Keithley USB-GPIB does not work with LabView

[millepede]

Hi,

I just installed LabView 8. I am trying to do data acquisition using a Keithley GPIB-USB device (KUSB-488). I installed the device using the Keithley GPIB 488 driver version 9.0 (http://www.keithley.com/products/ieee488/?path=KUSB-488A/Downloads). During installation it asked me to remove NI-488.2 because it was incompatible with the Keithley driver. I did this and successfully installed the Keithley driver. Now the GPIB-USB board is working fine. It shows up as a GPIB interface in windows device manager and I can communicate with my instruments using python.
However, Labview does not see the GPIB board. Measurement and automation explorer also only shows COM1 and LPT1 in the devices and interfaces tab. How do I get LabVIew to work with this device?

Thanks,
Anand

[Dennis_Knutson]

Keithley's web site says that they provide a driver compatible with LabVIEW. One bit of information on their web site says you have to select 'NI Support' when installing their driver. I don't know what that means. If they provide the option to install VISA, you should do that as well. The board may or may not show up in MAX. MAX is a utility from NI and is not designed for boards from other vendors. I would really recomend contacting Keithley as your best source for the correct method to install their board and software.

[Makoto]

I believe Keithley/CEC's KUSB-488 GPIB supports NI-VISA passport plug-in.  The following thread will help you.  Once NI-VISA has recognised your KUSB-488 card, NI-MAX will list GPIB instruments up.

http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=140&thread.id=24745&page=1

[millepede]

Thanks for the replies. I think the problem is with VISA. Earlier I was using python with the pyvisa libraries to communicate with the instruments (This was before installing LV 8). Now it seems I can't do it anymore. From the forum thread posted above, I see that I need to turn off VISA passport to communicate with the KUSB 488. I have no idea how to do that. Also the thread shows that the KUSB should show up in the VISA interactive control utility, which it doesn't. I still just see COM1 and LPT1. Please tell me how to turn off the passport thingy.

With LV7, I was able to clearly see the GPIB port. Could there be any conflict with the VISA drivers installed in LV8 with those present earlier? In my list of installed programs I see NI-VISA 3.4, NI-VISA 4.1 and NI-VISA server 3.4. Could this just be a stupid version conflict between 3.4 and 4.1.

Thanks a lot for the help

-Anand

[millepede]

I turned the NI-VISA Passport for GPIB "ON" instead of "OFF" as suggested in one of the posts (This option was OFF from the beginning). Now I can see the board in the VISA interactive test utility. Hopefully I will be able to communicate with it now. Thanks for all the help. I will post again if I run into any further troubles.

cheers :D,

Anand