Convert an instrument with 50-pin to PCM-CIA convertor on WIN NT and using NI-DAQmx to USB ?

[Crispin23]

Hi,

Not sure if this is the right topic for it, but >

I am using a very old (2004) portable Windows NT machine with PCM-CIA DAQ interface card (27 pin), connected by interface cable to a 50-pin input/output connector of a measurement instrument.

S/W used is NI-DAQmx V17.6.0.32 and instrument proper drivers.

The measurement instrument is an old version of spectrometer (Control Development with S/W SPEC 32) but that time NOT yet with the newer USB interface > see attachment photo and  http://www.controldevelopment.com/pdfs/spec_32_manual_06_12_09.pdf

My questions:

1. How can I get this instrument to work with a more modern laptop and windows versions ?

2. Is there any existing convertor to run from the 50 pin interface to say USB ?

Many thanks in advance

[RobertoBozzolo]

In principle it should not be too difficult to replicate existing configuration with a new hardware: once the necessary pins/signals are known in the PCM-CIA board you should be able to find a suitable USB device and build a proper adapter from board connectors to 50-pin connector on the instrument. Since you are already using NI-DAQmx you should be able to easily port the application to the new configuration by matching the new hardware but hopefully without need to change the code.

But you are mentioning you are using and instrument driver so here you may find problems since the original NT driver is not likely to work in modern OSes: since the manufacturer is still active you should take in contact with them in order to find a suitable driver.

[rolfk]

27-pin DAQCard? that would have to be a pretty old one.DAQCard-1200 had a 50 pin connector, later DAQCards used a 68-pin high density connector.

Ahh, according to that manual it is a DAQCard-DIO-24, so a pure digital interface. This is the manual to it and on page 4-5 you have the pinout of the 50 pin side of it.

The PCI-6503 would have a compatible layout and if you can configure the DAQ device in your software somehow, might simply work with your software.

https://www.ni.com/en-us/shop/category/digital-io.html?productId=118259