test instrument unresponsive

[noobie_programmer]

Dear Patrick;

     You suggestion had been suggested already in the past posts.  We have moved on since then.

     Thank you for your efforts.

      I require more detailed information.   If my questions can be answered, I should be able to detect the source of the problem.

[Patrick_NI]

To answer your initial question, you should be able to communicate with any 488.2 complaint device over GPIB with NI-488.2.  This driver is included with NI-VISA.  If you download NI-VISA, you should have everything you need to communicate with the device.  

[noobie_programmer]

Dear Patrick;

      I would like to thank you for your efforts.   Tektronix released to me the programming manual for the TEK 784D oscilloscope today. 

      I know that my inquiry left a lot of national instruments engineers scratching their heads.   I was scratching my head until I managed to read the 784D programming manual.    This manual was not available to the user until today.   In other words, prior to today, you could not casually surf Tek's website and download a copy of the manual.   It was not listed.    In fact, I found out about the existence of the programming manual from a 3rd party source.    About a week ago, I started a correspondence with TEK support (no pun intended - "tech support") and had to specifically request the programming manual.   Today, they replied to me via e-mail, and released the manual to the public (or, at least, just me to my knowledge) and I had the opportunity to read the manual.    I just stopped reading the manual now.   

      I found out that this oscilloscope appears to require a specific GPIB card. (GPIB PCII/IIA).    A long time ago, a technician orally told me something to this effect.   But since there was no written documentation available for me to verify what he was saying.  I took what he said with a "grain of salt" because other programmers/technicians had told me otherwise, leading me to believe that,  488.2  GPIB cards are compatible 488.2 instruments.   Further,  while I was attending college, every test instrument that I used in the classroom was compatible with the same 488 GPIB card.   There were lots of test instruments in the classroom and they could all talk to one card.  No incompatibility issues.   Now, I am being led to believe, in this specific case, that you must match 488.2 hardware - card type - with specific 488.2 test instrument type. 

      I was wondering if you could tell me, with regard to this "mixing" and "matching" issue, is the source of the incompatibility related to the writing of the software drivers.  In other words, generally, every 488.2 card  can be made compatible with every 488.2 instrument, that is, if you write the software drivers correctly, the card and instrument will be compatible.   Or, is it generally the case, that there are hardware compatibility requirements which must met be despite the advertised 488.2 protocol compliance.  

      What has been your experience at National Instruments?

[noobie_programmer]

By the way, since I am new to Labview and I know these questions will arise again can you please tell me the function of the

the initial "VISA" and "COMPLIANCE" install software.   What does this software do?

Also, the LabWindows driver.   What is LabWindows?   (answering by telling me it is a "driver" is not helpful.  I would like to know how this software facilitates connectivity).  How is LabWindows related to Labview - what functional role does it play in connectivity?

Finally, I associate MAX with connectivity because I have always used MAX to determine connectivity with my test instruments.   Does Labview provide a completely separate and distinct method of establishing connectivity which MAX has no role to play.     Please tell me if Labview establishes connectivity independantly and if Labview connectivity is independent is Labview connectivity essentially only a copy of the MAX ibic functions but just encapsulated in a different software format.   Or is there something unique about how Labview establishes connectivity with test instruments?

[noobie_programmer]

I found out what LabWindows does.   I am under the impression that LabWindows facilitates C compilation with a GUI.

LabView and LabWindows are two separate development platforms. 

VISA appears to be associated with i/o api calls - *.dlls.

Unless someone were willing to send me a coded examples in the C++ environment of how I would make calls to these drivers, I do not believe that a working solution could have been found by conventional means.

I realize I mixed development environments with my last post.   I mentioned Labview and this is a C++ forum.   In any case, if anyone has any suggestions about facilitating instrument communications in the C++ environment so that communication could be directly established with an arbitrary test instrument I would welcome suggestions.    

In any case, the hardware question with regard to instrument communications remains.    What is NI's experience 488.2 and hardware compliance (see the prior questions raised)?

[Patrick_NI]

For more information on the NI-VISA driver, see the following page:

http://www.ni.com/visa/

For more information about the IVI compliance package, see the description here:

http://joule.ni.com/nidu/cds/view/p/id/3065/lang/en

To fully connect with your oscilloscope, I suggest you download the NI-VISA, the IVI compliance package, and the driver for your API located here:

http://sine.ni.com/apps/utf8/niid_web_display.model_page?p_model_id=149

Measurement and Automation Explorer (MAX) is used to configure your National Instruments hardware and software, back up or replicate configuration data, and view devices and instruments connected to your system.  LabVIEW pulls data from Measurement and Automation Explorer to connect with devices.  So basically, LabIVEW interacts with devices through configuration options set up in MAX.

Hope this answers some of your questions!