Instrument Control Toolbox

Driver Limitations

GPIB Driver Limitations

Agilent Technologies

The Agilent GPIB driver has these limitations:

  • Asynchronous read-and-write operations are not supported. Therefore, Agilent GPIB objects do not support the following toolbox functionality:

    • The readasync function
    • The async flag for the fprintf and fwrite functions
    • BytesAvailableAction and OutputEmptyAction properties

  • The End Or Identify (EOI) line is not asserted when the End-Of-String (EOS) character is written to the hardware. Therefore, when the EOSMode property is configured to write and the EOIMode property is configured to on, the EOI line is not asserted when the EOSCharCode property value is written to the hardware.

  • All eight bits are used for the EOS comparison. Therefore, the only value supported by the CompareBits property is 8.
  • A board index value of 0 is not supported.

  • An error is not reported for an invalid primary address. Instead, the read-and-write operations will time out.

ICS Electronics

The ICS Electronics GPIB adaptor only works with their USB GPIB controller.

VISA Driver Limitations

Agilent Technologies

The Agilent VISA driver uses all eight bits for the EOS comparison. Therefore, the only value that the CompareBits property supports is 8.

National Instruments

The National Instruments VISA driver uses all eight bits for the EOS comparison. Therefore, the only value that the CompareBits property supports is 8.