pci expansion

[Donal Day]

I am considering a pci expanision product from SBS Technologies. Their
product consists of a pci card in the host computer, an expansion cable
(up to 25 feet), another pci card in the expansion backplane. They
report that it requires no drivers and allows the separation of the host
pc and the pci cards acquiring data.. This is what I am intersted it -
we have need to shield the host pc from radiation and magnetic field,
but want our acquisition cards near the data sources.

Has anyone ever used these products (or similar producats) ? Are they
transparent to your LabView code?

Can you direct me to a more appropriate newsgroup?

Thanks,

Donal Day

[Mark A. Hanning-Lee]

Donal Day wrote:
>
> I am considering a pci expanision product from SBS Technologies. Their
> product consists of a pci card in the host computer, an expansion cable
> (up to 25 feet), another pci card in the expansion backplane. They
> report that it requires no drivers and allows the separation of the host
> pc and the pci cards acquiring data.. This is what I am intersted it -
> we have need to shield the host pc from radiation and magnetic field,
> but want our acquisition cards near the data sources.
>
> Has anyone ever used these products (or similar producats) ? Are they
> transparent to your LabView code?

Consider also the National Instruments MXI-3 product, which works in a
similar way. Search http://www.ni.com/products/ for MXI-3.

They
seem to mainly use it for controlling PXI or VXI systems, but I
believe that it can also be used between 2 PCI systems.

I haven't used it, but it claims to be transparent to all applications,
and seems to be popular. I know that other companies have used it on an
OEM basis for their systems.

Mark

[srm@viewpointusa.com]

We have used the MXI products with success. Most recently the MXI-3 with fiberoptic connection from PCI to PXI. "It just works".
Stu

[nealpederson]

Another option is to use a second computer and connecting via Ethernet.
NI-DAQ has a utility called RDA (Remote Data Access) which allows you to
easily setup a server on the remote computer. Once you connect to that
computer with NI-DAQ on the local computer the DAQ boards look like they are
on the same computer and no changes need to be made to you're LabVIEW code.
This option doesn't provide the same throughput as a PCI bridge but I have
consistantly acquired 200kSa/sec data across just a 10MBPS Ethernet link.
One advantage to using Ethernet is that you can inexpensively use a fiber
optic Ethernet brige to give you complete isolation. Another advantage is
that you can have multiple computers sharing the same data acquisition
boards.

Best Regards,



Neal P
ederson, President, VI Control Systems

1923 Mendius Lane, Los Alamos, NM 87544

TEL: (505) 662-1461, FAX: (866) 422-2931

np@vicontrols.com, www.vicontrols.com



"Donal Day" wrote in message
news:3BE025DD.9A4A12F9@virginia.edu...
> I am considering a pci expanision product from SBS Technologies. Their
> product consists of a pci card in the host computer, an expansion cable
> (up to 25 feet), another pci card in the expansion backplane. They
> report that it requires no drivers and allows the separation of the host
> pc and the pci cards acquiring data.. This is what I am intersted it -
> we have need to shield the host pc from radiation and magnetic field,
> but want our acquisition cards near the data sources.
>
> Has anyone ever used these products (or similar producats) ? Are they
> transparent to your LabView code?
>
> Can you direct me to a more appropriate newsgroup?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Donal Day
>