VXI GPIB-VXI User manual

© Copyright 1983, 1991 National Instruments Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
GPIB-VXI
User Manual
bus
April 1990 Edition
Part Number 320151-01

National Instruments Corporation
6504 Bridge Point Parkway
Austin, TX 78730-5039
[phone]
(800) IEEE-488
Fax: [phone]

Limited Warranty
The GPIB-VXI is warranted against defects in materials and workmanship for a period of one year 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 Instruments 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
Turbo488®is a trademark of National Instruments Corporation.
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 vGPIB-VXI User Manual
Preface
This manual contains information you will need to use the GPIB-VXI in your VXIbus system. It
describes the function and behavior of GPIB-VXI units configured with the standard firmware
option.
Organization of the GPIB-VXI User Manual
The GPIB-VXI User Manual is organized as follows:
• Chapter 1, General Description, gives an overview of the GPIB-VXI.
• Chapter 2, Configuration and Startup Procedures, gives configuration information and
describes the GPIB-VXI startup behavior.
• Chapter 3, Local Command Set, describes the GPIB-VXI local command set.
• Chapter 4, Nonvolatile Configuration, describes the method for editing the contents of the
GPIB-VXI configuration parameter memory.
• Chapter 5, Diagnostic Tests, describes the operation of the GPIB-VXI offline diagnostic
tests.
• Appendix A, Specifications, lists the specifications of the GPIB-VXI.
• Appendix B, Error Codes, lists the local command set error codes.
• Appendix C, Code Instrument Overview, describes the capabilities and implementation of
Code Instruments.
• Appendix D, Using the CDS-852 Adapter Code Instrument, contains instructions for
installing the Resident Code Instruments.
• Appendix E, GPIB-VXI Hardware and Software Configuration Form, contains a form that
you should complete in the event that you have a technical problem. Completing the form
before calling National Instruments will expedite your phone call and thus the solution to
your problem.
• The Glossary contains an alphabetical list of terms used in this manual and a description of
each.
• The Index contains an alphabetical list of key terms and topics used in this manual, including
the page where each one can be found.

Preface
GPIB-VXI User Manual vi © National Instruments Corporation
Conventions Used in This Manual
Throughout this manual, the following conventions are used to distinguish elements of text:
italic Italic text denotes emphasis, a cross reference, or an introduction to a key
concept. In this manual, italics are also used to denote Word Serial
commands and queries.
monospace Text in this font denotes text or characters that are to be literally input
from the keyboard, sections of code, command or query syntax, console
responses, and syntax examples. This font is also used for the names of
all commands and queries used in the GPIB-VXI local command set.
<CR> Angle brackets enclosing a term in Times font denote a key on the
keyboard, or the equivalent ASCII character.
<hex value> Angle brackets enclosing a term in monospace denote a parameter.
Numbers in this manual are base 10 unless noted as follows:
• Binary numbers are indicated by a -b suffix (for example, 11010101b)
• Octal numbers are indicated by an -o suffix (for example, 325o),
• Hexadecimal numbers are indicated by an -h suffix (for example, D5h)
• ASCII character and string values are indicated by double quotation marks (for example,
"This is a string").
In this manual, the symbol <CR> is used to indicate the ASCII carriage return character. The
symbol <LF> is used to indicate the ASCII linefeed character. The symbol <CRLF> is used to
indicate a carriage return followed by a linefeed.
Terminology that is specific to a chapter or section is defined at its first occurrence.
Abbreviations
The following abbreviations are units of measure that are used in the text of this manual.
° degrees
A ampere
bytes/sec bytes per second
C Celsius
Hz hertz
in. inch
kbytes/sec 1,000 bytes per second
kHz kilohertz

Preface
© National Instruments Corporation vii GPIB-VXI User Manual
K 1,024 bytes of memory
LSB least significant bit
m meter
mA milliampere
M 1,048,576 bytes of memory
MHz megahertz
MSB most significant bit
nsec nanosecond
sec second
VDC volts direct current
Related Documents
The following documents contain information that you may find helpful as you read this manual:
• IEEE Standard for a Versatile Backplane Bus: VMEbus, ANSI/IEEE Standard 1014-1987
• IEEE Standard Digital Interface for Programmable Instrumentation, ANSI/IEEE Standard
488.1-1987
• IEEE Standard Codes, Formats, Protocols, and Common Commands, ANSI/IEEE Standard
488.2-1987
• VXIbus System Specification, Revision 1.3, VXIbus Consortium
• 16/32-Bit Highly Integrated Microprocessor SCC68070 User Manual, Philips
Customer Communication
We appreciate communicating with the people who use our products. We are also very
interested in hearing about the applications you develop using our products. To make it easy for
you to communicate with us, we provide the Hardware and Software Configuration Form for
product-related technical comments, and the User Comment Form for documentation comments.
If you encounter any technical problems, please complete the Hardware and Software
Configuration Form in Appendix E and call National Instruments Corporation. Completing the
form before calling National Instruments will help solve your problem faster.
You can use the following toll-free number between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.
(central time) to reach the National Instruments applications engineering department:
[phone]
[phone] (toll-free U.S. and Canada)
For your documentation comments, we have included a User Comment Form at the back of the
manual. Please mail it to the address printed at the bottom of the form.

© National Instruments Corporation ix GPIB-VXI User Manual
Contents
Chapter 1
General Description ...........................................................................................................1-1
Overview........................................................................................................................1-1
What Your Kit Should Contain...................................................................................... 1-2
Optional Equipment .......................................................................................................1-3
Unpacking ......................................................................................................................1-3
VXIbus and VMEbus Capabilities.................................................................................1-3
GPIB Characteristics......................................................................................................1-4
Command Set.................................................................................................................1-5
Code Instruments ...........................................................................................................1-5
Front Panel Indicators, Switches and Connectors..........................................................1-6
Power Consumption and Temperature Rating...............................................................1-6
Chapter 2
Configuration and Startup Procedures ......................................................................2-1
System Configuration ....................................................................................................2-1
GPIB-VXI Configuration...............................................................................................2-2
Setting the Logical Address ...............................................................................2-4
Setting the GPIB Primary Address ....................................................................2-4
Setting the Servant Area Size ............................................................................2-5
Setting the Installed RAM Size..........................................................................2-5
Setting the Dual-Ported Memory Size ...............................................................2-7
Setting the Front Panel Reset Operation............................................................2-7
Setting the VMEbus Requester Level................................................................2-8
Setting the VXI Interrupt Handler Levels..........................................................2-8
GPIB-VXI Startup Mode Configuration............................................................2-9
488-VXI System Mode ..........................................................................2-9
Diagnostics Mode ..................................................................................2-10
Nonvolatile Configuration Mode...........................................................2-10
VXI pROBE Mode.................................................................................2-10
488-VXI System Operation ...........................................................................................2-10
System Startup Message Printing ......................................................................2-11
Slot 0 Resource Manager Configuration............................................................2-11
Slot 0 Resource Manager Operation ......................................................2-13
Front Panel LED Indications for RM Operation....................................2-13
Self-Test Operation................................................................................2-14
RM Operation ........................................................................................2-14
Static Configuration Operation ..............................................................2-15
Dynamic Configuration Operation ........................................................2-15
GPIB Secondary Address Assignment ......................................2-15
System Configuration Table ..................................................................2-16
Non-Slot 0 Resource Manager Configuration ...................................................2-17
Non-Slot 0 Resource Manager Operation..............................................2-17

Contents
GPIB-VXI User Manual x © National Instruments Corporation
Non-Slot 0 Message-Based Device Configuration ............................................2-18
Non-Slot 0 Message-Based Device Operation ......................................2-18
Front Panel LED Indications for Message-Based Device Operation ....2-19
Slot 0 Message-Based Device Configuration ....................................................2-19
Slot 0 Message-Based Device Operation............................................... 2-21
Chapter 3
Local Command Set...........................................................................................................3-1
Command Set Access ....................................................................................................3-2
Command Syntax...........................................................................................................3-2
Command Line Termination..........................................................................................3-3
Command and Query Responses ...................................................................................3-3
Command Response Format ..........................................................................................3-4
Query Response Format.................................................................................................3-4
Error Reporting ..............................................................................................................3-4
The Help Query..............................................................................................................3-5
Help? ..................................................................................................................3-5
General Configuration Commands and Queries ............................................................3-6
ConsoleEna ........................................................................................................3-6
ConsMode ..........................................................................................................3-7
DPram?...............................................................................................................3-7
NVconf? .............................................................................................................3-8
OBram? ..............................................................................................................3-9
ProgMode...........................................................................................................3-9
WordSerEna.......................................................................................................3-10
RM Information Queries................................................................................................3-10
A24MemMap? ...................................................................................................3-11
A32MemMap? ...................................................................................................3-12
Cmdr?.................................................................................................................3-12
CmdrTable?........................................................................................................3-13
Laddrs?...............................................................................................................3-14
NumLaddrs?.......................................................................................................3-14
RmEntry? ...........................................................................................................3-15
Srvnts?................................................................................................................3-17
StatusState? ........................................................................................................3-17
Dynamic Configuration Commands and Queries ..........................................................3-18
DCBNOSend......................................................................................................3-19
DCGrantDev ......................................................................................................3-19
DCSystem?.........................................................................................................3-19
Dynamic Reconfiguration Queries ................................................................................3-20
Broadcast?..........................................................................................................3-21
GrantDev? ..........................................................................................................3-23
RelSrvnt?............................................................................................................3-24
VXI-Defined Common ASCII System Commands.......................................................3-25
DCON?...............................................................................................................3-25
DINF?.................................................................................................................3-27
DLAD?...............................................................................................................3-28
DNUM?..............................................................................................................3-29
DRES?................................................................................................................3-29