TSD210

[pyrrhias]

 Hi,

I am not a specialist in interface. I have an oscilloscop tektronix TDS210  and Labview  8.51. I should connect this instrument to my laptop by USB. The cheapest way is to connect it by the port RS232 but I don't if it works and I don't know the driver  to use. The another way is to buy a GPIB card but it is expensive. May a guru can me explain the difference between the two method and help me to choose the best one. I need to capture the oscillogram todo mathematical calculation.

Thanks

Bruno

[Dennis_Knutson · Accepted solution]

There are two different LabVIEW drivers here. I would suggest that you start with the first one - the project style driver. Download it and unzip the driver to your LabVIEW\instr.lib folder. After restarting LabVIEW, the driver functions should appear on your Instrument I/O>Instrument Driver palette and you will have some example VIs in your Example Finder. On the main Instrument Driver Network page, there are several links that explain what a driver is and how to use it.

The biggest difference between a GPIB and serial connection is going to be the speed of data transfer. The max speed of a GPIB connection is 1MB/sec (though actual mileage may vary). I don't know what baud rates the scope supports but it will probably have a max of 115.2KB. 

You will need NI-VISA installed and before using the driver, if you use a serial connection, you should debug the com settings and your serial cable in MAX (Measurement & Automation Explorer) or with the Windows Hyperterminal application.With the scope connected, you can type *IDN? and you should get some identify information back from the scope.