Is the NI PCI GPIB Card from a PC exactly the same as one for a PCI Mac?

[HondoHonda]

I'm assuming a PCI card is a PCI card regardless of operating system. I do know that the software for the computer is different obviously., but is the firmware on the card the same as well?

[DiegoF]

Hi,

It is the same hardware. The PCI-GPIB card do not have firmware, all the control is done by the driver. The driver needs to be different to work with the requirements of each OS.

DiegoF
National Instruments.

[DiegoF]

Hi,

I have to make a correction. NI just released the PCI-GPIB based on the new TNT5004 ASIC.

The PCI-GPIB kits for Windows now have these TNT5004-based boards. These new boards are not supported by the Mac driver. The old TNT4882C-based board are supported in both platforms.

DiegoF
National Instruments.

[sth]

But your own catlog refutes this. See
< http://sine.ni.com/apps/we/nioc.vp?cid=5310〈=US> this is listed as compatbilt with OS 9! Are they register level compatible? Which is compatible with PCI-X slots?

[sth]

This is a little out of date, but I found this looking for some other info. This is not true, there is Firmware on the PCI-GPIB card. In fact, I had to move all the cards into a PeeCee and run a Firmware update program to update the cards to handle a dual processor Mac. If the cards "do not have firmware" then what was I updating with the firmware update?

I think there is "firmware" on all PCI cards that have basic identification and timing info.

[sth]

As a final followup, I have gotten the new TNT/5004 cards and with small modifications of my driver code, it now seems to function with my old G4 and OS X 10.3.X. Since they are electrically compatible with the G5 then they should function there as well when my new machines arrive. The drivers are free and available at <>