Serial COM question

[John Cruz]

Platform: Windows/LV4.1 & LV5.1/digi ports (for multi ports)

Im just starting out labview and from reading the docs, it seems that VISA
suports only 32 serial ports to be opened. My application needs at most 92
ports to be opened at a single time. is there any way we can break this 32
ports boundaries?

John Cruz

[Johannes Niess]

"John Cruz" writes:

> Platform: Windows/LV4.1 & LV5.1/digi ports (for multi ports)
>
> Im just starting out labview and from reading the docs, it seems that VISA
> suports only 32 serial ports to be opened. My application needs at most 92
> ports to be opened at a single time. is there any way we can break this 32
> ports boundaries?
>
> John Cruz

John,

I'm a bit curious: Why do you need this huge number of serial ports?

I'm afraid that it is physically impossible on one computer: The
biggest serial cards I know have 16 ports each. You need at least one
interrupt per card = 6 _free_ interrupts.

I'd think of a small network of computers with serial cards and using
TCP/IP "ports".

Johannes Niess

[Helmut Hullen]

Hallo, Johannes,

Du meintest am 15.12.99 zum Thema Re: Serial COM question:

> I'm afraid that it is physically impossible on one computer: The
> biggest serial cards I know have 16 ports each. You need at least
> one interrupt per card = 6 _free_ interrupts.

It's possible. You need a special card which manages the ports.

Viele Gruesse!
Helmut

[John Cruz]

Johannes,

There's a third party multi-port adapter from DIGI international that we are
using to monitor 92 console ports from 1 PC. Hence, the driver only needs
one interrupt and the rest is purely transparent to our software... its just
like working with the ol' trusty basic serial COMs. Using a TCP/IP or
sockets to control multiple PC would complicate the whole thing. That;s the
reason we shift to LabView... to simplify the whole process. If were going
to do that setup, i'd rather go back to Visual C++ for more better control.

But still im hoping somebody would give me a definite answer whether it's
possible or not if it is, what's the alternative solution besides VISA.

TIA
John

Johannes Niess wrote in message ...
>"John Cruz" writes:
>

>> Platform: Windows/LV4.1 & LV5.1/digi ports (for multi ports)
>>
>> Im just starting out labview and from reading the docs, it seems that
VISA
>> suports only 32 serial ports to be opened. My application needs at most
92
>> ports to be opened at a single time. is there any way we can break this
32
>> ports boundaries?
>>
>> John Cruz
>
>John,
>
>I'm a bit curious: Why do you need this huge number of serial ports?
>
>I'm afraid that it is physically impossible on one computer: The
>biggest serial cards I know have 16 ports each. You need at least one
>interrupt per card = 6 _free_ interrupts.
>
>I'd think of a small network of computers with serial cards and using
>TCP/IP "ports".
>
>Johannes Niess

[rcdon]

John Cruz wrote:

> Platform: Windows/LV4.1 & LV5.1/digi ports (for multi ports)
>
> Im just starting out labview and from reading the docs, it seems that VISA
> suports only 32 serial ports to be opened. My application needs at most 92
> ports to be opened at a single time. is there any way we can break this 32
> ports boundaries?
>
> John Cruz

Are you talking about physical ports or are you maybe talking about daisy
chaining a lot of serial devices? Sounds like a LOT of ports!

Rod
--
Roderic Don
Research Associate II
University of Delaware
Center for Composite Materials
302-831-8352
302-831-8525 (FAX)
---------------------------------------------
"Stressed would mean that the pandemonium can be measured!"
- Scott "Scooter" Holmes

[John Cruz]

It is a physical port from DIGI (http://www.digi.com). This application
i'll be developing will monitor 92 boards all connected to this cascadable
DIGI box.

I don't like the idea of having that many ports to monitor but I was left
with no other choice. Hardware itself is not in question cause we already
have the setup working fine... we just need the software side to make it
work (if possible on labview.... if not its back to old vc++).

John

Roderic Don wrote in message <3857A64C.73CDBADF@ccm.udel.edu>...
>John Cruz wrote:
>
>> Platform: Windows/LV4.1 & LV5.1/digi ports (for multi ports)
>>
>> Im just starting out labview and from reading the docs, it seems that
VISA
>> suports only 32 serial ports to be opened. My application needs at most
92
>> ports to b
e opened at a single time. is there any way we can break this
32
>> ports boundaries?
>>
>> John Cruz
>
>Are you talking about physical ports or are you maybe talking about daisy
>chaining a lot of serial devices? Sounds like a LOT of ports!
>
>Rod
>--
>Roderic Don
>Research Associate II
>University of Delaware
>Center for Composite Materials
>302-831-8352
>302-831-8525 (FAX)
>---------------------------------------------
>"Stressed would mean that the pandemonium can be measured!"
> - Scott "Scooter" Holmes
>
>

[Chuck stewart]

Could you Mux. the ports? We have a similar problem but used an RS232
Multiplexer box with buffer(a home design by one of our hardware guroues )
to scan each port.

Chuck
John Cruz wrote in message <3858304e@newsgroups.ni.com>...
>It is a physical port from DIGI (http://www.digi.com). This application
>i'll be developing will monitor 92 boards all connected to this cascadable
>DIGI box.
>
>I don't like the idea of having that many ports to monitor but I was left
>with no other choice. Hardware itself is not in question cause we already
>have the setup working fine... we just need the software side to make it
>work (if possible on labview.... if not its back to old vc++).
>
>John
>
>Roderic Don wrote in message <3857A64C.73CDBADF@ccm.udel.edu>...
>>
John Cruz wrote:
>>
>>> Platform: Windows/LV4.1 & LV5.1/digi ports (for multi ports)
>>>
>>> Im just starting out labview and from reading the docs, it seems that
>VISA
>>> suports only 32 serial ports to be opened. My application needs at most
>92
>>> ports to be opened at a single time. is there any way we can break this
>32
>>> ports boundaries?
>>>
>>> John Cruz
>>
>>Are you talking about physical ports or are you maybe talking about daisy
>>chaining a lot of serial devices? Sounds like a LOT of ports!
>>
>>Rod
>>--
>>Roderic Don
>>Research Associate II
>>University of Delaware
>>Center for Composite Materials
>>302-831-8352
>>302-831-8525 (FAX)
>>---------------------------------------------
>>"Stressed would mean that the pandemonium can be measured!"
>> - Scott "Scooter" Holmes
>>
>>
>
>

[dan.mondrik@natinst.com]

>John Cruz wrote:
>
>I'm just starting out labview and from reading the docs, it seems that
> VISA suports only 32 serial ports to be opened. My application needs
> at most 92 ports to be opened at a single time. is there any way we
> can break this 32 ports boundaries?

John, I've got good news.

Using NI-VISA 2.01 (which comes with LV 5.1) you can access up to 128
ports. It just appears that we haven't updated the LV documentation.
We'll try to get that updated in the next version. And this should
work on any LV 5.1/NI-VISA 2.01 platform. By the way, if you're on
Win32, you'll need to go into T&M Explorer and delete the default
bindings ASRL10 and ASRL11 (which are bound to LPT1 and LPT2).

Dan Mondrik
Senior Software Engin
eer, VISA
National Instruments


Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

[John Cruz]

Thanks Dan for the verification. I'll take note on that ASRL10 & ASRL11
setup.

dan.mondrik@natinst.com wrote in message <83avru$1a1$1@nnrp1.deja.com>...
>
>>John Cruz wrote:
>>
>>I'm just starting out labview and from reading the docs, it seems that
>> VISA suports only 32 serial ports to be opened. My application needs
>> at most 92 ports to be opened at a single time. is there any way we
>> can break this 32 ports boundaries?
>
>John, I've got good news.
>
>Using NI-VISA 2.01 (which comes with LV 5.1) you can access up to 128
>ports. It just appears that we haven't updated the LV documentation.
>We'll try to get that updated in the next version. And this should
>work on any LV 5.1/NI-VISA 2.01 platform. By the way, if you're on

>Win32, you'll need to go into T&M Explorer and delete the default
>bindings ASRL10 and ASRL11 (which are bound to LPT1 and LPT2).
>
>Dan Mondrik
>Senior Software Engineer, VISA
>National Instruments
>
>
>Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
>Before you buy.