According to Mika Nystroem:
> Random question for anyone who might know:
> Is there enough support in NetBSD/hp300 to make connecting a bunch of
> HP-IB/IEEE488 lab equipment and using it relatively painless?  How
> much driver code, etc., might I have to write?  I'm putting together
> a lab of new equipment and would rather avoid having any MS-DOGs 
> in there and just happen to have two 425t's lying around...
> 
>    Mika
> 
> P.S. Has XhpBSD been fixed any since the last time I tried it? (About
> six months ago...it was pretty unusable at the time :( )
> 

I'm not sure if it does or not ... I'm just getting my first NetBSD
machine up right now, but I have a couple of remarks for you to think about:

If you don't want to run HPUX (personally, I like it), then you 
hava a couple of options for controlling instruments (disregarding
MSDOS, and the like):
  1) Purchase an HP E2050A LAN<->HPIB bridge. This is a really sweet little
     box about the size of two or three CD jewel cases stacked. It responds
     to the IEEE std RPC calls translating them to HPIB. The RPC interface
     is publicly avaialable as part of the VXI spec. 

  2) I've seen rumors of an ad hoc group doing a Linux driver for the
     National Instruments GPIB boards. Don't know the state.

  3) Maybe NetBSD's HPIB interface works, too. 

With any of these options, you'll probably need or want to roll your
own library to insulate you from the the nitty gritty bus details.

If you simply run HPUX on a 300,all you need to do is make the appropriate
library calls. You can also purchase a set of libraries (called HP SICL) 
that'll give you a common API for instrument control across HPUX 300, 700,
NT, DOS, 3.1, '95. The unix products will also act as a LAN proxy, just like
a big heavy E2050A.

Sorry there's nothing concrete here. It hasn't been an immediate problem
for me, given all of the HPUX boxes around here. I can tell you that it's
really nice having one API that works on all platforms, and I really like
my little E2050A.


-mikef

-- 

  Mike Ferrara M/S 4USS
  HP Microwave Instruments Div R&D
  1400 Fountain Grove Pkwy
  Santa Rosa, CA 95403-1799
  (707) 577-4479
  mikef@sr.hp.com

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