GPIB board drivers for Solaris

[Frithiof Andreas Jensen]

Nah - it was not the decision per se, it was the overall aloof snottyness of
the SUN representatives which left a lasting impression; one still see
traces of that in the way a new Java VM happily breaks legacy applications

that would be below the belt

Yeah, I didn't want to go there. Blaming us for not fixing bugs in
SunOS 4.x how many years later?

I did not blame anyone - i merely, even using the word "Irrational",
described the source of my personal loathing of SUN products.

.....

Quite separate from even mentioning the curse of the clunky, unstable,
several revison backwards, (ptuii)windows nt ports of Popular Tools such as
Rose RT that are afflicted by Corporate onto poor developers forced to run
the niche SUN hardware - been *there* too!

 

[Frithiof Andreas Jensen]

You obviously never worked for a company that viewed customers as
revenue streams or had to make a profit.

Obviously a very sweeping conclusion based on little information ...

This is fine as far as it goes and gives the MBA's an opportunity to spout
new verbiage on powerpoint and sound reel klever:

However The attitude it goes too far when it goes like this:

Customer: "We think there is a problem with your product, I need these
issues solved",
<long list of reproducible bugs - some with workarounds>
Business: "you need to upgrade to the next version of our $$$Product",
Customer: "fine, but before I do that, I need to know if that will solve
those issues, I just reported to you"
Business: "We can't tell you unless you also buy a Support Contract"..
Customer: "Will I get a refund, If you lie?"
Business: "Could I have your credit card number"
Customer: "Go #¤%& yourself"

Sun's decisions about SunOS 4 -> Solaris migration. Are there other
places in your life where you have trouble "letting go"?

Sure: Borland C++ was ejected on pretty much the same script way back in
Ver. 4.1.
... and never missed.

 

[Richard L. Hamilton]

Entirely not bad enough, apparantly:

Just a few months ago I wanted to License i.e. Pay Money For the SUN Java
Distributed Management Toolkit, so I emailed the sales support on the
corporate web page, being in Denmark and all one would need the local
representative.

Guess What - No Reply!!

Manking an *extreme* effort and looking up a local subsidiary, phoning the
guys, iterating through many departments whoms responsibility it was not and
finally "being called back".

Well, No Call Back, must not be worth the USD 5000.

No wonder they're not doing well if they won't even take your money...

 

[Casper H.S. Dik]

NI provides drivers for Windows and Linux and OS/X for free and
charges for Solaris (SPARC only) and a couple of other UNIX variants.

We use some of the NI GPIB-Ethernet devices in our optics lab.
Our software runs on SPARCs and hardware/software drivers have been
good under Solaris without the "fun" bluescreen crashes with Windows
(NT and later 2000) using the same software (Windows drivers from NI).
Later Windows drivers appear better (but not perfect). So maybe you
get what you pay for

I would like to see Sun lobby NI for support of X86 Solaris for at
least their PCI-GPIB boards and the GPIB-Enet (Ethernet to GPIB)
boxes. I've made telephone and written requests without even an
answer ...

I don't even know what GPIB is but perhaps this is screaming
for some generic "Windows driver wrapper" for Solaris/x86.

Casper

 

[Dragan Cvetkovic]

I don't even know what GPIB is but perhaps this is screaming
for some generic "Windows driver wrapper" for Solaris/x86.

GPIB is "general purpose interface bus" (check
e.g. http://www.microlink.co.uk/gpib.html), but it seems it failed to
propagate as it is not very well known today...

Dragan

--
Dragan Cvetkovic,

To be or not to be is true. G. Boole No it isn't. L. E. J. Brouwer

!!! Sender/From address is bogus. Use reply-to one !!!

 

[Steven Hill]

I don't even know what GPIB is but perhaps this is screaming

GPIB is "general purpose interface bus" (check
e.g. http://www.microlink.co.uk/gpib.html), but it seems it failed to
propagate as it is not very well known today...

Formerly HPIB, which is *very* well known in lab equipemnt circles, or
anything decent and old with either a Hewlett-Packard of Agilent
Technologies badge on it.

I am surprised there isn't more Solaris support, but since my work makes
me poke HP-UX boxes, it tended to be HP-UX stuff that was shipped in your
rack of microwave gear or whatever...

--
Steven Hill

"Okay, so, what do you need? Besides a miracle?"
"Guns. Lots of guns."
- Tank and Neo, The Matrix

 

[Dragan Cvetkovic]

Formerly HPIB, which is *very* well known in lab equipemnt circles, or
anything decent and old with either a Hewlett-Packard of Agilent
Technologies badge on it.

I know. In my student days (or thereabouts), I was writing/maintaining some
code for driving this stuff. But what I am saying is that e.g. everybody
knows about RS232/432, USB, Centronics, ..., but GPIB is not in that
category ...

Dragan

--
Dragan Cvetkovic,

To be or not to be is true. G. Boole No it isn't. L. E. J. Brouwer

!!! Sender/From address is bogus. Use reply-to one !!!

 

[hubcap]

I don't even know what GPIB is but perhaps this is screaming
for some generic "Windows driver wrapper" for Solaris/x86.

There was a General Purpose Interface Bus adaptor on my 1982 GRiD
laptop. Right next to the connection for the paper-tape reader <g>...

-Mike

 

[Michael Vilain]

I don't even know what GPIB is but perhaps this is screaming
for some generic "Windows driver wrapper" for Solaris/x86.

Casper

I recall HPIB back in the 1980's. I think that's what the OP is
referring to because Googling for HPIB give hits for GPIB as well as
HPIB boards. This was used for data acquisition equipment and had it
own bus.

http://www.home.agilent.com/USeng/nav/-536897065.536881832/pd.html
http://www.answers.com/GPIB
http://www.answers.com/topic/hpib

I think the OP is blowing smoke out their ears because they expect this
to be free and SUN hasn't really pursued this "market", focusing on
general purpose computing rather than workstations and lab automation.

Expectations are a strange thing. They make people behave irrationally
or illogically sometimes. I guess if the OP wants to run Solaris, they
need to pony up the bucks for the drivers or move to another platform.

[These aren't the droids you're looking for. Move on.]

 

[Stuart Biggar]

Casper H.S. Dik wrote:

I don't even know what GPIB is but perhaps this is screaming
for some generic "Windows driver wrapper" for Solaris/x86.

Casper

GPIB is IEEE-488. It is an 8-bit parallel bus with good handshaking
and reasonable performance (for the time). It is used in high-end
electronic test equipment and such. It allowed for multiple instruments
on a single, well shielded bus. Connectors stack for either star or
daisy chain type connections. HP (now Agilent) used it for any high end
instrument. We use it for connecting precision digital voltmeters
and sources in an optics lab. These instruments have ONLY a GPIB
interface. Some of the lower end HP (now Agilent) instruments have
serial and GPIB interfaces but the most accurate (quite expensive)
DVMs from Agilent have ONLY GPIB. I think the same is true of other
test and measurement equipment manufacturers.

As an aside, the Agilent web site had a doc stating that serial
should never be used for data collection on Windows as the Windows
serial driver was flawed for flow control. The doc (which was there
6 months ago) suggested using GPIB on Windows if reliable data transfer
was required.

In the old days, HP used GPIB for all sorts of things - they had
GPIB connected disks for some old computers. In some ways it was
similar to old 8-bit SCSI

Since NI supports Solaris SPARC, it would seem that Solaris x86 support
would be possible. Especially for the GPIB-Enet devices which use
ethernet for communication with the computer.

Stuart

 

[Joe Soap]

Casper H.S. Dik wrote:



GPIB is IEEE-488. It is an 8-bit parallel bus with good handshaking
and reasonable performance (for the time). It is used in high-end
electronic test equipment and such. It allowed for multiple
instruments on a single, well shielded bus. Connectors stack for
either star or daisy chain type connections. HP (now Agilent) used it
for any high end instrument. We use it for connecting precision
digital voltmeters and sources in an optics lab. These instruments
have ONLY a GPIB interface. Some of the lower end HP (now Agilent)
instruments have serial and GPIB interfaces but the most accurate
(quite expensive) DVMs from Agilent have ONLY GPIB. I think the same
is true of other test and measurement equipment manufacturers.

As an aside, the Agilent web site had a doc stating that serial
should never be used for data collection on Windows as the Windows
serial driver was flawed for flow control. The doc (which was there
6 months ago) suggested using GPIB on Windows if reliable data
transfer was required.

In the old days, HP used GPIB for all sorts of things - they had
GPIB connected disks for some old computers. In some ways it was
similar to old 8-bit SCSI

Since NI supports Solaris SPARC, it would seem that Solaris x86
support would be possible. Especially for the GPIB-Enet devices which
use ethernet for communication with the computer.

I used to run a compny that made IEEE488(GPIB) controllers that are
controlled by an RS232 serial link.

I still have enough bits to make a few more, if anyone is interested.

I expect this address to get saturated with spam soon, at which time I
shall kill it off: [email protected]

 

[Joerg Schilling]

GPIB is "general purpose interface bus" (check
e.g. http://www.microlink.co.uk/gpib.html), but it seems it failed to
propagate as it is not very well known today...

GPIB is IEEE-488, a more than 30 year old invention from HP.
It has been developed mainly for automated tests systems.
There are e.g. meters, power supplies and similar that may be
controled via IEEE-488

 

[Paul S. Brown]

I know. In my student days (or thereabouts), I was writing/maintaining
some code for driving this stuff. But what I am saying is that e.g.
everybody knows about RS232/432, USB, Centronics, ..., but GPIB is not in
that category ...

If it's IEE488 then it's the same as the User port that Commodore
VIC20/C64/C128/Plus4 all had. Time was when there was a *lot* of hobbyist
support for it, but it's unfortunatley getting far enough into the past now
that everybody's forgetting it ever existed.

P.

 

[mario]

There was a General Purpose Interface Bus adaptor on my 1982 GRiD
laptop. Right next to the connection for the paper-tape reader <g>...

-Mike

Funny as it may seem, even MY laptop has a paper-tape reader connector. It's
also known as.. RS232. Yep, good-old RS232 is what you connected your paper
punch and/or tape readers.

 

[Richard B. Gilbert]

I don't even know what GPIB is but perhaps this is screaming
for some generic "Windows driver wrapper" for Solaris/x86.

Casper

GPIB is General Purpose Instrument Bus or something like that; also
known as HPIB and IEEE-something. It's used to interface suitably
equipped electronic instruments to a computer; e.g. hook up volt meters,
frequency counters, printers, oscilloscopes, etc, etc, and control them
or read them from your computer. It's been around for the last fifteen
years or so.

 

[Rich Teer]

or read them from your computer. It's been around for the last fifteen
years or so.

Longer than that! I remeber IEEE 488 ports being available for my
BBC Micro, from circa 1982. I think even then it was an established
standard.

--
Rich Teer, SCNA, SCSA, OpenSolaris CAB member

President,
Rite Online Inc.

Voice: +1 (250) 979-1638
URL: http://www.rite-group.com/rich

 

[Rick Jones]

Longer than that! I remeber IEEE 488 ports being available for my
BBC Micro, from circa 1982. I think even then it was an established
standard.

Per:

http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/histnfacts/timeline/hist_70s.html

1975

HP simplifies instrument systems by creating a standard interface. The
electronics industry adopts the HP-IB (interface bus) as an
international standard to allow one or more instruments to connect
easily to a computer.

rick jones

 

[Theo v. Werkhoven]

The carbonbased lifeform Paul S. Brown inspired sci.electronics.equipment with:

If it's IEE488 then it's the same as the User port that Commodore
VIC20/C64/C128/Plus4 all had. Time was when there was a *lot* of hobbyist
support for it, but it's unfortunatley getting far enough into the past now
that everybody's forgetting it ever existed.

Afair only the "professional" machines (CBM3xxx), and the first PET2000 used
to have (a subset of) IEEE488-1.
But in elektronics labs GPIB/HPIB is still widly used for control and
readout, the pros of a dedicated instrument bus with multiple interrupt
levels, a pre-determined bus-speed and most important, an absolute
standard way of controlling the instruments very much outweights the
cons of the heavy, inflexible cables and special, costly interface.

Theo

 

[Theo v. Werkhoven]

The carbonbased lifeform mario inspired sci.electronics.equipment with:

Funny as it may seem, even MY laptop has a paper-tape reader connector. It's
also known as.. RS232. Yep, good-old RS232 is what you connected your paper
punch and/or tape readers.

Current-loop most of the time (20mA).
Same as with the old teletype consoles and Telex machines.

Theo

 

[Tony Williams]

Longer than that! I remeber IEEE 488 ports being available for
my BBC Micro, from circa 1982. I think even then it was an
established standard.

From Intelligent Interfaces. I still have a backup
spare down in the shed if you are interested.