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lutful
... of ideas
Premium Member
join:2005-06-16
Ottawa, ON

lutful to daveinpoway

Premium Member

to daveinpoway

Re: Inexpensive GPIB controller needed

said by daveinpoway:

This is strictly for hobbyist use, so the solution doesn't need to be something that will last for years under every-day use in a factory.

I just wanted to comment that some USB-GPIB interfaces have occasional compatibility problems. Unfortunately their drivers are also proprietary and vendors rarely update them. If you find a really cheap one from eBay and such, please check online for the manual and latest driver.

By the way Ethernet-GPIB converters are self-contained, can reach instruments 300ft from any Windows/Mac/Linux computer and you can even run them over WiFi. But they cost a bit more.

I notice Prologix Ethernet to GPIB is selling for $199 at Sparkfun (
»www.sparkfun.com/products/8841 ) which is $50 more than their USB model.
daveinpoway
Premium Member
join:2006-07-03
Poway, CA

daveinpoway

Premium Member

Yes, the articles I found also indicated that the Ethernet models are more expensive.
b10010011
Whats a Posting tag?
join:2004-09-07
united state

1 edit

b10010011 to lutful

Member

to lutful
said by lutful:

I just wanted to comment that some USB-GPIB interfaces have occasional compatibility problems. Unfortunately their drivers are also proprietary and vendors rarely update them. If you find a really cheap one from eBay and such, please check online for the manual and latest driver.

I have also found this to be true. Compatibility with programming software is also an issue. We use only National Instruments GPIB interfaces since we primarily program instruments with LabVIEW. While we have had various amounts of success using other brands there is always extra hoops to jump through and "issues" to deal with, while NI hardware is expensive it just works.

" it just works" is a trademark of Apple Incorporated