The TransEra IEEE-488 interface cards were developed to give HTBasic full compatibility with the HP-IB interface found on Hewlett-Packard’s 9000 Series 200/300 Workstations.
DownloadsTransEra configuration utility.
Card Defaults |
|
| Base Address | 1 |
| Interrupt | 5 |
 General Setup |
IRQ Conflict with Plug & Play |
| Multiple GPIB Cards |
NT/2000 Support |
| Troubleshooting |
Sales Information |
The TransEra IEEE-488 bus controller board includes the Texas Instruments 9914 IEEE-488 controller chip to provide complete hardware compatibility with an HP workstation’s HP-IB hardware.
The card is shipped with the options and jumpers already set for correct operation with HTBasic. If you have another board in your computer that uses interrupt 5 or I/O addresses in the range &H2A0 to &H2BF, you will need to change either the TransEra board or the other board so that the two no longer conflict. The following paragraphs explain how to change the default address, interrupt number or disable the System Controller status of the board.
I/O Address
The default I/O address for the Model 900 card is &H02B8. Addresses in the range &H02A0 to &H02BF are used. If these addresses conflict with other hardware installed in your computer, the address can be changed. It can be set to any address between &H0018 - &H03F8, in increments of &H20. The board uses 24 I/O addresses below and 8 above the specified address. This range is listed as the Address Range in the table below:
I/O Address Table
|
Chip |
Switch
Number |
Address |
||||||
|
Address |
7 |
6 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
Range |
|
18 |
on |
on |
on |
on |
on |
on |
on |
000-01F |
|
38 |
on |
on |
on |
on |
on |
on |
off |
020-03F |
|
58 |
on |
on |
on |
on |
on |
off |
on |
040-05F |
|
78 |
on |
on |
on |
on |
on |
off |
off |
060-07F |
|
98 |
on |
on |
on |
on |
off |
on |
on |
080-09F |
|
0B8 |
on |
on |
on |
on |
off |
on |
off |
0A0-0BF |
|
0D8 |
on |
on |
on |
on |
off |
off |
on |
0C0-0DF |
|
0F8 |
on |
on |
on |
on |
off |
off |
off |
0E0-0FF |
|
118 |
on |
on |
on |
off |
on |
on |
on |
100-11F |
|
138 |
on |
on |
on |
off |
on |
on |
off |
120-13F |
|
158 |
on |
on |
on |
off |
on |
off |
on |
140-15F |
|
178 |
on |
on |
on |
off |
on |
off |
off |
160-17F |
|
198 |
on |
on |
on |
off |
off |
on |
on |
180-19F |
|
1B8 |
on |
on |
on |
off |
off |
on |
off |
1A0-1BF |
|
1D8 |
on |
on |
on |
off |
off |
off |
on |
1C0-1DF |
|
1F8 |
on |
on |
on |
off |
off |
off |
off |
1E0-1FF |
|
218 |
on |
on |
off |
on |
on |
on |
on |
200-21F |
|
238 |
on |
on |
off |
on |
on |
on |
off |
220-23F |
|
258 |
on |
on |
off |
on |
on |
off |
on |
240-25F |
|
278 |
on |
on |
off |
on |
on |
off |
off |
260-27F |
|
298 |
on |
on |
off |
on |
off |
on |
on |
280-29F |
|
2B8 |
on |
on |
off |
on |
off |
on |
off |
2A0-2BF |
|
2D8 |
on |
on |
off |
on |
off |
off |
on |
2C0-2DF |
|
2F8 |
on |
on |
off |
on |
off |
off |
off |
2E0-2FF |
|
318 |
on |
on |
off |
off |
on |
on |
on |
300-31F |
|
338 |
on |
on |
off |
off |
on |
on |
off |
320-33F |
|
358 |
on |
on |
off |
off |
on |
off |
on |
340-35F |
|
378 |
on |
on |
off |
off |
on |
off |
off |
360-37F |
|
398 |
on |
on |
off |
off |
off |
on |
on |
380-39F |
|
3B8 |
on |
on |
off |
off |
off |
on |
off |
3A0-3BF |
|
3D8 |
on |
on |
off |
off |
off |
off |
on |
3C0-3DF |
|
3F8 |
on |
on |
off |
off |
off |
off |
off |
3E0-3FF |
If you change the I/O address, you must inform the software that uses the board. If you are using HTBasic, specify the new address in the LOAD BIN statement:
LOAD BIN "GPIB;BASE 3B8"
This statement corresponds to an I/O address of &H3B8 and the options should be set as follows:
|
Chip |
Switch
Number |
Address |
||||||
|
Address |
7 |
6 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
Range |
|
3B8 |
on |
on |
off |
off |
off |
on |
off |
3A0-3BF |
Interrupt and DMA Jumpers
The jumpers at J1 specify the I/O interrupt number used by the board, and should be set to 5. You may use another interrupt if it is not being used by another device. Move the jumper and inform the software using the board. If you are using HTBasic, you specify the interrupt in the LOAD BIN option. For example, to use interrupt 3, you would place the jumper on I3 and use the following LOAD BIN statement in your AUTOST file:
LOAD BIN "GPIB;INT 3" DMA Channel
The jumpers at J2 specify the DMA request and acknowledge channels used by the board. If DMA is not used by the software driver, no jumpers should be placed on J2. This is the default. If DMA is used, the same channel should be used for both. Pick a channel that is not being used by another device. Generally, channels 1 and 3 are the only available channels. Put on the jumpers and inform the software driver. If you are using HTBasic, specify the DMA channel in the LOAD BIN statement with the DMA option. For example, to use DMA channel 1, place the jumpers on DR1 and DA1 and include the following option in your LOAD BIN statement:
LOAD BIN "GPIB;DMA 1" System Controller
Switch 8 is used to enable or disable the System Controller capabilities of the board. If switch 8 is on, the board will act as system controller. When using the board with HTBasic, the switch setting specifies the default state, which is overridden with either the -SYSTEM or -NOTSYS driver options.
Only one system controller can be attached to the bus at a time. If you have another computer on the bus that will be the system controller, you may disable the system controller capabilities of the Model 900 card by setting switch 8 off. The card then defaults to a Talker/Listener device. If control is passed to the card, it can become the active controller.
Any combination of up to four GPIB interfaces may be active at one time. Each GPIB interface is associated with an Interface Select Code (ISC) by the LOAD BIN command. To use more than one GPIB interface, each interface must have a unique ISC, BASE address, and IRQ. Therefore, a separate LOAD BIN command is required for each interface. However, you cannot use the same driver file name in more than one LOAD BIN command.To use more than one GPIB interface that use the same driver, you must load copies of the driver with altered names. Here is an example that uses one GPIB card with ISC 7 and a second card with ISC 8.
- Go to the HTBasic directory. For example:
c: cd \HTBWIN
- Make a copy of the GPIB driver. The copy can have any arbitrary base name, but must end with the .DW6 suffix. For example:
c:copy GPIB.DW6 GPIB2.DW6
- Run HTBasic for Windows.
- Load one driver for ISC 7. For example:
LOAD BIN "GPIB;ISC 7"
- Load the driver for ISC 8. For example:
"Error 167":LOAD BIN "GPIB2; ISC 8"
This is the most common error returned when using the LOAD BIN statement to load HTBasic drivers. Fortunately, the cause of the error is almost always the same: disagreement between driver parameters and actual card settings.
Nine times out of ten , when fielding this call, the answer is found in a discrepancy between the BASE and INT values loaded in the LOAD BIN statement, and the BASE and INT values setup on the card (jumper switches or software settings).
To properly deduce the source of " Error 167," check the following areas.
- Determine the base address setting and interrupt setting on the card itself.
- Make sure that these values agree with those specified in the LOAD BIN statement.
If the value of the jumper switches on the card were set to a base address of 2B8, and an interrupt of 5. You would need to assure that the LOAD BIN statement agrees. For example:
LOAD BIN "GPIB;BOARD BASE 2B8 INT 5"
- Make sure that no other hardware devices in your computer are set to use this same interrupt.
(Note: On most new motherboards, Interrupt 2 is taken by the motherboard so do not use it. Other major culprits of conflicts are network and video cards)
If your plug and play Windows is using the interrupt or base address you would like your Model 900 card to use, you must reserve these resources for the card from inside of Windows. To reserve resources, go to the System Control Panel, then get the properties of the Computer. Then, click on the Reserve Resources Tab. You may now add the resources that you want to assign to the Model 900 card. It is best to check the View Resources Tab first to find possible available resources. If you find available resources, you will not necessarily have to reserve them. Once these resources are reserved, other plug & play devices will find other available resources, leaving your Model 900 card's resources for you to assign from HTBasic. Note that Windows 9x will not recognize your Model 900 card, however, HTBasic will.NT/2000 Support
Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 have a protective layer that prevents direct access to the hardware from a software program. This layer is called the Hardware Abstraction Layer. To access the hardware directly a Kernel layer driver must be provided. The GPIB driver that is shipped with HTBasic for accessing the Model 900 card from DOS, Windows 3.x and Windows 9x accesses the hardware directly without the help of a Kernel layer driver. So, to access this card from NT/2000 it was necessary for TransEra to write a Kernel layer driver.