Instrument Control Toolbox™ 2.6

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.

Measurement Computing Corporation

The Measurement Computing Corporation GPIB driver does not support asynchronous notification for the completion of read-and-write operations. Therefore, Measurement Computing Corporation GPIB objects do not support the following toolbox functionality:

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

Capital Equipment Corporation

The Capital Equipment Corporation (CEC) GPIB driver has these limitations:

• Asynchronous read operations are not supported. Therefore, CEC GPIB objects do not support the following toolbox functionality:
  • The readasync function
  • The async flag for the fprintf and fwrite functions
  • The BytesAvailableAction and OutputEmptyAction properties
• The Handshake and Bus Management line values are not provided. The BusManagementStatus and HandshakeStatus properties always return the line values as on.
• The EOI line is not asserted when the 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.
• You should not simultaneously use a GPIB controller address of 0 and an instrument primary address of 0.

IOTech

The IOTech GPIB driver has these limitations:

• Asynchronous read-and-write operations are not supported. Therefore, IOTech GPIB objects do not support the following toolbox functionality:
• The readasync function
• The async flag for the fprintf and fwrite functions
• The BytesAvailableAction and OutputEmptyAction properties.
• Incorrect values are returned for the REN and IFC bus management lines. The BusManagementStatus property always returns a value of on for the RemoteEnable and the InterfaceClear fields.
• The EOI line is not asserted when the 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 will not be asserted when the EOSCharCode property value is written to the hardware.

Keithley

The Keithley GPIB driver has these limitations:

• Asynchronous read-and-write operations are not supported. Therefore, Keithley GPIB objects do not support the following toolbox functionality:
• The readasync function
• The async flag for the fprintf and fwrite functions
• The BytesAvailableAction and OutputEmptyAction properties
• The Handshake and Bus Management line values are not provided. The BusManagementStatus and HandshakeStatus properties always return the line value as on.
• The EOI line is not asserted when the 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 will not be 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.
• You should not simultaneously use a GPIB controller address of 0 and an instrument primary address of 0.

ICS Electronics

The ICS Electronics GPIB adaptor only works with their USB GPIB controller. However, you can still use their other controllers (PCI/PCMCIA) by using the mcc adaptor. See the Support Solution on the MathWorks support Web site.

VISA Driver Limitations

Agilent Technologies

The Agilent VISA driver has these known limitations:

• Asynchronous read-and-write operations for GPIB, GPIB-VXI, and VXI VISA objects are not supported. Therefore, the following toolbox functionality is not supported for these objects:
• The readasync function
• The BytesAvailableAction and OutputEmptyAction properties
• All eight bits are used for the EOS comparison. Therefore, the only value supported by the CompareBits property is 8.

National Instruments

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