Products > Test Equipment

open source GPIB adapter

(1/18) > >>

dorkshoei:
I saw the recent thread here on NI adapter authenticity.   I'd been pondering buying something so it was timely.

I also found this old thread here inquiring about about open source adapters.

One of the comments on the thread was "the real cards are GPIB32 and VISa compliant. something none of the homebrews does."

I stumbled on this project which claims to be VISA compliant https://github.com/xyphro/UsbGpib

Has anyone tried it or are there any recommended projects to build since the 2012 thread?  Or is one of the commercial devices (if authentic) still the way to go?  Note I'm asking for a functional opinion not time vs money as that's very subjective.

I like the right angled compact design of the above githib design.

Nx-1997:
I have built and successfully tested the xyphro’s UsbGpib adapter. The good news is that it is compatible with all popular vendor visa software, that means that it works with NI Visa, Keysight Visa, and Roden&Schwarz Visa. I personally prefer the R&S Visa as its only 59 MB in size and works perfectly but no python visa support. Only the NI Visa software is supported by the Python’s PyVisa library. The adapter is also very fast in terms of data transfer speed, faster than Keysight 82357B adapter and AR488 adapter.

Now the bad news is that the adapter shows up as a USB device and not as a GPIB device that means compatibility is not as great compared to a traditional GPIB adapter. As in Image 1, if a software does not search for USB devices, then xyphro’s UsbGpib adapter will not be detected as shown in image 2. You would have to include the “USB” search string, shown in image 3, for the software to detect the adapter, as shown in image 4. Also you can only connect 1 instrument per adapter and build costs are higher compared to AR488 adapter.

nctnico:

--- Quote from: Nx-1997 on November 25, 2021, 11:43:29 pm ---I have built and successfully tested the xyphro’s UsbGpib adapter. The good news is that it is compatible with all popular vendor visa software, that means that it works with NI Visa, Keysight Visa, and Roden&Schwarz Visa. I personally prefer the R&D Visa as its only 59 MB in size and works perfectly but no python visa support. Only the NI Visa software is supported by the Python’s PyVisa library.

--- End quote ---
Fortunately that is not true. :phew: Pyvisa also works with PyVISA-Py which is a Python based implementation of a Visa library which prevents you having to install the dreadfull NI Visa software. 

Nx-1997:
Nice, I hasn't aware of this library (https://github.com/pyvisa/pyvisa-py). I will test it out when I get time.

dorkshoei:

--- Quote from: Nx-1997 on November 25, 2021, 11:43:29 pm ---Now the bad news is that the adapter shows up as a USB device and not as a GPIB device that means compatibility is not as great compared to a traditional GPIB adapter.

--- End quote ---
Do any of the open source adapters show up as a GPIB adapter?   Is there an alternative you recommend?

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page