9 Jul
2004
9 Jul
'04
10:02 a.m.
I just picked up several dozen 6101x series PCIB instrument boxes
and was wondering if anyone knows anything about them? What I've
found so far is at:
http://www.sismilich.com/hpjrnl.htm
As usual, no interface card, software or power supplies.
I did also find a short description of PCIB. Not quite totally
unlike HPIB..
9 Jul
9 Jul
12:21 p.m.
Al,
To my understanding, these instruments use what was at one time called the "PC
instrument bus" per some HP literature below:
"IEEE488, the PC instrument bus, April 1990, p309 IEE488 or GPIB bus crosses
every application boundary..."
I'm very familiar with test equipment/gpib/etc. - and one thing that bothers
me about the 6101x gear is that LabView doesen't seem to support it - and
LabView supports just about every GPIB instrument I've ever come accross...
Let's discuss at the DCL if you'll be there tomorrow... Bring a
"sample" ;-)
Lyle
On Friday 09 July 2004 15:02, Al Kossow wrote:
I just picked up several dozen 6101x series PCIB
instrument boxes
and was wondering if anyone knows anything about them? What I've
found so far is at:
http://www.sismilich.com/hpjrnl.htm
As usual, no interface card, software or power supplies.
I did also find a short description of PCIB. Not quite totally
unlike HPIB..
--
Lyle Bickley
Bickley Consulting West Inc.
http://bickleywest.com
"Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
12:41 p.m.
Let's discuss at the DCL if you'll be there
tomorrow... Bring a "sample" ;-)
will do.. they're all in the back of the truck.
This is another reason why PC based test equipment is a Bad Thing.
Here are lots of nice digitizing scopes, power supplies, signal generators,
and DMMs that are totally useless because all of the UI was done through
a '86 vintage PC and a interface that never caught on.
I have a bunch of Biomation CLAS4000 logic analyzers that have the same
problem. They are SCSI, and the UI was written to run on Mac II's.
The list goes on and on.. Orion Unilabs, prom programmers, etc. etc..
1:57 p.m.
On Fri, Jul 09, 2004 at 05:41:42PM -0700, Al Kossow wrote:
This is another reason why PC based test equipment is
a Bad Thing.
Here are lots of nice digitizing scopes, power supplies, signal generators,
and DMMs that are totally useless because all of the UI was done through
a '86 vintage PC and a interface that never caught on.
I have a Northwest Instruments 68000 bus analyzer that has an IBM 5150
front end. I have to keep the PC working or it's useless. I don't even
know if it would work with a faster machine, but even then, I'd top out
at something with an ISA slot.
I'm equally stuck with my B&C Microsystems UP600A device programmer... It
does _not_ work with even a 25MHz '386. I'm sure there's a dumb timing loop
somewhere. I have theorized that it might work on a board that has a turbo
switch (with the switch set to non-turbo mode), and the bus turned down as
slow as the BIOS allows, but I've never sat down and run the necessary tests.
It's easier to keep a '286 around. It works on an 8MHz machine and that's
what matters most.
My question, though, is what's the alternative to PC-based test equipment?
Completely self-contained proprietary stuff?
-ethan
--
Ethan Dicks, A-130-S Current South Pole Weather at 10-Jul-2004 01:40 Z
South Pole Station
PSC 468 Box 400 Temp -97.5 F (-72.0 C) Windchill -139.4 F (-95.2 C)
APO AP 96598 Wind 10 kts Grid 055 Barometer 667.3 mb (11107. ft)
Ethan.Dicks(a)amanda.spole.gov http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html
12 Jul
12 Jul
6:33 a.m.
On 9 Jul 2004 at 15:02, Al Kossow wrote:
I just picked up several dozen 6101x series PCIB
instrument boxes and
was wondering if anyone knows anything about them?
Late 80s HP T&M catalogs have product descriptions and specifications for
these items. 10 pages in the 1988 catalog in front of me, for instance.
As usual, no interface card, software...
Looks like you would need the HP 61061C "PC Instruments Interface and
System Software for the HP Vectra PC, IBM PC/XT/AT, and AT&T PC 6300" to
make the system work. Or the HP 98647A "PC Instruments Interface and
System Software for the HP 9000 Series 200/300 computers."
...or power supplies.
The catalog describes the power supplies this way:
"PC Instruments consist of ten advanced instrumentation modules, each
with its own isolated power pack."
"Specifications: L = 4.33 in., W = 3.54 in., H = 2.54 in., weight =
1.91 lbs. Input voltage = 120 VAC, 25 VA max."
No output voltages listed, but they sound like wall warts from the specs.
-- Dave
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days inactive
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4 comments
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participants (4)
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aek＠spies.com -
dickset＠amanda.spole.gov -
jdbryan＠acm.org -
lbickley＠bickleywest.com