How to decide, NI 488 or NI 488.2 functions?

[davidAry]

I am about to develop an application for NI-GPIB-USB-B.
I notice that the API has two set of routines, the traditional 488 (ibrd, ibwrt, etc) and NI 488.2 (Receive, Send, etc).
How do I decide which set to use? Are these two sets basicly the same, so the decision will just be based on programming style preference? (I notice that the sample programs uses both style in the same program).

This question may seem trivial, but I want ask to confirm my guess so I can proceed the development with confidence. (There is no where on the documentation that spell out the difference between the NI 488 and NI 488.2 and why or when we want to use one and not the other).

I am a newbie in GPIB, my background is more of software.

Th
ank you,

David Hadiprijanto
CheckSum, Inc.

[DiegoF]

Hi,

You can use both types of functions in the same program. Most of them will have the same effect on the GPIB bus. The main differences are:

- The NI488.2 routines do not use unit descriptors. You pass the board index and the device address (if applicable) to the functions.

- Some NI-488.2 routines work on multiple instruments at once. Easier to perform the same operation on multiple instruments.

- The 488 calls give you more low-level access to the driver properties and the GPIB bus.

Check chapter 4 of the NI-488.2 User Manual for more details.

DiegoF
National Instruments

[davidAry]

Diego,

This sheds more light on using NI-488 APIs. It really helps for newbie like me.

Thank's

- david