Instrument Driver Network

[Elsa Fung]

In the instrument Driver Network, when a driver's interface says "IEEE 488.2 (GPIB), Serial" requires NI-VISA 1.2, can I use any IEEE card or just NI's IEEE card?  (I have an IOTech IEEE card, and as far as I know, it doesn't work with VISA)

[jjp377]

Any IEEE card should work.  Just download NI-VISA for the OS you are using and you should be able to use the drivers.

[Makoto]

When a driver uses VISA for instrument connectivity, your GPIB card must be supported by a VISA library from any vendor.  For example, NI GPIB is supported by NI-VISA, Agilent GPIB or HP-IB is supported by Agilent VISA.  Some 3rd party GPIB products may be supported by NI-VISA through the replacement GPIB-32.DLL or through the NI-VISA passport plug-in.  If your IOtech GPIB is not supported by any VISA library, it can't be used with instrumenr drivers as is.   To solve it, 1)you need replace your GPIB with a VISA-compatible card, or 2)Modify instrumet IO portion of instrument driver to fit with the GPIB card you use if driver source codes are available.  Normally IVI-C and LabVIEW Plug&Play drivers come with source codes.