Controlling a Third-Party USB Serial Interface in Linux Using NI-VISA

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Primary Software: Driver Software>>NI-VISA
Primary Software Version: 3.0
Primary Software Fixed Version: N/A
Secondary Software: N/A
Hardware: Instrument Connectivity Other>>USB>>USB-232, Instrument Connectivity Other>>USB>>USB-232/2, Instrument Connectivity Other>>USB>>USB-232/4

Problem:
I have a third-party USB serial interface that I will be using on a Linux machine. How do I control this interface with NI-VISA?

Solution:
To use your third-party USB serial interface with NI-VISA in Linux, you will have to add it as a static resource using the NI-VISA configuration utility (visaconf). Visaconf installs with NI-VISA so you need to have NI-VISA installed. See the related link below for the most recent version of VISA for Linux.
Follow the steps below to set up your device:

Open a terminal window and type "visaconf" to open the VISA configuration utility window.
Click on the "Add Static" button to bring up the "Add new static resource" window, and choose "local serial port" from the Select Interface list.
Pick an interface number, and type /dev/ttyUSBx in the "Binding" field, where x stands for the port number on the USB serial interface; so for instance, if you have a 2-port interface, you would type /dev/ttyUSB0 for the first port, and /dev/ttyUSB1 for the second port.

Please note that Linux treats serial ports like files and you must have the appropriate permissions to read/write to the port. See the link below for more information.

Another work around would be to try adding a token to the visaconf file: "WriteTimeoutGranularity = 0" under section "[ASRL-RSRC-ALIAS]".

Note: NI USB-Serial devices require the NI-Serial driver, which is currently only available for Windows

Report Date: 05/26/2006
Last Updated: 08/23/2007
Document ID: 3XPB9F5N

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