Is it possible to use NI-VISA 2.5 with Tektronix AD007 ENET-GPIB convertor

[Randy Solomonson]

If you want to convert Ethernet to GPIB, the GPIB-ENET/100 (#778209-01) works as a GPIB controller. It's available at ni.com/catalog

This product works great with NI-VISA 2.5.

[kozlov]

Unfortunately I have already got AD007 unit. In adition the same behaviour has Tekrtonix TDS3000 Oscilloscope with TDS3EM module. Therefore it is necessary for me to realize comunicating with AD007 unit

[whr]

Do you have additional experience meanwhile with the AD007 under LabView? I have to decide between the Tektronix and the NI gateway in the next days, and the NI product is 100% more expensive.

[MatthewSmith]

Hi whr,

I was wondering why you believe the National Instruments GPIB-ENET/100 is 100% more expensive than the Tektronix AD007? Both products list for $995, while the National Instruments GPIB-ENET/100 provides greater functionality, such as supporting 100BaseTX networks.

I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

Matthew Smith
Instrument Control Engineer
National Instruments

[whr]

Hi Matthew,

thank you for your kind response.

I have both offers here on my desk:

Tek AD007 incl. SW for multiple client PCs:
EUR 1,329.- -15% discount for EDU

NI Germany offer no 186556-1
ENET/100HW EUR 1,595.- -10% discount for EDU
NI-488.2 EUR 795,- -10% discount for EDU

This is about twice the price. I would be very happy if you could make me a better offer for the NI product which I would indeed prefer to buy.

Regards

Wolf-Henning Rech

[Ulysses]

I also would like an answer to the AD007 question rather than a sales pitch. I have one and could put it to good use in my lab.

[zep]

The following works under NI VISA 2.6 + MAX 2.2:

1. Run MAX and check NIVIENET.DLL/NIVI488.DLL under Tools/NI-VISA/Passport Editor.
2. Select View/Refresh (F5).
3. Right-click Devices and Interfaces and select Create New...
4. Select TCP/IP Resource and press Next.
5. Enter the AD007 IP address.
6. Select VXI-11 Instrument and enter gpib0,add as LAN Device Name, where add is the GPIB address of one equipment connected to AD007. Make sure that you're not using capitals on this step.
7. Press Test.

If works, you have yet another task: most configurations are saved on VISACONF.INI (on Win 2000 you'll find it under \VXIPNP\WINNT\NIVISA). Edit it (user Notepad) and find [ALIASES]. For each new device created you'll find an alias. For each alias there should b
e a Name under [TCPIP-RSRCS] so place cursor below SynchronizeAllVxi11 = 1 and:

1. Create Name0 = "TCPIP::AD007_ip_address::gpib0,add::INSTR"
2. Create Enabled0 = 1.
3. Increase NumOfResources.
4. Save the file.
5. Switch to MAX and select View/Refresh (F5).

If you don't run the above steps avoid refreshing (either manually or when you enter MAX); otherwise those resources will vanish from the configuration window.

Hope this works for you...

[Laserjet]

I tried the steps mentionned by zep but they don't exactly work. I'm using LabView6.1 and MAX2.2. I'm trying to connect a laptop to a Tektronix TDS724A using the AD007 LAN-GPIB adapter from Tektronix. The first part of the steps goes just fine. The test says it was able to open a visa connection to the device.
However, in MAX, when I open a communication with the device (I aliased it as "gpiblan"), and try to write something to it using the "Basic I/0" tab, it gives me an instant error BFFF003E VI_ERROR_IO. The same error occurs when I try to use the TDS VI in labview.

Zep, if you're still looking at this thread, would you be kind enough to reply or send me an email (fguisset AT softhome DOT net)? It's pretty urgent.

Thanks in advance,

-Fabian.

[Laserjet]

Ok it seems it works now... I have to write the labview program myself for the TDS724A, but I can establish a visa connection with the scope now.
The problem I had was that I was using
"gpib0,gpib1" as "add" parameter, instead of "gpib0,1".
Hope this helps other people.
I can confirm the tip works. Thanks a lot Zep, you saved me! 🙂