[time-nuts] Prologix GPIB-NET, HP 5370A, HP5334A problem?

wje wje at quackers.net
Wed Aug 27 18:12:02 EDT 2008


I just got one of the new networked GPIB controllers, and I've been 
having some issues. I'm not sure if it's the Prologix or the 
instruments, or both.

With the 5370A, I can get samples for some period of time ranging from 
about 2 to 4 hours before the GPIB controller stops responding. I 
suspect this one might be the 5370A -488 controller bug I've heard of. 
However, there is no way to recover without power-cycling the Prologix. 
Even if this is the 5370A, the Prologix should really have an 
asynchronous reset capability.

With the 5334A, I can get samples for as long as I want, no problem. 
However, if I set the 5334A to 'WA1' mode, which is supposed to wait 
until the counter is addressed before taking each sample, what happens 
is that I can read one value. Every successive read returns the same 
value; the 5334A never triggers for a new sample. Either I don't 
understand the behavior of WA1, although HP's sample program indicates 
that what I've described is proper, or there is some incompatibility 
between the Prologix and the 5334A.

Unfortunately, the documentation for the Prologix is scanty at best. 
There is no description of the actual IEEE-488 handshake process that's 
going on. For example, does the Prologix do an unlisten after a read? 
The HP docs seem to indicate that in WA1 mode, a sample starts when the 
5334A is addressed. So, if it's never unlistened, perhaps it never takes 
a new sample?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

-- 
Bill Ezell
----------
They said 'Windows or better'
so I used Linux.




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