Recommendations for debugging test equipment through GPIB interface.

Hello all, I'm looking for recommendations for debugging test equipment through their GPIB interface. I'm just getting started in the field of test equipment repair, (after having been a tech for over 20 years, but

*no* GPIB experience) and have found that some equipment will only respond to test diagnostics through their GPIB port. For example, I have a number of HP 3457A DMM's where the power on self test fails. In the (50MB!)service manual
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(pg 8-36 and 8-37), it states that a ERR? command or an AUXERR? command must be sent to the DMM in order to retrieve a bitmask of what test actually failed.

I currently have no GPIB hardware or software, but have taken a look at National Instruments who have both a USB and a PCI based GPIB card which I suppose come with drivers.

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Is this all I need to get a simple terminal-like interface which will enable me to communicate with the meter? Looking through the docs on these two devices tell me nothing but how to install the hardware, not how to use them. I don't want to have to fork over $1000 or more for a sophisticated program like Labview (and have a huge learning curve to learn the software!) when all I need is a simple user interface similar to Hyperterminal or some such. My programming skills are practically nil, unless you count simple BASIC stuff... (And I mean VERY simple - hey, I'm a hardware guy!)

Thank you for any help or recommendations, I really appreciate it.

Reply to
JW
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Go with the HP card and drivers. Still not cheap for a PCI card. Which leaves ebay for an older card using the AT interface and maybe DOS or Win95 and a bit of ingenuity. Go digging through the HP website and you may find the drivers for this stuff. Haven't used any of this stuff in years, and when I did it was seriously buried.

Andrew

Reply to
Andrew Tweddle

Sounds like you'll be doing some very basic HPIB work. Consider getting an old HP-85 computer. These have HPIB, a monitor, keyboard, printer, and BASIC language built in. Nice small package as well. Been using mine for years. Be sure to get the books.

Steve

Reply to
Steve

On Tue, 01 May 2007 05:54:28 -0400, JW put finger to keyboard and composed:

Make your own serial to GPIB converter?

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- Franc Zabkar

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Reply to
Franc Zabkar

Hi,

Even easier ... apart from Steve's idea with the HP-85, I would suggest to get some old PC with an ISA slot, plus an ISA-slot GPIB card such as the HP82335 (which you can get *much* cheaper than any PCI card today).

Install Linux on the PC, install the linux-gpib package, and off you go :-) If you need some sample code - command line only, no GUI involved - feel free to have a look at my website (link below).

In my home "lab", I'm using such a setup on a P-II (recently replaced by a P-III, whew!) for several years now, and it has all the functionality that I need to read out several DMMs, control a power supply, etc.

Cheers + HTH,

- Joerg

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joerg dot hau at swissonline dot ch * Lausanne, Switzerland 
http://homepage.sunrise.ch/mysunrise/joerg.hau/
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Reply to
Joerg Hau

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