Keithley
Instruments
2800-850CV1.0
Release Note for Version 1.0
Visa Instrument Driver for the Model 2800
5/14/2003
IMPORTANT:
To work properly with the driver, your instrument must have a compatible
version of firmware. Refer to section 2
(System Requirements) below for specific
details regarding the required firmware version for your instrument.
Visit www.keithley.com for upgrade instructions
if your instrument’s firmware is not a compatible version. The instrument’s firmware version is shown
on the display when the instrument is first powered up, immediately to the
right of the model number.
This
document provides additional information for the installation and use of the
2800-850CV1.0 2800 driver for LabView and LabWindows CVI, Visual Basic, and
C/C++.
Table of
Contents
----------------------------------------------
2.1 Supported Operating Systems and
System Software
3.1 GPIB Controller Installation
3.1.1 Keithley and INES PCMCIA Controller
Installation
3.2 Connecting your Computer to your
Instrument
3.3 Upgrading from a previous version
of the Instrument Driver
3.4 Instrument Driver Installation
3.4.1 Installing the driver from the Web
4.1.2 Example of using VISA resources:
4.3 Using the Example Programs
4.4 Using the driver with LabView
5.1 Large
Data Transfer Limitations with INES GPIB -
----------------------------------------------
The
components described below are provided as part of the KE2800 VISA Instrument
Driver for the Model 2800 instruments.
Some shortcuts for them are added to the Keithley Instruments folder on
your Start Menu.
Version
1.0 of the KE2800 driver supports the Integra Model 2800 instruments.
The driver
uses the Keithley I/O layer (VISA) to communicate with your instrument. This
software driver supports many Application Development Environments under
Windows, such as Visual Basic, C/C++, LabView, LabWindows/CVI. Numerous
examples and an on-line help utility are provided to help programmers build
their custom applications.
Pentium-class
PC.
2800
firmware release A05 or later.
2800 DSP
version A06 or later.
Supported GPIB controller.
NOTE: It
is strongly recommended that your computer and instrument be powered by an
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) when running a critical application.
Windows XP
Professional service pack 1 or later
Windows
2000 Service pack 3 or later
Windows NT
Service pack 6a or later
Windows 98
Second edition only
Note:
Windows 95 is not supported.
The driver
has been tested with a variety of International versions of Windows, including
German, and French.
Note that
Windows 95 is not supported in any language.
If you will
be using GPIB to communicate with your instrument, you must have a compatible
GPIB controller card and associated software driver installed in your computer
before installing the Instrument Driver.
The driver
is compatible with the following GPIB controller cards:
Keithley Instruments GPIB cards (ISA, PCI, PCMCIA)
CEC GPIB cards (ISA, PCI)
National Instruments GPIB cards (ISA, PCI, PCMCIA)
INES GPIB cards (PCMCIA)
When using
Keithley Instruments or CEC ISA or PCI GPIB cards, you must have driver software
version 5.14 or later. The latest
driver for these cards is available from the CEC WEB site: www.cec488.com.
Follow the
manufacturer's instructions for installing the controller card and software,
and for verifying correct operation of the card and software driver.
When
installing the INES driver software, do NOT install the HP I/O libraries or
select HP SICL emulation.
When
installing the INES driver software, DO select NI compatibility mode.
When
installing the INES driver software, if the hardware test fails, change the
Interrupt selection to none.
Connect
your instrument to your computer using a standard GPIB interface cable.
If you
have an earlier version of the driver software installed on your computer,
uninstall it by following the steps below before installing this version.
Using the
Add/Remove Programs Wizard in Control Panel, uninstall the following
components:
Keithley 2800 RF Power Analyzer Driver.
Reboot
your computer.
If you
have a previous version of the Instrument Driver installed on your computer,
uninstall it as described above before installing the new version.
Download
the driver software from the Keithley Web site, www.keithley.com. The software is a single compressed file, approximately 24 MB in
size, and should be downloaded to a temporary directory.
Run the
downloaded file from the temporary directory.
Follow the
instructions on the screen to install the software. Note: during the early part of the installation, the installation
utility may appear to stop for a minute or so.
This is normal and the utility will continue running in a short while.
When the
installation is complete, reboot your computer.
To connect
to the instrument via the driver you need to first call KE2800_init or
KE2800_InitWithOptions. The first parameter for either function is a VISA
resource string, which indicates to the I/O layer which communication device
you want to use to connect to the instrument and in most cases the address of
the instrument. This can be specified
using a Virtual Instrument name, a Logical Name, or a VISA Resource
string.
For GPIB
instruments, you would use a resource string of the following format:
"GPIBx::yy::INSTR".
x is the GPIB card number.
yy is the GPIB address of the instrument.
KE2800_init("GPIB0::28::INSTR ",
VI_TRUE,
VI_TRUE,
handle)
would connect to a 2800 on GPIB address 28.
Using the
KE2800_InitWithOptions function there is a parameter, called OptionString,
where you can enable/disable certain features of a driver.
If this
feature is enabled the driver will query the instrument after every function
call to see if there where any errors. This is useful while you are writing
your application but once it is finalized then you can disable this feature to
gain extra performance.
If enabled
the IVI engine will check to see if the parameters you are passing in are
within range. Disabling this feature in the final application will also gain
some performance increase.
The driver
has the option of caching all the settings it sends to the instrument so that
it doesn't send a setting to the instrument a second time if it hasn't changed.
By default this is enabled.
The KE2800
Driver includes an example program written in Visual Basic, LabView, and
C. The examples demonstrate how to
perform common functions using the driver. The example programs are hard coded
to use a 2800 at GPIB address 28 using a Keithley or CEC GPIB interface card
for communications. If you are using a
different bus, address, or interface card, you must edit the example programs
to change the address, bus, or interface.
If LabView
is already installed on your computer when the driver is installed, the LabView
VIs will be installed in the proper subdirectory of the LabView directory so
that they are directly accessible from within LabView.
If LabView
is not installed on your computer when the driver is installed, the LabView VIs
will placed in a subdirectory of the Keithley Instruments directory. Once LabView has been installed, the VIs
must be copied to the proper subdirectory under LabView before they can be
used. This directory is typically:
C:\Program
Files\National Instruments\LabView X\inst.lib\KE2700
Depending
on the particular driver, there may be separate versions of the VIs for LabView
5.x and 6.x, in which case they will be installed into separate
directories. Copy the appropriate
version of the VIs into the National Instrument directory tree.
Using the LabView example CDMSOneSetup.vi or
GSMSetup.vi, if the number of samples is greater than 50, user will get the
following error:
ke2800Read.vi <ERR>Driver Status: (Hex
0xBFFA0001)
Instrument Specific Error. Call the
PREFIX_Error_Query function and examine the error code and error message
parameters for additional information regarding the error."
Similar problem can be observed using the VB
Example Demo2800.exe, if the user has selected more than 1100 points and
primary, adjacent, alternate measurement parameters.
DO NOT use “ASCII” transfers with INES GPIB
card for more than total of 50 readings.
Binary transfers can be used with INES GPIB
card but the total number of points should be less than 65535/(13 * Number of
elements selected).
The VISA
software supplied with the Instrument Driver is Copyright (c) 2001 National
Instruments Corporation. All Rights
Reserved.
The KE2800
instrument driver is Copyright (c) 2003 Keithley Instruments. All Rights Reserved.
End of
Release notes.