Can I Use Both National Instruments (GPIB) and Agilent/HP (HPIB) Controllers in the Same System? Primary Software: Driver Software>>NI-VISAPrimary Software Version: N/A Primary Software Fixed Version: N/A Secondary Software: N/A
Problem: Can I use both National Instruments (GPIB) and Agilent/HP (HPIB) controllers in the same system? Solution: You can use NI-VISA 2.5 or higher to access Agilent/HP GPIB controllers, such as HPIB, and National Instruments GPIB controllers, such as PCI-GPIB, in the same system. To do so, you will need to enable the VISA Passport editor in Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX). The directions for enabling the VISA Passport editor are given below for different versions of MAX. NI-VISA finds and accesses any GPIB or VXI devices. Although the Agilent/HP hardware will show up in MAX and NI VISA Interactive Control, NI-VISA does not configure the Agilent/HP hardware; you must use the Agilent/HP I/O configuration utility to configure that hardware. If you installed NI-VISA first, you can install Agilent VISA as a secondary VISA, this is only valid if you have Agilent VISA version K and later. If you installed Agilent VISA first, during the installation of NI-VISA, you will be given the choice of either overwriting the other VISA or aborting the installation. Note: To determine which version of MAX you have, launch MAX and go to Help » About. Measurement & Automation Explorer 4.x To use the VISA Passport editor in MAX 4.x, select Tools » NI-VISA » VISA Options... Once the VISA Options screen appears, select Passports in the tree view (My System » General Settings » Passports). Enable the NiVisaTulip.dll by placing a check mark in the box beside it and then click on the Save button. You will need to restart MAX for the setting to take effect. Once MAX is restarted, you will be able to access your third-party GPIB boards and give them VISA aliases under My System » Devices and Interfaces » Miscellaneous VISA Resources. Measurement & Automation Explorer 3.1 To use the VISA Passport editor in MAX 3.1, select Tools » NI-VISA » VISA Options... Once the VISA Options screen appears, select Passports in the tree view (My System » VISA Settings » Passports). Enable the NiVisaTulip.dll by placing a check mark in the box beside it and then click on the Save button. You will need to restart MAX for the setting to take effect. Once MAX is restarted, you will be able to access your third-party GPIB boards and give them VISA aliases under My System » Devices and Interfaces » Miscellaneous VISA Resources. Measurement & Automation Explorer 3.0 To use the VISA Passport editor in MAX 3.0, select Tools » NI-VISA » VISA Options... Once the VISA Options screen appears, select Passports in the tree view (My System » VISA Settings » Passports). Enable the NiVisaTulip.dll by placing a check mark in the box beside it and then click on the Apply button. You will need to restart MAX for the setting to take effect. Once MAX is restarted, you will be able to access your third-party GPIB boards and give them VISA aliases under My System » Devices and Interfaces » Miscellaneous VISA Resources. Measurement & Automation Explorer 2.2 and previous To use the VISA Passport editor in MAX 2.2 and prior, select Tools » NI-VISA » Passport Editor and enable the NiVisaTulip.dll. If you have both National Instruments and Agilent/HP GPIB controllers in the same system, you must configure the boards with different interface names, such as one as GPIB0 and the other as GPIB1. If both vendors try to use the same interface address, NI-VISA reports an error from viFindRsrc or VISA Find Resources. NI-VISA will assign an Agilent GPIB card a VISA interface name of GPIBn where n is the trailing number of the SICL name assigned by the Agilent IO Config program. If the SICL name does not have a trailing number, the n will be assigned from the logical unit number assigned by the Agilent IO Config program. If Agilent VISA has configured an NI-488 GPIB card, it will normally default the SICL name to GPIB0. The VISA Library Passport for Tulip will then map this back to NI-VISA as GPIB0. This will conflict with the GPIB0 that is already mapped to the NI-488 GPIB card in NI-VISA. This conflict will cause NI-VISA to not recognize the GPIB interface. The workaround for this problem is to run Agilent IO Config and edit the SICL name for this card to something else to prevent the conflict (e.g. GPIB9). This will then map to GPIB9 in NI-VISA and not cause a conflict with GPIB0. If you do not need to have the NI and Agilent GPIB boards in the machine at the same time, but wish to have both drivers installed, see the link below. LabVIEW Uninstall NI-VISA, and install HP-VISA. Use the VISA functions in LabVIEW to access the HPIB board. By default, a VISA resource name constant or control will only allow devices defined in Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX). Since HPIB boards using HP-VISA will not be found by MAX, you must right-click on the control or constant and select "Allow Undefined Names." This will allow you to manually enter the address of the instrument. Then, you must get the proper board and instrument address from the Agilent/HP I/O configuration utility. Once you have that information, type the resource name according to the standard convention GPIBx::y::INSTR, where x is the board index number (usually 0) and y is the primary address of the instrument. CVI 1. Uninstall NI-VISA, and install HP-VISA. 2. Make sure you see the board in the Agilent / HP I/O Configuration Utility. Note the proper board and instrument address from here. 3. Use VISA commands in CVI addressing the instrument according to the standard convention GPIBx::y::INSTR. Note: HP-VISA and HP-SICL are not National Instruments drivers. Please consult Agilent's website at www.agilent.com to download these drivers. Related Links: Agilent Developer Network Note: Installing Agilent VISA as a Secondary VISA Attachments:
Report Date: 08/21/2000 Last Updated: 10/17/2008 Document ID: 20KG1C7Z |
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