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Scientific Solutions ^® Inc.

IEEE 488 GPIB Family of Products

Product Description Our Solution Includes Key Features Applications Functional Description Technical Specifications Accessories Software Frequently Asked Questions

Scientific Solutions' IEEE 488 GPIB cards plug directly into one slot of your personal computer and gives your computer complete access to the IEEE 488 General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB). Scientific Solutions offers four models IEEE488-CL/PCI, PCI card compatible with software written to our original IEEE interface standard IEEE488-CL/ISA, ISA card compatible with software written to our original IEEE interface standard IEEE488-LM,  ISA card compatible with software written to the PCII/PCIIA standard MC-IEEE488,  MicroChannel card compatible with software written to the PCII/PCIIA

Product Description

The Scientific Solutions IEEE 488 GPIB Interfaces are I/O expansion cards that plug directly into one slot of your PC. Each card gives your computer complete access to the IEEE 488 General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB). With access to the GPIB, your PC can act as system CONTROLLER, or as an addressed TALKER/LISTENER.

As CONTROLLER, the IEEE 488 cards can issue commands with both primary and secondary addressing. The IEEE488-CL (PCI and ISA) supports our original IEEE register set. The IEEE488-LM and MC-IEEE488 each support the NI PCII/PCIIA register set. Specific software may require a particular register set. Software such as our ROUTE488 will work with any of the IEEE 488 cards and will greatly help in creating custom GPIB applications.

The IEEE 488 cards come with support software which offers test routines and example programming to help with the development of customized setups. Scientific Solutions also has available ROUTE488 software, which is a memory resident driver written in assembly language designed to optimize communication with the GPIB interface.

ROUTE488 makes custom GPIB programming fast, easy and offers support for many programming languages.

Our Solution Includes:

• High speed GPIB interface for your PCI, ISA or MicroChannel based PC
• IEEE488 Support Software
  • Test Software
  • Menu-Driven IEEE Control Software
  • DOS printer/plotter support software
• Handbook
• RF double shielded 2 meter cable (not included with the IEEE488-CL)
  

Key Features

• Provides full implementation of The IEEE 488-1978 GPIB Bus Standard
• Family of cards offer various register sets to support specific software requirements
• As CONTROLLER, the IEEE 488 cards can issue commands with both primary and secondary addressing.
• DMA controlled data transfers provide high speed operation
• DMA and interrupt lines can be software disconnected,” allowing other devices to share them.
• Can support service request parallel and serial polls, device clear, device trigger, and remote/local functions.
• Any of 10,000 different instruments can be connected to your PC via the IEEE 488 Interface.
• Easy to install, plugs directly into one slot of your Personal Computer.
• Provides all TALKER/LISTENER functions.
• Provides all CONTROLLER functions.
• Offers complete source and acceptor handshake.
• Provides extended addressing capability.
• Supports interrupt-driven or “polled” operation.
• Allows automatic handling of addressing and handshake protocol.
• Offers EOS and EOI message termination.
• Allows complete implementation of transfer control protocol.
• Offers full buffering of all bus I/O.
• Included software transfers byte, string, or title information.

Applications

The IEEE488 Interface has a multitude of communications applications in scientific and industrial environments. Some of the most common of these include

• Data acquisition and process control
  • Analysis of biological, chemical, and physical processes
  • Industrial and laboratory data collections and control routines
• Laboratory automation
  • Chemical testing and analysis
  • Data acquisition subsystems
  • Robot samplers
  • Mass spectrometers
  • Gas chromatography
  • Scales and Measurements
• Automatic test systems
  • Quality control Monitoring
  • Automatic Test bench
• Individual instrumentation workstations
  • Multimeters
  • Digitizing Oscilloscopes
  • Signal generators

Functional Description

• The Scientific Solutions IEEE 488 cards implements the GPIB IEEE-488 standard.
• The IEEE 488 installs inside your PC.
• An IEEE standard cable attaches to a shielded IEEE488 standard D-shell connector on the card. The other end of the cable attaches to your GPIB peripheral (plotter, instrumentation, controller, etc.).
• Programmed I/O can transfer data between the IEEE 488 card and the computer. Direct Memory Access (DMA) circuitry allows faster transfer of data.
• An on-board oscillator guarantees accurate, high speed GPIB timing. Actual transfer rates depend on the DMA speed of the computer and the slowest GPIB Listener.
• Hardware interrupts (IRQ) are possible for sources such as data received, data send, END message received, service request, etc.
• For application developers, Scientific Solution recommends ROUTE488 software. Using this DOS TSR software, you can get high-speed data transfers on the GPIB without having to provide your own customized assembly language programming.
• The IEEE488 cards have selectable I/O address, DMA channel and IRQ. Using the IEEE 488 standard protocols, the IEEE 488 Interface can connect your computer to over 10,000 different types of instruments, supporting up to 15 simultaneously.
• Multiple IEEE 488 cards can be put into a single PC to support more simultaneous instruments.

Technical Specifications:

Frequently Asked Questions