What code do I need to write, to communicate with another PC using GPIB, to retrieve data from a DAQ?

[MrB.]

Basically, I have a machine that is dedicated to controlling a chamber in my test lab. This machine has a DAQ that is monitoring an accelerometer for vibration measurements. This PC is also configured to control the temperature and vibration settings for the chamber, using a Thermotron 7800 controller.

I am trying to connect a test bench, with it's own PC, to the PC that is dedicated to the chamber. I have written the code to control the temp and vib settings, using the GPIB from the test bench, and connecting directly to the 7800 controller (bypassing the dedicated PC). Unfortunately, I can not monitor vib from the 7800 because it is being done using the DAQ. Therefore, I need to be able to connect to the dedicated PC, using GPIB, and retrieve the data from the DAQ.

What is the best solution? How do I address the dedicated PC, using GPIB?

[Dennis_Knutson]

There was an entry someplace on the Developer Zone about communicating between two pc's over a GPIB bus but I don't have the link handy. You could do a search yourself. Basically, what you have to do is set only one GPIB controller to be the controller in charge and write software for both pc's to read and write to the bus. For example, on the chamber pc, you would be monitoring the DAQ board and also doing a periodic GPIB read, waiting for the other computer to do a GPIB write, requesting data. When the read detects the correct command, your program on the dedicated pc whould then do a GPIB write and the program on the other computer would be doing a GPIB Read to get the information. This all gets a little tedious and if you have a program running on the dedicated computer to monitor the DAQ board, there are simpler ways to get the data to the other computer. If they are both on a network, then you can easily use Datasocket to publish the results. There are shipping examples on Datasocket,UDP,TCP/IP, Shared Vaiables (LV8), and other techniques.