anatech

[code2zero]

That's an excellent, excellent idea Bob. I concur with this and would recommend it to Chris as well, assuming he has a copy of Excel.

Chris, the language support of this card for Visual Basic (among others) is in the file "LZF826GPIB_440F.EXE" on this page. It's in the "Windows version GPIB Communication Driver API-GPIB(98/PC)" section. I can't seem to link to the file directly, as it has some funny characters in the link name that this forum's software doesn't like. For some strange reason, running the executable does not actually install the software, rather it just unzips the setup file to the temp directory of c:. To install it, run the C:\TEMP\APIPAC\GPIB\Disk1\setup.exe. There's another setup.exe in another subdirectory of temp that's created, but it seems to just uninstall any previously installed software and reinstall a subset of the software. That setup.exe is in C:\TEMP\APIPAC\RUNTIME\GPIB\Disk1 and you should avoid running it.

Also, I have a PDF file of an Excel Visual Basic programming tutorial. It's very well written and does not assume any prior programming experience. If you'd like a copy, send me an email and I'll give you a link to where it is. It is for Excel 2003.

Once the software is installed, you should see some VB examples in C:\Program Files\CONTEC\API-PAC(W32)\GPIB\Samples\VB6. Unfortunately I can't try these, as the card is required. But I can help you get these to work with Excel VBA (Visual Basic for Applications).

Hi andy_c,

Can you please email me the MS excel VB tutorial at code2zero@gmail.com?

~kk

 

[anatech]

Hi Guys,
Thanks!

I've been too restless to read, or do anything much except for pacing around. Sitting here right now is difficult because I have the feeling I need to get up an walk around.

So far, I have downloaded the suggested programs. I need a clear head when I install them or they will be forgotten. Just printed out the "HP-GL/2" article for later reading. Somehow the computer monitor is much more difficult to retain knowledge from for me, and always has been. Thank you Jack.

Keith, I'll bookmark the C++ page. I am determined to learn and use some flavour of C. I'll be coding Microchip micro controllers too some day. A promise I made myself.

-Chris

 

[anatech]

Hi P-A,

Chris, no offence but why aren't americans best in the world when it comes to safety?

No, I don't think so. I would have to disagree with that statement. Besides, I am Canadian. We are very close to Americans, but also to Europeans in our views and actions. I suspect that Canadians may be more reckless on an individual basis, but not as a country as far as how we as a whole behave. There are many and major differences between the way Canadians and Americans think. Even to where in Canada you pick someone to examine. No good or bad, just different.

Chris, about lights, question: In sun shine with a dark background and also a grey or dark car: When you do see the car if the lights are off?

Yes, no problem. Worked fine for years. Also, if you saw headlights, you knew an emergency vehicle was coming. A single light was a motorcycle. Now you can't tell. I am under the impression that our newer drivers are pretty stunned too. No common sense and they don't tend to follow the etiquette of driving at all. In a word, selfish. We have many needless accidents these days. They are caused by people who don't understand how dangerous it is not to pay attention on the road. Cell phones are but a small part of the same problem. Driving should never be a right, it's a privilege for those who perform the task well.

When do you see the car if the lights are on?

Yes, but now it looks like everything else. May as well put flashing lights on all vehicles next. It's safer - right?

Answer the same question with motorcycles. Why is it important to see the difference between a motorcycle and a car?

Motorcycles are at a distinct disadvantage in an accident. They are also small with drivers tending to wear dark colours. You can't always see them. Add poor judgment to that by weaving in and out of traffic and the motorcyclist is a goner. With our current load of comatose drivers, everyone gets creamed these days. Motorcycles used lights to draw attention to the fact that they were there. Same for emergency vehicles.

We were instructed to turn our lights on if we were rushing someone to a hospital. As it happened, I had to do exactly that when my father was having a heart attack in the late 70's. High speed with lights on cleared the way on the highway. This would not happen today. I was told that if my father was much longer to arrive to the hospital, he would have died. He died two summers ago of cancer, having survived the heart attack.

Airbags, expensive? Haven't all cars airbags in the US?

Having airbags go off can make a car not worth repair with your insurance company. We have had a few people killed by airbags too. An airbag has never deployed in any accident I've had since they came in. I've been hit a number of times.

My viewpoint is unpopular. I like large cars or light trucks. They have an external crumple zone. Drivers put too much stock in their airbags and crumple zones. They still die in large numbers as a result. Without them, we took far more care on the road.

You mean you don't see which side of the road the car/bike is driving on?

No, not always. Our roads are often hilly with curves. It is very hard to judge where a vehicle is exactly. Add to that the fact that we tend to drive 10 ~ 20 Km above the speed limit as a population and you can imagine why you really can't be 100% sure.

No offense taken PerAnders. Your question has merit and my viewpoint may not be shared by many. I've spent most of my life driving here and there. My opinions are based on experience driving in Canada.

Keith,
Gave up the motorbike over 20 years ago. Too darn dangerous! It's the other drivers, not the road conditions.

-Chris

 

[jan.didden]

Hi Chris,

Interesting things you are doing with that GPIB equipment. Some time ago I bought (very cheap from a guy who didn't really realize what he got I think) a Neutrik real time audio analyzer, the RT-1M. Fully controlled over IEEE, which I think is fully compatible with GPIB. So far, I got a PCI IEEE card running and recognizing the Neutrik (the card cost more than the unit!). Trying to run the unit in self-test mode, so far no success, but I will be following your progres.

You mentioned microchip controllers. I have been using them for many years, programming in assembler. Last year I bought Flowcode from www.matrixmultimedia.com. This is a fantastic piece of software, written for microchip and other controllers like Atmel. You basically design your program by putting together icons on the screen in a flowchart, and the software then compiles it to C, then to assembler and then to a hex file you can download. It also has a lot of peripheral parts you can connect like LCD displays, RS232, memory, LEDs, switches, I2C etc and it simulates the whole thing on-screen, so you can debug it before compiling. And all without having to write a single line of code. I think it cuts down my development time by 80-90%. Worth taking a look at. Originally developed for educational purposes but now taking industry by storm.

Jan Didden

 

[jackinnj]

Hi Chris,

Interesting things you are doing with that GPIB equipment. Some time ago I bought (very cheap from a guy who didn't really realize what he got I think) a Neutrik real time audio analyzer, the RT-1M. Fully controlled over IEEE, which I think is fully compatible with GPIB. So far, I got a PCI IEEE card running and recognizing the Neutrik (the card cost more than the unit!). Trying to run the unit in self-test mode, so far no success, but I will be following your progres.

You basically design your program by putting together icons on the screen in a flowchart, and the software then compiles it to C, then to assembler and then to a hex file you can download.
Jan Didden

Jan:

All Boonton 1120/1121/1130's are programmable over the GPIB, so is my HP3586B Selective Level Receiver, HP3577A Network Analyzer, 5334 Counter -- I believe Tegram made the SG5010 and PG5010 for Tektronix -- these fit into a TM5006 mainframe and the devices are programmable as well.

The HP computers which will talk directly to these devices are of the 900 series and can be found in the vintage computing equipment section of Ebay. I don't have space for one of them!

Softwire was another program in which you connected icons to layout your idea -- the functionality was enormous, as you had database management, communications, filter functions, signal generator, graphing, etc., etc. I use the past tense as the company which owned Softwire was itself acquired by National Instrument == why the anti-trust folks in the U.S. allowed this is beyond me. Basically Softwire was too competitive with Labview, and they gave the program away with Measurement Computing devices. Softwire was for VB. Double clicking an icon would write the code into the

Here's a screen shot for the GPIB program to control an HP34401:

http://www.tech-diy.com/GPIB/34401_Prog.gif

I have been enjoying your articles in AX, particularly liked the pix of the gals at SEAS --- they must have thought that this Dutch Air Force guy was going to ask them out!

 

[jan.didden]

[snip]I have been enjoying your articles in AX, particularly liked the pix of the gals at SEAS --- they must have thought that this Dutch Air Force guy was going to ask them out!

Thanks, but I couldn't possibly date shareholders of the company I was writing about 😉

Jan Didden

 

[jan.didden]

Jan:
All Boonton 1120/1121/1130's are programmable over the GPIB, so is my HP3586B Selective Level Receiver, HP3577A Network Analyzer, 5334 Counter -- I believe Tegram made the SG5010 and PG5010 for Tektronix -- these fit into a TM5006 mainframe and the devices are programmable as well.
[snip]

Yes, that HP 3577A is great! The outfit where I often buy test equipment has one for 3k euro, a bit too steep for me.

Here is a screen shot of flowcode, a piece of logic to detect if and how long the user presses a button.

Jan

 

[jackinnj]

Hi Guys,
Thanks!

I've been too restless to read, or do anything much except for pacing around. Sitting here right now is difficult because I have the feeling I need to get up an walk around.

So far, I have downloaded the suggested programs. I need a clear head when I install them or they will be forgotten. Just printed out the "HP-GL/2" article for later reading. Somehow the computer monitor is much more difficult to retain knowledge from for me, and always has been. Thank you Jack.

Keith, I'll bookmark the C++ page. I am determined to learn and use some flavour of C. I'll be coding Microchip micro controllers too some day. A promise I made myself.

-Chris

chris -- do you have an HP3585A manual yet ? -- I know that with the HP3577 you can extract data points at specific frequencies and bandwidth -- put this data into an array, dump it into Excel and graph.

Ulrich's program is written in Pascal -- something which my kids took in high school --

I am compiling some code for the device -- here are the alphanumeric instructions:

http://www.tech-diy.com/TestEquipment/SpectrumAnalyzers/HP3577/HP3577.htm

 

[anatech]

Hi Jack,
I just saw this thread again. Totally forgot about it!

I do have the 3585A manual, but it's a PDF file or three. I have difficulty keeping what I learn on a computer screen. A book is better for some reason. They want way too much for the printed manuals these days.

I am using an Agilent program to capture screens. It's clunky and has problems. I'm going to have to wait until I get a little better to make sense out of these things.

Hi Jan,
I'm going to have to check that out! Thank you very much for the link!

-Chris

 

[VibrantNDT]

GPIB for HP3577A

I've just got a Prologix GPIB USB adapter, and can't get it talking to my 3577A - from some aspects it appears to connect (using Jim's ke5fx tools), but others it doesn't. I just want to dump graphics and x/y plot data.

any advice?
Thanks,
LMJ

Chris:

Take a look at www.ke5fx.com -- Jim's another ham radio operator and has written a program called 7470.exe -- which will allow you to simulate the HP7470 pen-plotter on an HP3585.

I use an HP3577 network analyzer and have only started to write to it -- the manual has several code examples and I would imagine that the HP3585 manual does as well. I also have an Tektronix AA5010, SG5010 which all talk via the GPIB -- so does the Boonton 1120 THD Analyzer. I will probably be able to write a program to test flatness versus the RIAA curve, and isolate noise from THD, etc., etc.

 

[jackinnj]

Re: GPIB for HP3577A

I've just got a Prologix GPIB USB adapter, and can't get it talking to my 3577A - from some aspects it appears to connect (using Jim's ke5fx tools), but others it doesn't. I just want to dump graphics and x/y plot data.

any advice?
Thanks,
LMJ

Got a manual ? -- all the directives are in there.

Did you use the tools to configure the Prologix adapter correctly? You should first get it talking to the computer, then play around with the codes to set parameters until you are comfortable programming the HP3577, or anyother GPIB-HPIB instrument. John (KE5FX) has some routines for the HP3577.

Ulrich Bangert's EZ-GPIB http://ulrich-bangert.de/html/downloads.html

I wonder where Janneman is in programming his.

 

[anatech]

Hi Jack,
I'm still using the Agilent software with the 3585A add-in. The card is Contec PCI GP1B standard interface. It seems to work fine. Even the bus scan worked in finding the 3585A.

Will "Intuilink" from Agilent talk to the 3577A? It might, and I see Agilent's screen capture program, =3577A&cc=CA&lc=eng&sm=g]Agilent Screen Capture 2.0. Just try the link and download the program.

I had to load drivers for the GP1B card into windows before any program would work. After than, everything seemed to be able to connect just fine.

Good luck on this. Mind you, Jan will probably come up with something pretty cool. I wonder if he wants to examine how Agilent did it as a guide?

-Chris

 

[jackinnj]

Mind you, Jan will probably come up with something pretty cool. I wonder if he wants to examine how Agilent did it as a guide?

-Chris

I wrote a routine for the 3577 which set the 0dB response value at 1kHz, then used a table to compare the 1/8th 8vo values to look at the RIAA curve. I don't know where I put the program -- probably on some thumb-drive which the XYL has in her possession.

 

[anatech]

Hi Jack,
Nifty application!

It would serve as a good model to work from for other things.

That was creative sir! Good going.

-Chris

 

[VibrantNDT]

rookie....

I don't think I can get my device listening. I can use the Prologix Configurator or hyperterminal to talk to the adapter/controller, but nothing beyond that.

I had to turn off 'Read After Write', because the 3577A was spewing some kind of data over the connection, even when it's not sweeping/plotting/saving etc....

Maybe the Spoll command works, but it returns such a wide variety of responses that I think it might just be reading me whatever data is spewing out.

I also don't see the 'LISTEN' led on the front of the instrument go on, and see no way to set it to that mode from the instrument itself. I have a 'TALK ONLY' option that I set to OFF (which extinguishes the TALK led), but I can't seem to get REMOTE or LISTEN to come on.

I have attempted to send commands from the Prologix.exe interface, using the syntax in the 3577A Operations Manual, but cannot get any valid looking response. A 'read eoi' command in hyperterminal opens the gates for the constant spew, and the 'Read' button in Prologix.exe causes the program to hang and crash. These both happen regardless of 'TALK ONLY' setting on instrument.

If anyone is patient enough to make suggestions, I'm happy to try them.
THANKS!

 

[anatech]

Hi LMJ,
Have you tried the software from the link I posted?

You may run into trouble with the USB to serial port software, but from what I read on the Prologix web site the adapter should work fine. What you might need to do is point the KE5FX (or other) software to the correct serial port. The fact that it's a virtual port might be an issue.

-Chris

Edit: Use Labview compatibility. I think I did that with mine when installing the driver.

 

[jackinnj]

Re: rookie....

I don't think I can get my device listening.

I don't know if you're using C or VB or HP-Basic to talk to your machine. Some code would be helpful.

If you are using 7470.exe you have to put the 3577 to talk only mode.

 

[VibrantNDT]

Agilent software - cannot 'Find Ports' to connect to instrument. GPIB address according to instrument is 11. Prologix Adapter/Controller responds at address 11. Agilent defaults to 17 - but doesn't find anything there, or when I change to GPIB::11. Do I need to change the instrument to 17? maybe I'll try that....

Language to communicate -
I guess I'm trying instrument BASIC, because those are the examples in the Operation Manual for the 3577.

So - in Prologix, I have tried ++REMOTE 7 or REMOTE 7 (same with LISTEN, and trailing 711), and get no apparent response (no LED's light, I guess, because if it really were in LISTEN mode it wouldn't reply with anything.) These all yield 'unrecognized command' (From the controller? how do I pass them through?)

This is from hyperterminal, instrument with TALK ONLY OFF, and the instrument not actively sweeping. I understand that these are commands to the controller, not to the instrument, but cannot determine an effective syntax/means of passing them to the instrument.
++ver
Prologix GPIB-USB Controller version 6.1
++auto 0 [no apparent response]
++addr
11
++addr 10
++addr
10
++addr 11
++addr
11
++read eoi [no apparent response]
++read
>>>46>>4>>>>>>>>>>6>>>>>6~6>>66>>46>6>44>6>>>>>>6>>>>4>>~4>66>46>>>>4
66466>>0>666>6>>6466>4>666>64>>4>>>6>6>>>>6~6664>6>>6>>
644>>6>>664>~6>>6~6>4>6464>>>644>>>4>6>>666>6~>>>6~>6>~>46>>6~646~
>66>6>>>>~~66>>6666>>6>>66>>>>66>0>66~>>>4~66>6>>>66>>>66>6>>66>>>>466> [repeats forever]

 

[anatech]

Hi VibrantNDT,

Agilent software - cannot 'Find Ports' to connect to instrument

That's what I figured.

GPIB address according to instrument is 11.

Good so far ...

Prologix Adapter/Controller responds at address 11.

The adapter is at address 11, and the 3577A as well? If so, you can not do that. Each address must be different.

Agilent defaults to 17 - but doesn't find anything there

Well, it can't "see" the port. Don't expect to get anything intelligent or any communication until you get that port recognized.

Do I need to change the instrument to 17? maybe I'll try that....

No! Either leave the instrument at address 11, or another vacant address.

Something tells me the driver for you adapter is not configured properly. Absolutely nothing is going to happen until you get the adapter set up properly. The big clue here is that the software can not find the port.

-Chris

 

[VibrantNDT]

The adapter is at address 11, and the 3577A as well? If so, you can not do that. Each address must be different.

ok - so I'm confused about this. It looks like the prologix configurator says that if I want to use it as a controller, that I set the address to that of the device I want to control (11). But as you suggested, I changed it (to 10). But now when I open the configurator it's defaulting to 'device' at address 10 (rather than 'controller' as it was when I 'updated the .ini' file, or was addressing it when I initially changed it to 10). How is this supposed to work?

I got one plot !!! using the 7470.exe emulator to work this morning (I'd tried to do this previously, and it hadn't ever worked before), but when I changed the settings on the 3577 (to show something I was actually interested in), now I can't get anything to work again. I've tried repeating everything, and I just see the same things I did before (endless 'data transfer' of plot, with no resulting data), etc....