 8.19. ver This command returns the version string of the Prologix GPIB-USB controller. SYNTAX: ++ver MODES AVAILABLE: CONTROLLER, DEVICE 8.20. help This command prints a brief summary of all available commands. SYNTAX: ++help MODES AVAILABLE: CONTROLLER, DEVICE 9. Specifications Supported OS: Windows 98/2000/XP/Vista, Mac OS 8/9/X, Linux, FreeBSD Supported Standards: IEEE 488.1, IEEE 488.2, USB 1.1, USB 2.
