National Instruments PCI-8430 User manual

SerialHardwareandSoftwareHelp
July2007,370447J-01
ThishelpfilecontainsinstructionstohelpyouinstallandconfiguretheNI
serialhardwareandsoftwareforWindows2000/XP/Server2003/Vista,
WindowsXPx64/Server2003x64/Vista64,andLabVIEWReal-Time.
Formoreinformationaboutthishelpfile,refertothefollowingtopics:
UsingHelp
RelatedDocumentation
Glossary
ImportantInformation
TechnicalSupportandProfessionalServices
TocommentonNationalInstrumentsdocumentation,refertotheNational
InstrumentsWebsite.
©2002–2007NationalInstrumentsCorporation.Allrightsreserved.

AboutthisHelpFile
ThishelpfilecontainsinstructionstohelpyouinstallandconfiguretheNI
serialhardwareandsoftware.Thishelpfileincludesinformationabout
thefollowingserialhardware:
PCI-8430(two,four,eight,and16port),PCI-8431(two,four,and
eightport),PCI-8432(twoandfourport),andPCI-8433(twoand
fourport)
PCI-232(two,four,eight,and16port),PCI-485(two,four,and
eightport),PCI-232isolated(twoandfourport),andPCI-485
isolated(twoandfourport)
PXI-8430(two,four,eight,and16port),PXI-8431(two,four,and
eightport),PXI-8432(twoandfourport)andPXI-8433(twoand
fourport)
PXI-8420(two,four,eight,and16port),PXI-8421(two,four,and
eightport),PXI-8422(twoandfourport),andPXI-8423(twoand
fourport)
USB-232(one,two,andfourport)andUSB-485(one,two,and
fourport)
ENET-232(twoandfourport)andENET-485(twoandfourport)
ExpressCard-8420(twoport)andExpressCard-8421(twoport)
PCMCIA-232(one,two,andfourport)andPCMCIA-485(oneand
twoport)
ThishelpfileassumesthatyouarealreadyfamiliarwithWindowsand
LabVIEWReal-Time.

RelatedDocumentation
Thefollowingdocumentscontaininformationthatyoumayfindhelpfulas
youusethishelpfile:
ANSI/EIA-232-DStandard,InterfaceBetweenDataTerminal
EquipmentandDataCircuit-TerminatingEquipmentEmploying
SerialBinaryDataInterchange
EIA/RS-422-AStandard,ElectricalCharacteristicsofBalanced
VoltageDigitalInterfaceCircuits
EIA-485Standard,StandardforElectricalCharacteristicsof
GeneratorsandReceiversforUseinBalancedDigitalMultipoint
Systems
MicrosoftPlatformSoftwareDeveloperKit,MicrosoftCorporation
NISerialHardwareGuide
NI-VISAHelp

UsingHelp
Conventions
NavigatingHelp
SearchingHelp
PrintingHelpFileTopics

Conventions
Thishelpfileusesthefollowingformattingandtypographical
conventions:
<> Anglebracketsthatcontainnumbersseparatedbyan
ellipsisrepresentarangeofvaluesassociatedwithabit
orsignalname—forexample,AO<0..3>.
» The»symbolleadsyouthroughnestedmenuitemsand
dialogboxoptionstoafinalaction.Thesequence
File»PageSetup»Optionsdirectsyoutopulldownthe
Filemenu,selectthePageSetupitem,andselect
Optionsfromthelastdialogbox.
Thisicondenotesanote,whichalertsyoutoimportant
information.
Thisicondenotesacaution,whichadvisesyouof
precautionstotaketoavoidinjury,dataloss,orasystem
crash.
bold Boldtextdenotesitemsthatyoumustselectorclickinthe
software,suchasmenuitemsanddialogboxoptions.
Boldtextalsodenotesparameternames.
darkred Textinthiscolordenotesacaution.
ExpressCard
serialboards
ExpressCardserialboardsreferstoallversionsofthe
ExpressCardserialboards.
green Underlinedtextinthiscolordenotesalinktoahelptopic,
helpfile,orWebaddress.
italic Italictextdenotesvariables,emphasis,crossreferences,
oranintroductiontoakeyconcept.Italictextalsodenotes
textthatisaplaceholderforawordorvaluethatyoumust
supply.
monospace Textinthisfontdenotestextorcharactersthatyoushould
enterfromthekeyboard,sectionsofcode,programming
examples,andsyntaxexamples.Thisfontisalsousedfor
thepropernamesofdiskdrives,paths,directories,
programs,subprograms,subroutines,devicenames,
functions,operations,variables,filenames,and

extensions.
monospace
bold
Boldtextinthisfontdenotesthemessagesand
responsesthatthecomputerautomaticallyprintstothe
screen.Thisfontalsoemphasizeslinesofcodethatare
differentfromtheotherexamples.
PCIserial
boards
PCIserialboardsreferstoallversionsofthePCIserial
boards.
PCMCIA
serialboards
PCMCIAserialboardsreferstoallversionsofthe
PCMCIAserialboards.
PXIserial
boards
PXIserialboardsreferstoallversionsofthePXIserial
boards.
SerialENET SerialENETreferstoallversionsoftheENETserial
boards.
USBserial
boards
USBserialboardsreferstoallversionsoftheUSBserial
boards.

NavigatingHelp(WindowsOnly)
Tonavigatethishelpfile,usetheContents,Index,andSearchtabsto
theleftofthiswindoworusethefollowingtoolbarbuttonslocatedabove
thetabs:
Hide—Hidesthenavigationpanefromview.
Locate—LocatesthecurrentlydisplayedtopicintheContentstab,
allowingyoutoviewrelatedtopics.
Back—Displaysthepreviouslyviewedtopic.
Forward—DisplaysthetopicyouviewedbeforeclickingtheBack
button.
Options—Displaysalistofcommandsandviewingoptionsforthe
helpfile.

SearchingHelp(WindowsOnly)
UsetheSearchtabtotheleftofthiswindowtolocatecontentinthishelp
file.Ifyouwanttosearchforwordsinacertainorder,suchas"related
documentation,"addquotationmarksaroundthesearchwordsasshown
intheexample.SearchingfortermsontheSearchtaballowsyouto
quicklylocatespecificinformationandinformationintopicsthatarenot
includedontheContentstab.

Wildcards
Youalsocansearchusingasterisk(*)orquestionmark(?)wildcards.
Usetheasteriskwildcardtoreturntopicsthatcontainacertainstring.For
example,asearchfor"prog*"liststopicsthatcontainthewords
"program,""programmatically,""progress,"andsoon.
Usethequestionmarkwildcardasasubstituteforasinglecharacterina
searchterm.Forexample,"?ext"liststopicsthatcontainthewords
"next,""text,"andsoon.