GPIB, Whats in it for me

[james_s]

I thought GPIB was typically used on production lines to set up instruments for production validation and partially automate testing, it's not something I've ever used myself though, despite having a couple bits of gear that support it.

[bitseeker]

I find it to also be useful when adjusting instruments that have gone out of calibration. It's often much easier to issue commands via GPIB than to fiddle with knobs and buttons.

[CatalinaWOW]

There are a couple of types of LQ devices, all priced slightly differently.  The low end one will drive only one instrument.  The high end one can drive the full GPIB spec.  I have one of those and it seems fine.  The biggest problem is that it is not directly supported by any of the GPIB wrappers out there.  It includes a GUI that does a couple of the common tasks (identifying active GPIB addresses) and lets you enter a text script of GPIB commands, so if you code directly in GPIB commands you are home free.   It does come with an API, but you have to roll your own SW for instrument control.  There is the possibility that it can be brought into one of the existing ecosystems, but I haven't accomplished that yet.

The use for GPIB (or ethernet or RS-232 or any of the other control interfaces) is when you are doing repetitive, tedious measurements.  Logging a voltage standards performance over time.  Or the temperature in the garden.  Or the frequency response of an amplifier.  Or noise on your favorite ham radio frequency.  Or production testing. 

If you are doing any thing over and over again, and don't find yourself enjoying it, it is time to automate.  Cheap older TE uses GPIB.