RS232 to GPIB converter using NAT9914

Hi,

I'm a student at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and computing in Zagreb, Croatia.For my bachelor degree im designing a sort of converter.It would be an RS232 to GPIB converter.I'm using microcontroller from 8051 family and NAT9914 as interface to GPIB bus. The NAT9914 handles the communication layer,but doesn't interpret too much of the data, so if I would like to make IEEE 488.2 compatibile device (which takes care of the required IEEE 488.2 commands ) I'd have to create a software construct for it. I was wondering if anyone did that.If someone did, I would appreciate to contact me on my e-mail: mirna snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com or snipped-for-privacy@fer.hr. I know that there is an NI product named GPIB-232CV-A RS-232 to GPIB Converter, but the whole purpose of my work is to learn to do it this way if it is possible.

Thanks!

Mirna

Go read everything you can find on the web about the NI device and it's cousins. You'll find enough clues to figure out how to do it. If I told you how, it would be MY project.

The 9914 is an obsolete device. I'm not sure you can get to 488.2 with that hardware??? Go find one of the newer 488.2 replacements. The datasheets that come with it should give you what you need. ONe company will supply free samples.

The original TI 9914 datasheet, actually it's a paperback book, has a wealth of information on what's really going on inside the chip.

It's much easier to build a pass-thru and use the computer to generate the commands.

If you only need to control one instrument, you don't even need the chip. And you'll also learn a lot as you try to figure out the TINY subset of GPIB that you have to implement.

I built a RS-232-GPIB translator out of a PIC16f877A and about three transistors for the RS-232 buffers. Oh, a crystal and two caps. It's not GPIB compliant (or RS-232 compliant either) by any stretch of the imagination...but it works. mike

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