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Computer comms w/ Instrument (USB, GPIB, IEE488, RS232...) - simple guide?
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Rax:
Hi all,
Is there a known, simple, accessible writeup somewhere that would introduce one (particularly of the kind that's a bit short in time and patience...) to ways in which one can connect their computer with their bench instruments?
I've never been able to scratch the surface too much, but I do have:

* An USBGPIB kit of parts (unbuilt), but also a couple of built ones
* an RS232 to USB cable (which I have no idea if correct!)I have a bunch of HP, Fluke, Tektronix and many other branded instruments.
Some other potentially useful thoughts/asks:

* I highly prefer USB as interface
* What software offers a good balance between complexity/features, simplicity of installing and making work, and maybe cheap or zero licensing cost?
* What are some of the things to know? For instance, IEEE488 comes with some address settings... How's that visible from the computer/program side?
* What types of instruments I'd like to connect? Mostly metrology stuff (DMMs from 6.5 to 8.5 digits, calibrators of all sorts - mostly Fluke, but not only), but other things such as maybe a scope or three - HP, Tek, Rigol, etc., generators of all sorts (HP, R&S, etc.) etc etcI'm sure I probably asked all the wrong questions...
Thanks a bunch!
jjoonathan:
I personally think USB is best for applications with built-in drivers but falls off hard if you have to manage the drivers yourself. Test equipment drivers are particularly bad. It always seems to turn into a fight. Ethernet is never as smooth as plugging in a USB HID keyboard but you never have to fight drivers even if you want to code in python on linux from a laptop connected through wifi alone.

My stack: AD007 GPIB<->Ethernet Bridge, python-vxi11, jupyterlab.

EDIT: AD007 is no longer cheap. The key ingredient here is vxi11 compatibility, which is spoken by the python library. Depending on what you can find, this can tip the equation. Whatever you choose, best of luck  :-+
Rax:

--- Quote from: jjoonathan on October 10, 2023, 01:51:14 am ---Ethernet is never as smooth as plugging in a USB HID keyboard but you never have to fight drivers even if you want to code in python on linux from a laptop connected to wifi.

--- End quote ---
Over network is the best of all worlds - I'd be mind blown to harvest data from my living room laptop when I don't feel like sitting in the garage, where my bench is - but in my case I can't really imagine it being practical, unless I:

* Have some way to connect all instruments to wifi. Nope, right?
* I connect all instruments to my bench desktop, which is online itself via wifi. Connecting them to the desktop would still have to be USB, so...But maybe there's a simpler solution I am not aware of.
jjoonathan:
You don't need a computer at your bench, just some GPIB cables to wire them to the AD007 (or similar) and an ethernet cable to put the AD007 on your network.
coromonadalix:
there is no simple guide,  even if many brands do use rs232, gpid, lan interfaces, gpid interfaces, fakes or genuine ones, ar488 project here on eevblog, prologix adapters, arduino based ones, raspi  ...

you have IVI drivers, visa drivers, USB tmc, LXI compatible ....   and you have some of their softwares, and excel macro enabled sheets, vb, c++, c#, Python   etc ...

Nothing is perfect between many brands,  mostly old stuff vs more recent ones

There is a few software pieces here on eevblog forums who can be useful and slightly standardize some equipment, work in progress ...

there is no definitive answers to help you, you'll have to dig and read ... and do tests

Python is lately getting more traction, compatible with many os'es ...

Even purely using usb interface, you may have to deal with incompatibilities, quirks etc ... you may not be able to read at fast rates ... sluggish responses etc ...
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