National Instruments GPIB-100A User manual

© Copyright 1985, 1991 National Instruments Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
GPIB-100A
User Manual
March 1990 Edition
Part Number 320063-01

National Instruments Corporation
6504 Bridge Point Parkway
Austin, TX 78730-5039
[phone]
(800) IEEE-488 (toll-free U.S. and Canada)
Technical support fax: [phone]

Limited Warranty
The GPIB-100A is warranted against defects in materials and workmanship for a period of two years from the
date of shipment, as evidenced by receipts or other documentation. National Instruments will, at its option,
repair or replace equipment that proves to be defective during the warranty period. This warranty includes
parts and labor.
A Return Material Authorization (RMA) number must be obtained from the factory and clearly marked on the
outside of the package before any equipment will be accepted for warranty work. National Instruments will
pay the shipping costs of returning to the owner parts which are covered by warranty.
National Instruments believes that the information in this manual is accurate. The document has been
carefully reviewed for technical accuracy. In the event that technical or typographical errors exist, National
Instruments reserves the right to make changes to subsequent editions of this document without prior notice to
holders of this edition. The reader should consult National Instruments if errors are suspected. In no event
shall National Instruments be liable for any damages arising out of or related to this document or the
information contained in it.
EXCEPT AS SPECIFIED HEREIN, NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE. CUSTOMER'S RIGHT TO RECOVER DAMAGES CAUSED BY FAULT OR NEGLIGENCE
ON THE PART OF NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT THERETOFORE PAID BY
THE CUSTOMER. NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM LOSS
OF DATA, PROFITS, USE OF PRODUCTS, OR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF ADVISED
OF THE POSSIBILITY THEREOF. This limitation of the liability of National Instruments will apply regardless of
the form of action, whether in contract or tort, including negligence. Any action against National Instrument
must be brought within one year after the cause of action accrues. National Instruments shall not be liable for
any delay in performance due to causes beyond its reasonable control. The warranty provided herein does not
cover damages, defects, malfunctions, or service failures caused by owner's failure to follow the National
Instruments installation, operation, or maintenance instructions; owner's modification of the product; owner's
abuse, misuse, or negligent acts; and power failure or surges, fire, flood, accident, actions of third parties, or
other events outside reasonable control.
Copyright
Under the copyright laws, this book may not be copied, photocopied, reproduced, or translated, in whole or in
part, without the prior written consent of National Instruments Corporation.
Trademarks
Product names listed are trademarks of their respective manufacturers. Company names listed are trademarks
or trade names of their respective companies.

FCC/DOC Radio Frequency Interference Compliance
This equipment generates and uses radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in strict
accordance with the instructions in this manual, may cause interference to radio and television
reception. This equipment has been tested and found to comply with (1) the limits for a Class A
computing device, in accordance with the specifications in Subpart J of Part 15 of U.S. Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) Rules, and (2) the limits for radio noise emissions from
digital apparatus set out in the Radio Interference Regulations of the Canadian Department of
Communication (DOC). These regulations are designed to provide reasonable protection against
interference from the equipment to radio and television reception in commercial areas.
There is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. However, the
chances of interference are much less if the equipment is used according to this instruction manual.
If the equipment does cause interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined
by turning the equipment on and off, one or more of the following suggestions may reduce or
eliminate the problem.
• Operate the equipment and the receiver on different branches of your AC electrical system.
• Move the equipment away from the receiver with which it is interfering.
• Relocate the equipment with respect to the receiver.
• Reorient the receiver's antenna.
• Be sure that the equipment is plugged into a grounded outlet and that the grounding has not
been defeated with a cheater plug.
If necessary, consult National Instruments or an experienced radio/television technician for
additional suggestions. The following booklet prepared by the FCC may also be helpful: How to
Identify and Resolve Radio-TV Interference Problems. This booklet is available from the U.S.
Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402, Stock Number 004-000-00345-4.

© National Instruments Corporation v GPIB-100A User Manual
Preface
Organization of the Manual
This manual is divided into the following chapters:
Chapter 1, Description of the GPIB-100A, contains a brief description of the GPIB-100A Bus
Extender and how it is used. This section also lists all components and accessories. In addition, it
provides system configuration, performance, operating, electrical, environmental, and physical
specifications for the GPIB-100A.
Chapter 2, Installation, contains instructions for configuring and connecting the GPIB-100A into
your system at your operating voltage.
Chapter 3, Configuration and Operation, describes how to configure and operate a GPIB-100A
system.
Chapter 4, Theory of Operation, contains descriptions of how the GPIB-100A circuitry operates.
Appendix A, Operation of the GPIB, describes GPIB terminology and protocol for users
unfamiliar with the GPIB.
Appendix B, Schematic Diagram, contains a detailed schematic diagram of the GPIB-100A.
Appendix C, GPIB-100A Parts Locator Diagram, contains the parts locator diagram for the
GPIB-100A.
Appendix D, Cable Assembly Wire List, contains the listing of wire connections for the
GPIB-100A transmission cable.
Appendix E, Multiline Interface Messages, contains an ASCII chart and a list of the corresponding
GPIB messages.
Appendix F, Mnemonics Key, contains a mnemonics key that defines the mnemonics used
throughout the manual.
Related Document
The following document is a reference that covers in greater detail specific topics introduced in this
manual:
•ANSI/IEEE Standard 488-1978, IEEE Standard Digital Interface for Programmable
Instrumentation.

Preface
GPIB-100A User Manual vi © National Instruments Corporation
Abbreviations Used in the Manual
The following abbreviations are used in the text of this manual.
C centigrade
F Fahrenheit
Hz hertz
in. inch
kbytes thousand bytes
m meter
mA milliamperes
Mbytes million bytes
mm millimeter
µsec microsecond
nsec nanosecond
sec second
V volts
VAC Volts Alternating Current
W watt

© National Instruments Corporation vii GPIB-100A User Manual
Contents
Chapter 1
Description of the GPIB-100A.......................................................................................1-1
Introduction......................................................................................................................1-1
GPIB-100A Specifications.............................................................................................. 1-3
Chapter 2
Installation.............................................................................................................................2-1
Inspection.........................................................................................................................2-1
Power Connection............................................................................................................ 2-1
Grounding Configuration.................................................................................................2-2
Disassembly........................................................................................................2-2
Mounting.........................................................................................................................2-2
Connecting to Hewlett-Packard Controllers.....................................................................2-2
Chapter 3
Configuration and Operation..........................................................................................3-1
Operating Modes.............................................................................................................3-1
Talker/Listener/Controller (TLC) Mode............................................................... 3-1
Talker/Listener (TL) Mode................................................................................... 3-2
Setting the Operating Mode................................................................................. 3-2
Parallel Poll Response (PPR) Modes............................................................................... 3-2
Buffered PPR Mode (Approach 1)......................................................................3-3
Unbuffered PPR Mode (Approach 2)..................................................................3-3
Mixed Mode Operation....................................................................................................3-4
Operating the GPIB-100A System.................................................................................. 3-4
Chapter 4
Theory of Operation........................................................................................................... 4-1
Diagrams.........................................................................................................................4-1
Power-On........................................................................................................................4-1
System Controller Detection............................................................................................ 4-2
Active Controller Detection.............................................................................................. 4-2
Source Handshake Detection........................................................................................... 4-2
Parallel Polling.....................................................................................................4-3
Data Direction Control......................................................................................... 4-4
EOI..................................................................................................................................4-4

Contents
GPIB-100A User Manual viii © National Instruments Corporation
Appendix A
Operation of the GPIB....................................................................................................... A-1
History of the GPIB.........................................................................................................A-1
Types of Messages..........................................................................................................A-1
Talkers, Listeners, and Controllers...................................................................................A-1
System Controller and Active Controller.........................................................................A-2
GPIB Signals................................................................................................................... A-2
Data Lines........................................................................................................................A-3
Handshake Lines.............................................................................................................. A-3
NRFD (not ready for data)................................................................................... A-3
NDAC (not data accepted)................................................................................... A-4
DAV (data valid)................................................................................................. A-4
Interface Management Lines............................................................................................ A-4
ATN (attention)....................................................................................................A-4
IFC (interface clear).............................................................................................A-4
REN (remote enable)........................................................................................... A-4
SRQ (service request).......................................................................................... A-4
EOI (end or identify)........................................................................................... A-4
Physical and Electrical Characteristics.............................................................................A-5
Configuration Restrictions............................................................................................... A-7
Appendix B
Schematic Diagram............................................................................................................B-1
Appendix C
GPIB-100A Parts Locator Diagram.............................................................................C-1
Appendix D
Cable Assembly Wire List...............................................................................................D-1
Appendix E
Multiline Interface Messages.........................................................................................E-1
Appendix F
Mnemonics Key....................................................................................................................F-1

Contents
© National Instruments Corporation ix GPIB-100A User Manual
Figures
Figure 1-1. The Model GPIB-100A Bus Extender..................................................................1-1
Figure 1-2. Typical GPIB-100A Extension System (Physical Configuration)........................1-2
Figure 1-3. Typical GPIB-100A Extension System (Logical Configuration).......................... 1-2
Figure 2-1. Voltage Selection....................................................................................................2-1
Figure 3-1. Switch Settings for Operating Mode......................................................................3-2
Figure 3-2. Switch Settings for Parallel Poll Response Mode...................................................3-4
Figure 4-1. GPIB-100A Block Diagram...................................................................................4-1
Figure A-1. GPIB Cable Connector..........................................................................................A-3
Figure A-2. Linear Configuration of the GPIB Devices............................................................A-5
Figure A-3. Star Configuration of GPIB Devices.....................................................................A-6
Figure C-1. GPIB-100A Parts Locator Diagram...................................................................... C-1
Tables
Table 1-1. System Configuration Characteristics......................................................................1-3
Table 1-2. Performance Characteristics.....................................................................................1-4
Table 1-3. Operating Characteristics.........................................................................................1-4
Table 1-4. Electrical Characteristics..........................................................................................1-5
Table 1-5. Environmental Characteristics.................................................................................1-5
Table 1-6. Physical Characteristics............................................................................................1-6
Table 1-7. Components and Accessories..................................................................................1-6
Table D-1. Cable Assembly Wire List......................................................................................D-1

© National Instruments Corporation 1-1 GPIB-100A User Manual
Chapter 1
Description of the GPIB-100A
Introduction
The high-speed GPIB-100A Bus Extender (Figure 1-1) is used in pairs with a special parallel data
transmission cable to connect two separate GPIB or IEEE-488 bus systems in a functionally
transparent manner.
Figure 1-1. The Model GPIB-100A Bus Extender
While the two bus systems are physically separate, as shown in Figure 1-2, devices logically
appear to be located on the same bus as shown in Figure 1-3. Thus, with the GPIB-100A it is
possible to overcome two configuration restrictions imposed by ANSI/IEEE Standard 488-l978,
namely:
• Cable length limit of 20 m total per contiguous bus or 2 m times the number of devices on the
bus, whichever is smaller.
• Electrical loading limit of 15 devices per contiguous bus.
Each GPIB-100A system extends the distance limit by 300 m and the loading limit to 30 devices
including the extenders, without sacrificing speed or performance. These point-to-point extender
systems can be connected in series for longer distances or in star patterns for additional loading.
At short distances, the data transfer rate over the extension can exceed 250 kbytes/sec, degrading
with distance only by the propagation delay along the cable. Furthermore, regardless of the
distance, there is no speed degradation at all for transfers between devices on the same side of the