[time-nuts] Prologix

[Steve Rooke]

This man said the P word without any form of apology :-)

73

2009/4/1 Ulrich Bangert <df6jb at ulrich-bangert.de>:
> Mike,
>
> I would like to second Brent's information: That is exactly how it is done.
> Talking to the Prologix interface and talking to the NI interface is
> COMPLETELY different in that talking to the Prologix always means
> straightforward serial communication while talking to the NI involves
> DLL-calls from the application.
>
> The Prologix is cheap and easy to work with, thats why some time nuts use
> it. The NI interface is on the other hand more expensive and more complex to
> handle (and yes, it does some things that are not easily done with the
> Prologix). The biggest advantage of the DLL-calls is: The same application
> works with whatever NI interface you use: Plug in card, USB devices,
> ethernet dvices, you name it. All work by the SAME dll calls, so your
> application is not specific for a interface device.
>
> I do not forget to advertise my own solution to GPIB programming named
> EZGPIB which talks to Prologix (both LAN and USB based) as well to NI
> interfaces and thanks supporting basic VISA even to GPIB interfaces of other
> suppliers.
>
> It uses an easy to learn PASCAL like script language that your friend might
> get used to in a snap. Basically, if your friend writes a EZGPIB based
> script to talk to his counter over the Prologix, you will be able to use the
> SAME script to talk to your 5335A via a NI interface. Nice feature? EZGPIB
> has got mentioned in April's 2008 issue of "Test & Measurement World". See
> the last link on my "About me" page
>
> http://www.ulrich-bangert.de/html/about_me.html
>
> EZGIPB can be downloaded for free from
>
> http://www.ulrich-bangert.de/html/downloads.html
>
> Best regards
> Ulrich, DF6JB
>
>> -----Ursprungliche Nachricht-----
>> Von: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com
>> [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] Im Auftrag von Brent Gordon
>> Gesendet: Dienstag, 31. Marz 2009 20:07
>> An: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
>> Betreff: Re: [time-nuts] Prologix
>>
>>
>> Mike Feher wrote:
>> > A friend has a 5335A counter and bought a Prologix adaptor
>> for it to
>> > collect data. He wrote the software and has had extremely good
>> > results. He offered to do the same for me utilizing my NI
>> adaptor so I
>> > could use it for my various counters. Unfortunately he ran into
>> > problems and feels he needs a special version of basic in order to
>> > make my $500 NI adaptor work. I admit to my total lack of
>> programming
>> > ability. I still use GWBASIC, and only to crunch heavy
>> numbers. I have
>> > no idea how to interface any software to communicate with an
>> > instrument, and, maybe am too old to want to learn as it
>> seems a lot
>> > of people do it on a regular basis already. If this becomes too
>> > difficult I may have to buy a Prologix unit from Abdul.
>> While I am all
>> > for doing that, and I bought my NI before Abdul had his
>> version going,
>> > I was also under the impression that if the Prologix can do
>> it the NI
>> > can do it, but, not necessarily the other way around. My friend
>> > mentioned API calls, whatever they are. Any suggestions?
>> Thanks - Mike
>> >
>> >
>> > Mike B. Feher, N4FS
>> > 89 Arnold Blvd.
>> > Howell, NJ, 07731
>> > 732-886-5960
>> >
>> Mike,
>>
>> You should have gotten the NI-488.2 CD with your GPIB card.
>> On that CD
>> are the dlls (Dynamic Link Libraries) to talk to the card.
>> You can use
>> the dlls in any language that supports dlls or ActiveX.
>> Sorry to say,
>> GWBASIC is not one of those languages.  Visual Basic 6 works well and
>> I've even done GPIB data acquisition directly into Excel using VBA
>> (Visual Basic for Applications, Excel's macro language).  VBA
>> is part of
>> Excel.  Alternatively, you can get a free Visual Basic Express at
>> http://www.microsoft.com/express/vb/  I haven't tried VB
>> Express, but I
>> think it will work.  Normally, I do all my GPIB programming
>> in LabVIEW.
>>
>> Brent
>>
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>
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-- 
Steve Rooke - ZL3TUV & G8KVD & JAKDTTNW
Omnium finis imminet