Chapter 1
Introduction
PCI-Based MXI-2 Interface for Windows
1-4
ni.com
Also, the VXI/VME-MXI-2 automatically terminates the MXIbus if
installed as the first or last device in the MXIbus. If installed in the middle
of the MXIbus, the VXI/VME-MXI-2 automatically disables MXIbus
termination. In addition, you can have up to 64 MB of onboard DRAM
on the VXI/VME-MXI-2 module that either can be shared with the
VXI/VMEbus and MXIbus or used as a dedicated data buffer.
VME Users
When used with a VXI-MXI-2, VXI Resource Manager (Resman)
identifies and configures the VXI devices, including the VXI-MXI-2.
When used with a VME-MXI-2, Resman configures the VME-MXI-2
to allow the PCI-MXI-2, PCI-MXI-2 Universal, or PXI-8320 to access
devices in the VME chassis. Resman does not configure VME devices.
The VME specification does not include the initialization and
configuration procedures that the VXI specification requires.
If you want to include VME devices in your system, you can enter
information about your VME devices into the Measurement & Automation
Explorer (MAX) utility using the Create New wizard. Resman then can
properly configure the various device-specific VME address spaces and
VME interrupt lines. Notice that the VME-MXI-2 itself does conform to
the VXIbus register set and is therefore configured automatically by
Resman.
For each address space in which your device has memory, you must create
a separate pseudo-device entry with a logical address between 256 and 511.
For example, a VME device with memory in both A24 and A32 spaces
would require two entries. You also can specify which interrupt level(s) the
device uses. Interrupt levels cannot be shared by VXI and VME devices.
You then can access the device from NI-VXI/NI-VISA just as you would a
VXI device, by specifying the address space and the offset from the base at
which you have configured it. NI-VISA support for VME devices includes
the register access operations (both high-level and low-level) and the block
move operations, as well as the ability to receive interrupts.
Software Description
The NI-VXI/NI-VISA bus interface software includes a Resource
Manager, an interactive configuration and troubleshooting program,
a comprehensive library of software routines for VXI/VME programming,
a logging utility you can use for debugging, and graphical interactive
control programs for interacting with VISA. You can use this software to
