E2050 - how to communicate to this hpib/lan gateway?

[dougshade]

I have an HP E2050 HPIB/LAN gateway on the net, but I can not figure out how to get MAX or LabView to talk to the thing... Ideas anyone? Thank You,
Stuck in the Gate Newbie

[JohnM 64]

Hi Doug,

Because Measurement and Automation Explorer is a utility designed to configure National Instruments hardware, third party devices will not normally appear in this environment. However, you should be able to communicate with this device from LabVIEW. Here is a link to an article from the National Instruments website on communicating with HPIB boards from LabVIEW:

Knowledge Base 20KCIS7Z: How Can I Use an HPIB Board with LabVIEW or CVI?

Also, if the HPIB device is VXI-11 compliant (an industry standard protocol for controlling GPIB over ethernet), then you may be able to use the following method to communicate with the device:

Knowledge Base 2Q2E1UPG: Using 3rd-Party Ethernet-Based GPIB Devices with the Measurement and Autom...


I hope this information will get you started on your application. Have a great day.

John M

[LesHammer]

> I have an HP E2050 HPIB/LAN gateway on the net, but I can not figure out how to get MAX or LabView to talk to the thing

The E2050 is now an Agilent Technologies product. While it speaks with industry standard protocols, it may be easiest to deal with it using the Agilent I/O libraries - which NI MAX can tap into.

First, I assume that you have NI VISA installed. It may be best to get the latest version before you continue.

Now install the latest Agilent I/O libraries in the side-by-side mode (this will leave NI intact).
Now use Agilent IO Libraries - I/O Config to configure a VISA LAN Client (ex 5810). Important, do NOT select ASRL LAN Client.
(If you do not know the address, do a hard reset to get it to 192.0.0.192 and do a "route add" so
that your computer can get to this address.) (Do you have the manual that explains this?)
You should be able to ping and telnet to this address from the "DOS" prompt.

Also, the default SICL name for the E2050 is hpib. You must either change the name on this form to hpib, or in the E2050 to match today's standard of gpib0.
Note that there is a difference between the SICL Name and the GPIB card number - even though they both say "GPIB." The E2050 is really another computer that has an hpib/gpib card in it (this is the SICL Name, and it's either hpib or gpib0, even if you have another GPIB0 card in your computer). Your computer is using it as a GPIB card, and calls it GPIBx, where x might be 0 or another number.

Now go to NI MAX, VISA Options and turn on NIVisaTulip.dll. This allows NI to use the Agilent IO cards.

Once you set up the E2050 like this, it should appear as any other GPIB card. (Some older versions of NI MAX will not list the card, but NI LabVIEW can use the
GPIB addresses.)

Les.Hammer@CompleteTest.com

[LesHammer]

> Also, if the HPIB device is VXI-11 compliant

It is VXI-11 compliant

Les

[Ton]

dougshade wrote:
> I have an HP E2050 HPIB/LAN gateway on the net, but I can not figure
> out how to get MAX or LabView to talk to the thing... Ideas anyone?
> Thank You,
> Stuck in the Gate Newbie

He,

i don't know the e2050 but i tried something similar with a network
analyser with lan and gpib/hpib connector. Direct from Max to the gpib
port didn't work with the tulip passport which you should use according
to HP/Agilent.
Then we used an Agilent program that overtook the VISA from MAX and it
worked good. Maybe you should look at www.agilent.com

ton

[Thomas Overstolz]

For all those who are not so familiar with programming: once you have configured everything according to Les' instructions, and you want to run a LabView vi, do not forget to change the resource name syntax in your vi! Typical resource name syntax in the case you have a PCI GPIB card in your computer is

GPIBx::y::INSTR

where x is the board index number (usually 0) and y is the GPIB address of the instrument. When you use now the Agilent E2050 or E5810 LAN/GPIB Gateway, you have to change the resource name in your LabView vi to something similar like

TCPIPx::IP Address of E2050::gpib0,y::INSTR

gpib0 must be identical to the name attributed in the field "hpib-name" in the E2050 configuration panel, and to the name specified in the Agilent IO Config "Remote SICL Interface Name" field.