Re: GPIB bus topology

On 5/1/2024 8:42 PM, Don Y wrote:

On 5/1/2024 2:54 PM, bitrex wrote:

I have several pieces of HP gear (DMM, counter, Agilent-branded triple-output supply) I'd like to connect to a National Instruments USB to GPIB adapter for some measurements.
>
IEEE 488 is somewhat before my time and I see that the connectors are stackable, is there a preferred bus topology for a few pieces of gear? Star, linear/daisy chain with the stack on the interface, linear/daisy chain with the stack on the first piece of gear? Does it matter much in this use case?

 The bus is dog slow (by today's -- or yesterday's! -- standards) so topology
isn't that important.  The cables, though, are costly, short and constrain
how you can (re)arrange your kit.
 Consider, instead, GPIB-ethernet adapter(s) as this gives you a lot more
freedom in siting your kit.  I move things around as my benchtop often
doesn't have space for prototype, power supplies, instruments, etc. so
things "come and go" -- even during a session -- as my needs change.
It's nice to only have to worry about a thin network cable (easily
disconnected with one hand, "blind") instead of a frigging "hose"!
 [I suspect it is also more future safe than any other bridge product.]
 What are you planning on using in the host (PC) to talk to the instruments?
 

Hoping to use SciPy/Numpy with a National Instruments GPIB-USB dongle on a Linux machine.
There's a wonderful tech-surplus warehouse of the old fashion in the Boston area, they sell the USB interfaces at $50 and 1 meter L-com/Belkin/assorted brand GPIB cables at $10 a pop