Can I use a tekscope (TDS5104) to control other devices via GPIB with LabVIEW ?

[CMHarger]

I tried to do this but i couldnt make the oscilloscope "see" in MAX any device connected via GPIB.
I also am not sure about wich VISA to use, NI-VISA or Tek-VISA, and if a should or should not install the NI-GPIB drivers.

[JLS]

Hello,

MAX can use your NI GPIB interface to scan for instruments that are turned on and connected via GPIB. Your tekscope should be seen in MAX if you scan for instruments. If you do not see it, try troubleshooting with the following:

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/websearch/72FAD7156202DDF9862568900048F006?OpenDocument

If your scope can control other devices (ie. has the ability to be the controller in charge) then you will be able to pass control to it. For more information on this, see the following:

http://ae.natinst.com/operations/ae/public.nsf/fca7838c4500dc10862567a100753500/873be8238ad6b0ba86256b1b004dc203?OpenDocument

If you are using an NI GPIB device, you will want to install NI-488.2. You can use the following site to download the corr
ect version of NI-488.2 based on your hardware and operating system:

http://www.ni.com/support/gpib/versions.htm

You will likely want your NI GPIB device to be the system controller (and initially the controller in charge), where you will be able to use LabVIEW to program your desired functionality on your PC. You can use NI-VISA if you would like (or make GPIB specific calls; NI-VISA provides a nice layer of abstraction and reusability of your code). For more information about VISA, visit:

http://www.ni.com/pdf/manuals/370423a.pdf

Thank you,

JLS

[NJank]

replying to an old thread, but it seems appropriate.

Ran into a problem trying to do the same thing as the original post. The scope uses a TekScope progam as primary display, but I don't know via what interface it works with the internal hardware. The scope (which is running Win2K system) has Labview 7.11 installed on it. I can use a labview VI to send VISA commands to/from the oscilloscope by addressing GPIB8::1::INSTR.  The funny thing is, MAX does not see a GPIB8 board. It shows up under Device Manager, and I can address it, but MAX doesn't see it. Also, the system shows a PXI system as PXI2::15::INSTR (PCI-GPIB).  I have no idea what this is referring to. The VISA test panel tells me it's a National Instruments device, Model Name PCI-GPIB, Model Code C801. any ideas? It is the one that shows up in device manager (properties shows matching slot2 /device15 info)

What's interesting: I removed the PCI-GPIB card in device manager and did a scan for new hardware. It re-added the card, it found it at slot 8 dev1.  I refreshed MAX and it added the GPIB card. BUT, everytime after that I started TekScope the system would freeze during startup. I had to reimage the scope from scratch to get it to work as a scope again.

 After reimaging, I went about reinstalling the various labview components. The last thing to install was NI-488.2, and sure enough, after doing the install the system starts locknig up again when attempting to run the scope software. 

So, I don't know what it changed with respect to resource control, but something's breaknig something. I'm going to try reinstalling some Tek software (tekvisa, tekscope, etc.) to see if it somehow fixes the problem. I don't want to spend another couple days restoring the scope from the image again.