Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!purdue!gatech!prism!bb16
From: bb16@prism.gatech.EDU (Scott Bostater)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: IEEE-488 Interface?
Summary: IEEE488 -> LabEquipment
Message-ID: <2779@hydra.gatech.EDU>
Date: 25 Oct 89 19:27:40 GMT
References: <8910250801.AA04854@euler.Berkeley.EDU>
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology
Lines: 32

In article <8910250801.AA04854@euler.Berkeley.EDU>, ndeng@EULER.BERKELEY.EDU writes:
> 
> I heard some peripherals use an "IEEE-488 interface" instead of RS232 serial
> or Centronics parallel. What is it? Is this interface compatible to RS232?
> Do I need to buy a special card for this interface in case I have a device
> to use on my pc? Wher can I get the card? any recommendations?

IEEE-488, GP-IB, and HP-IB all refer to an interface standard that is used
primarily by lab equipment. It allows a computer (bus controller) to 
communicate with O-scopes, multimeters, spectrum analyizers, etc. Other non-
typical lab equipment would include printers and plotters. The purpose of
the bus is to help automate experiments by providing a standard interface to
almost lab equipment.

The bus has nothing to do with RS232. It is an eight bit parallel bus 
utilizing a 3-wire handshake protocol. A large percentage of lab equipment
that has a IEEE-488 interface will also allow for RS232 communication, 
however, this would normally only work with 1 piece of equipment. The 
IEEE-488 bus allows up to 32 different pieces of equipment to be on the bus
at one time. The 3-wire handshake means that the bus is slower than a standard
parallel card (and totaly incompatible), the bus essentially runs at the 
speed of the slowest active device on the bus.

Yes, you will need to buy a special card to use the IEEE-488. Metrabyte sells
two diffent cards in the $200-$400 range. Data Translation, National 
Instruments, and others also sell them. As far as recommendations go, I own a
Metrabyte card and haven't tried any of the others so I can't really comment.
-- 
Scott Bostater      GTRI/RAIL/RAD   (Ga. Tech)
"My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him"  -Ps 62.1
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