Documentation Notice: AT-GPIB and Windows Compatibility
Note: This document is not the most recent edition. Search to find out if a more recent edition is available.
Edition Date:
October 1994
Part Number:
320481B-90
The built-in GPIB Talker/Listener/Controller port on your VXIpc-486 module is application
compatible with the National Instruments AT-GPIB plug-in board, the industry-standard GPIB
interface for ISA (PC AT) computers. Your VXIpc-486 port uses the same GPIB hardware
circuitry as the AT-GPIB, including the NAT4882 and Turbo488 custom ASICs. These custom
ASICs give your VXIpc-486, like the AT-GPIB, high GPIB performance capable of achieving a
GPIB data transfer rate of 1 Mbytes/s for both reads and writes. In addition, your VXIpc-486,
like the AT-GPIB, is 100 percent compatible with IEEE 488.2 and SCPI (Standard Commands
for Programmable Instruments).
Because the GPIB port on your VXIpc-486 is similar to the AT-GPIB, your kit includes the
manual Getting Started with Your AT-GPIB/TNT and the NI-488.2 Software for Windows along
with the NI-488.2 software for the VXIpc-486. The GPIB port is built into your VXIpc-486;
however, not all of the information in the AT-GPIB Getting Started manual is relevant to your
VXIpc-486. For example, the hardware installation procedure for the AT-GPIB given in Chapter
2, Hardware Configuration and Installation, does not apply to your VXIpc-486.
Chapter 3, Software Installation and Configuration, of the AT-GPIB Getting Started manual
contains step-by-step instructions for changing the configuration settings for an AT-GPIB board.
This information is not relevant to your kit, however, because the settings for your VXIpc-486
are fixed in hardware and cannot be changed. On your VXIpc-486, the base I/O address is
fixed at 180 (hex), the DMA channel is fixed at 5, and the interrupt line (IRQ) is fixed at 11.
The base I/O address is different from the default setting for an AT-GPIB, as shown in Table
2-1 in Chapter 2 of the AT-GPIB Getting Started manual. The NI-488.2 software for your
VXIpc-486 uses the proper default settings for the VXIpc-486. If you experience any
difficulties, you should verify these settings by following the instructions in the Run the
Hardware Diagnostic Program section of Chapter 4, Installation Verification and
Troubleshooting. Keep in mind that if you install any plug-in boards into a VXIpc-486
expansion kit, these boards must not conflict with the settings of your VXIpc-486 GPIB port.
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