Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System

Bill Brown <[email protected]> · Mon, 10 May 1999 07:57:05 -0700

Kevin Tsubota wrote:

> Hi,
>
> We're thinking about converting our existing gpib controller
> to a VME one interfacing through EPICS R3.13.0Beta12.
>
> I see that there's an existing National Instruments GPIB-1014
> device support written by John Winans.  Does anyone have
> any others?
>
> And can anyone comment on thier experiences with gpib
> controllers and EPICS.
>
> Thank you very much.
>
> Kevin Tsubota
> [email protected]
>
> California Association for Reasearch in Astronomy
> (808)885-7887

The NI-1014 has  a reputation for being a rather cranky device; IMHO it
is well-deserved .  We've made a hardware mod to ours which helped, but
it isn't our first choice.

In all fairness, I must say that the biggest problem with it is that it
doesn't deal
well with devices that maybe have a less than optimal interface - but
that seems
to be a common situation in the GPIB world.

We're now using the HP-2050A Ethernet-GPIB bridge, using the software
written by Ben Franksen.  It's cheaper than a 1014, and it gives us a
lot
fewer problems.  It uses the same device support modules for GPIB
devices
as the 1014; the driver and device support are layerd in a manner very
similar
to Johns' 1014 code.  The "pain of transition" really is minimal.
Another nice
feature is that since it talks to the ioc via the network, the unit can
be in remote
location, which has come in handy for us a few times.

The code is available somewhere on one of the web-sites.  Hopefully
someone
wil post the present location of the latest version.  It's not included
in EPICS
"base," altho I think it should be, as it's a better solution.

--

Disclaimer:  Any opinions are my own and have   | -bill
  nothing to do with the official policy or the   |  [email protected]
  management of L.B.N.L, who probably couldn't    |  Berkeley, CA
  care less about employees who play with trains. |  aka
[email protected]

Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System

Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System