National Instruments VXI/VMEpc 600 series User Manual Download

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VXI/VME

Getting Started with Your
VXI/VMEpc

™

600 Series

for Windows 95/NT

VXI/VMEpc 600 Series for Windows 95/NT

May 1998 Edition

Part Number 321882A-01

Summary of Contents for VXI/VMEpc 600 series

Page 1: ...VXI VME Getting Started with Your VXI VMEpc 600 Series for Windows 95 NT VXI VMEpc 600 Series for Windows 95 NT May 1998 Edition Part Number 321882A 01 ...

Page 2: ... 3336 Canada Ontario 905 785 0085 Canada Québec 514 694 8521 Denmark 45 76 26 00 Finland 09 725 725 11 France 01 48 14 24 24 Germany 089 741 31 30 Hong Kong 2645 3186 Israel 03 6120092 Italy 02 413091 Japan 03 5472 2970 Korea 02 596 7456 Mexico 5 520 2635 Netherlands 0348 433466 Norway 32 84 84 00 Singapore 2265886 Spain 91 640 0085 Sweden 08 730 49 70 Switzerland 056 200 51 51 Taiwan 02 377 1200 ...

Page 3: ...S OF DATA PROFITS USE OF PRODUCTS OR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY THEREOF This limitation of the liability of National Instruments will apply regardless of the form of action whether in contract or tort including negligence Any action against National Instruments must be brought within one year after the cause of action accrues National Instruments shall n...

Page 4: ...dential area is likely to cause harmful interference in which case the user will be required to correct the interference at his own expense Notices to User Changes or modifications not expressly approved by National Instruments could void the user s authority to operate the equipment under the FCC Rules This device complies with the FCC rules only if used with shielded interface cables of suitable...

Page 5: ...Description 1 2 Software Description 1 2 Software Configurations 1 3 National Instruments Application Software 1 4 Files and Directories Installed on Your Hard Drive 1 5 Chapter 2 Setting up Your VXI VME System Configuring the Hardware 2 1 Installing the Hardware 2 2 Installed Software 2 3 Booting Your System for the First Time 2 3 Verifying Your System Configuration 2 4 Chapter 3 Developing Your ...

Page 6: ...mples 3 5 Table A 1 VXI VMEpc 600 Series Hardware Default Settings A 1 Table A 2 VXIpc T M Explorer Device Tab Default Settings A 2 Table A 3 VXIpc T M Explorer Shared Memory Tab Default Settings A 2 Table A 4 VXIpc T M Explorer PCI Tab Default Settings A 3 Table A 5 VXI VME MXI 2 T M Explorer Device Tab Default Settings A 3 Table A 6 VXI VME MXI 2 T M Explorer VXI VME Bus Tab Default Settings A 4...

Page 7: ... Series and the NI VXI VISA software Chapter 3 Developing Your Application discusses the software utilities you can use to start developing applications that use the NI VXI VISA driver Appendix A Default Settings summarizes the default settings for the hardware and software in your kit Appendix B Common Questions addresses common questions you may have about using the NI VXI VISA software on the V...

Page 8: ...r dialog box buttons or options bold italic Bold italic text denotes a note caution or warning italic Italic text denotes emphasis a cross reference or an introduction to a key concept This font also denotes text from which you supply the appropriate word or value monospace Text in this font denotes text or characters that you should literally enter from the keyboard sections of code programming e...

Page 9: ...re This brief quick start manual describes how to get started with your kit using the default hardware and software settings Refer to the following manuals for more information about the hardware or software Getting Started Manual Installation and Configuration VXI VMEpc 600 Series User Manual Change Hardware Settings Optional NI VISA User Manual NI VISA Reference NI VXI and NI VISA Function Help ...

Page 10: ...the NI VXI online help for Windows 95 NT in the NIVXI folder Refer to the NI VXI Graphical Utilities Reference Manual and the NI VXI Text Utilities Reference Manual to learn more about the NI VXI utilities Refer to the NI VISA User Manual to learn about VISA and how to use it in your system The NI VISA online help describes the attributes events and operations you can use in NI VISA You can find t...

Page 11: ...ve your comments on our products and manuals We are interested in the applications you develop with our products and we want to help if you have problems with them To make it easy for you to contact us this manual contains comment and configuration forms for you to complete These forms are in Appendix D Customer Communication at the end of this manual ...

Page 12: ... to Use This Manual The following flowchart shows where to turn in this manual for more details on configuring and using the hardware and software What You Need to Get Started VXI VMEpc 650 embedded controller VXIbus or VMEbus mainframe Keyboard and included adapter cable Mouse Yes No Chapter 3 Develop Your Application Using Hardware Defaults Gather What You Need to Get Started Chapter 1 Install H...

Page 13: ... memory interrupts and triggers All models in the VXI VMEpc 600 Series are fully VXIplug play compliant and can be used with PC compatible software tools the National Instruments LabVIEW and LabWindows CVI application software and the NI VXI NI VISA and NI 488 2 bus interface software For in depth details on the VXI VMEpc 600 Series hardware including a description of the differences between the v...

Page 14: ...l GPIB VXI or VME devices This utility also adopts the functionality of the NI DAQ Configuration utility so you can configure National Instruments VXI DAQ cards For VXI users T M Explorer also features various options of how to run the VXI Resource Manager Resman You can still execute Resman independently to configure your instruments after a power cycle but you can also perform resource manager o...

Page 15: ...ct VXI control LabVIEW and LabWindows CVI include all the tools needed for instrument control data acquisition analysis and presentation LabVIEW is a complete programming environment that departs from the sequential nature of traditional programming languages and features a graphical programming environment LabWindows CVI is an interactive C development environment for building test and measuremen...

Page 16: ...s of that directory The os directory contains a subdirectory corresponding to the operating system installed on your computer That subdirectory contains an image of the CD from which your operating system was installed As a result you do not have to insert the CD when you install a new peripheral When you are asked to insert the CD you can simply direct the system to look in the images os director...

Page 17: ...gs Configuring the Hardware The default hardware settings are acceptable for most typical applications Refer to Appendix A Default Settings for a complete listing of the hardware and software default settings The VXI VMEpc 600 Series User Manual fully describes the configuration and installation of each embedded computer in the VXI VMEpc 600 Series Refer to this manual if you want to try a differe...

Page 18: ...as system controller The system controller operates certain VXI VMEbus lines as required for VXI VME systems Verify that any other devices with system controller capability that are located in the same chassis are not configured as system controller Caution Having more than one device configured as system controller will damage the VXI VME system For VXI systems that include VME devices ensure tha...

Page 19: ...te checkbox and insert the configuration disk Follow the instructions as prompted Do not select either checkbox if you did not order LabVIEW or LabWindows CVI Continue with the rest of the Setup program Caution Do not disregard the prompt to configure the system for LabVIEW or LabWindows CVI The Setup program assumes you do not need these programs and deletes them from your hard drive unless you i...

Page 20: ... Your System Configuration After you finish configuring the system through T M Explorer verify the system configuration through one of the interactive control utilities Use VIC under NI VXI or VISAIC under NI VISA For an example on how to use VIC refer to the Device Interaction section in Chapter 3 Developing Your Application ...

Page 21: ...ou can access these utilities through the Windows Start menu Open either the NI VXI or NI VISA program group and select the utility you want to use Configuration The configuration utilities in your kit are T M Explorer and Resman Resman is the application that performs VXI Resource Manager functions as described in the VXIbus specification Its most important functions include configuring all VXI d...

Page 22: ...d serial devices on the screen You can add devices that cannot be detected dynamically by T M Explorer through the Add Device Wizard in the Edit menu Such devices include VME devices certain GPIB devices and serial ports You can view the properties such as logical address address space used primary address and so on of each device by right clicking on the device in the tree When you view the prope...

Page 23: ...hows you the syntax for this command which reads VME address space The first argument is the access parameters for selecting the address space byte order and so on The second is the VME address to read and the third is the width of the data to read Type vxiin 1 0xC000 2 The History window shows the result of the command execution such as Return Status 0 SUCCESS value 0x9ff6 If the value ends with ...

Page 24: ...th NI VXI and NI VISA grant you register level access of VXI VME instruments as well as messaging capability to message based devices With either interface you can service asynchronous events such as triggers and interrupts and also assert them The best way to learn how to program with NI VXI or NI VISA is by reviewing the example programs included in your software In the Examples directory you wi...

Page 25: ...can also specify which interrupt levels the device uses VXI and VME devices cannot share interrupt levels You can then access the VME device from NI VXI or NI VISA just as you would a register based 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 l...

Page 26: ...necessary symbols The VXINT symbol is required You must define it when using the Microsoft C or Borland C compiler VXINT designates the application as a Windows 95 NT application Note LabWindows CVI automatically defines the correct symbol You do not need to define VXINT when using LabWindows CVI The BINARY_COMPATIBLE symbol is optional It makes the application binary compatible with embedded VXI ...

Page 27: ...akes to National Instruments T M drivers including NI VXI NI VISA and NI 488 2 NI 488 2 users may notice that NI Spy is very similar to GPIB Spy It highlights functions that return errors so you can quickly spot which functions failed during your development NI Spy can log the calls your program makes to these drivers so you can check them for errors at your convenience You can also control your i...

Page 28: ...2 this appendix also summarizes the software default settings for the VXI VME MXI 2 VXI VMEpc 600 Series This section summarizes the hardware and software default settings for the VXI VMEpc 600 Series Notice that some of the jumpers described in Table A 1 are for VXI configuration only Table A 1 VXI VMEpc 600 Series Hardware Default Settings Jumper Description Default Setting Description W1 Power ...

Page 29: ... CMOS Table A 2 VXIpc T M Explorer Device Tab Default Settings Editor Field Default Setting Logical address 0 Device class Message based Size of Servant area 0 Number of handlers 1 Number of interrupters 0 Table A 3 VXIpc T M Explorer Shared Memory Tab Default Settings Editor Field Default Setting Memory sharing Don t share memory Shared RAM size 64 KB when sharing memory Reserved physical memory ...

Page 30: ... Default Setting Low level register access API support Enabled User window size 64 KB Table A 5 VXI VME MXI 2 T M Explorer Device Tab Default Settings Editor Field Default Setting Logical address Use DIP switch Address space A24 Requested memory 16 KB A24 A32 write posting Disabled A16 write posting Disabled Interlocked mode Disabled Assumes no DRAM is installed If DRAM is installed the Address sp...

Page 31: ...to retry Disabled Transfer limit 256 Arbiter type Priority Fair requester Enabled Arbiter timeout Enabled Request level 3 Table A 7 VXI VME MXI 2 T M Explorer MXI 2 Bus Tab Default Settings Editor Field Default Setting System controller Auto detect Bus timeout value 1 ms MXI 2 auto retry Disabled MXI transfer limit Unlimited MXI fair requester Disabled Perform parity checking Enabled MXI 2 CLK10 s...

Page 32: ... is a console based version of VXIedit VIC Use this utility to interactively communicate with VXI devices over the VXIbus using the NI VXI API VICtext This is a console based version of VIC VISAconf This utility configures settings used by NI VISA VISAIC Use this utility to interactively communicate with VISA devices GPIB VXI Serial using NI VISA VXI VME system integration with the old utilities t...

Page 33: ...Explorer 3 Run VIC or VISAIC to verify communication in your system What happened to VXIinit You no longer need to run VXIinit to initialize settings on your hardware The loading of hardware settings now takes place in the driver completely eliminating the need for VXIinit Where do I find the information that VXIinit used to print You can view information about your controller from the properties ...

Page 34: ...u should reset all of your VXI instruments Systems consisting of only a VMEpc 600 Series controller a VME chassis and VME boards do not need to run Resman when using NI VXI software even though the devices do not appear in the T M Explorer connection tree However you would not be able to use VISA without manually adding the VME devices to the system by using T M Explorer as described above and the...

Page 35: ...t this NI VXI driver supports You can find version information about the VISA driver through VISAIC by selecting About from the Help menu How can I determine the serial number and hardware revision of the VXI VMEpc embedded computers Run T M Explorer and right click on the name of the VXI VMEpc Select Hardware Configuration and T M Explorer displays the dialog box for the device The title bar incl...

Page 36: ...mming their registers If you have any message based devices you can send and receive messages with the WSwrt and WSrd functions Notice that VXIinReg and VXIoutReg are for VXI devices only but you can use VXIin and VXIout for both VXI and VME Finally if you are using LabVIEW or LabWindows CVI and you have instrument drivers for the devices in your chassis you can use the interactive features of the...

Page 37: ...he VXI VMEpc 600 Series uses the Cirrus Logic CL GD5446 chip a 64 bit graphics accelerator The chip is compatible with the Standard VGA video output Microsoft Windows video driver as well as the Cirrus Logic video driver For more information on the video driver refer to the c images manuals directory What kind of monitor can I use with the VXI VMEpc 600 Series Can I use Super VGA VXI VMEpc 600 Ser...

Page 38: ...VMEpc 600 Series User Manual for information on enabling and defeating the FSD circuitry How do I check the configuration of the memory floppy drive hard drive time date and so on You can view these parameters in the BIOS setup To enter the BIOS setup reboot the VXI VMEpc controller and press the DEL key during the memory tests Refer to Chapter 4 BIOS in the VXI VMEpc 600 Series User Manual for mo...

Page 39: ...bWindows CVI Run Time Engine This software is installed if necessary during the NI VXI VISA installation Depending on the type of installation you choose you may need up to 20 MB of free space available to accommodate the NI VXI VISA software If you choose the Custom installation method Setup displays the amount of memory required for the options you select To be compliant with VXIplug play specif...

Page 40: ... where X is your floppy drive usually A X setup exe and press Enter 3 Click on the Next button at the Welcome screen to start the installation and accept the license agreement Note If Setup detects a 16 bit DOS or Windows 3 x version of the NI VXI software it prompts you to remove it Setup will quit so you can uninstall the old software If you have a previous 32 bit Windows 95 or Windows NT versio...

Page 41: ...DME files that Setup prompts you to read Complete your software installation as follows 1 When the installation process completes you must reboot your computer for the changes to take effect The NI VXI driver is loaded at this time 2 If you backed up the manufacturer and model name files restore them to the TBL subdirectory of your NI VXI directory before running T M Explorer 3 After you install t...

Page 42: ...systems does not answer your questions we offer fax and telephone support through our technical support centers which are staffed by applications engineers Electronic Services Bulletin Board Support National Instruments has BBS and FTP sites dedicated for 24 hour support with a collection of files and documents to answer most common customer questions From these sites you can also download the lat...

Page 43: ...struments office in your country contact the source from which you purchased your software to obtain support Country Telephone Fax Australia 03 9879 5166 03 9879 6277 Austria 0662 45 79 90 0 0662 45 79 90 19 Belgium 02 757 00 20 02 757 03 11 Brazil 011 288 3336 011 288 8528 Canada Ontario 905 785 0085 905 785 0086 Canada Quebec 514 694 8521 514 694 4399 Denmark 45 76 26 00 45 76 26 02 Finland 09 7...

Page 44: ...____ Instruments used _________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ National Instruments hardware product model _____________ Revision ____________________ Configuration ___________________________________________________________________ National Instruments software product ___________________ Vers...

Page 45: ...__________________________________________________________ Hard Drive Size ______________________ Video Memory___________________________ Processor Speed _______________________________________________________________ Slot Location _________________________________________________________________ W1 Setting MITE Self Configuration _____________________________________________ W2 Setting External T...

Page 46: ..._______________________________________ Address Space _______________________________________________________________ Requested Memory ____________________________________________________________ A24 A32 Write Posting ________________________________________________________ A16 Write Posting ____________________________________________________________ Interlocked or Normal Mode ___________________...

Page 47: ...____________ Type of video board installed _______________________________________________________ Operating system version __________________________________________________________ Operating system mode ___________________________________________________________ Programming language ___________________________________________________________ Programming language version _________________________...

Page 48: ...____________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________...

Page 49: ...6 MB standard address space A32 space VXIbus address space equivalent to the VME 4 GB extended address space address Character code that identifies a specific location or series of locations in memory In VISA it identifies a resource address space A set of 2n memory locations differentiated from other such sets in VXI VMEbus systems by six addressing lines known as address modifiers n is the numbe...

Page 50: ...s needed for successful use of the computer s hardware resources BTO See Bus Timeout Unit bus error An error that signals failed access to an address Bus errors occur with low level accesses to memory and usually involve hardware with bus mapping capabilities For example nonexistent memory a nonexistent register or an incorrect device access can cause a bus error Bus Timeout Unit A functional modu...

Page 51: ...ule device type model manufacturer address space and memory requirements In order to support automatic system and memory configuration the VXIbus specification requires that all VXIbus devices have a set of such registers D Data Transfer Bus DTB one of four buses on the VMEbus backplane The DTB is used by a bus master to transfer binary data between itself and a slave device DMA Direct Memory Acce...

Page 52: ...e numbering system with base 16 using the digits 0 to 9 and letters A to F Hz hertz cycles per second I IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers I O input output the techniques media and devices used to achieve communication between machines and users instrument driver A set of routines designed to control a specific instrument or family of instruments and any necessary related files...

Page 53: ...the defined VXIbus registers and communication protocols These devices are able to use Word Serial Protocol to communicate with one another through communication registers MITE A National Instruments custom ASIC a sophisticated dual channel DMA controller that incorporates the Synchronous MXI and VME64 protocols to achieve high performance block transfer rates N NI 488 or NI 488 2 The National Ins...

Page 54: ...olled by message based devices via device dependent register reads and writes Resman The name of the National Instruments Resource Manager in NI VXI bus interface software See Resource Manager Resource Manager A message based Commander located at Logical Address 0 which provides configuration management services such as address map configuration Commander and Servant mappings and self test and dia...

Page 55: ...bitration for data transfers across the backplane Installing such a device into any other slot can damage the device the VXI VMEbus backplane or both T trigger Either TTL or ECL lines used for intermodule communication TTL Transistor Transistor Logic U user window A region of address space reserved by the VXI VMEpc for use via the NI VXI low level function calls MapVXIAddress uses this address spa...

Page 56: ...k sourcing and arbitration for data transfers across the backplane Installing such a device into any other slot can damage the device the VMEbus backplane or both VXIbus VMEbus Extensions for Instrumentation W Word Serial Protocol The simplest required communication protocol supported by message based devices in a VXIbus system It utilizes the A16 communication registers to transfer data using a s...

Page 57: ... 4 customer communication xi D 1 to D 2 D debugging applications 3 7 default settings VXI VME MXI 2 T M Explorer Device Tab default settings table A 3 T M Explorer MXI 2 Bus Tab default settings table A 4 T M Explorer VXI VME Bus Tab default settings table A 4 VXI VMEpc 600 Series hardware default settings table A 1 to A 2 VXIpc T M Explorer Device Tab default settings table A 2 VXIpc T M Explorer...

Page 58: ...us Tab default settings table A 4 VXI VMEpc 600 Series hardware default settings table A 1 to A 2 VXIpc T M Explorer Device Tab default settings table A 2 VXIpc T M Explorer PCI Tab default settings table A 2 VXIpc T M Explorer Shared Memory Tab default settings table A 2 I IDE drives B 7 images directory 1 5 installation booting system for first time 2 3 hardware 2 2 installed software 2 3 reinst...

Page 59: ...or C 1 O os directory 1 5 P power cycling running Resman after note 3 1 programming See developing applications Q questions about NI VXI VISA software B 1 to B 7 determining version of NI VXI VISA software B 4 differences between old and new utilities B 1 to B 2 handling VME devices B 3 hardware questions B 4 to B 7 Resman B 3 startup Resman operation B 4 VISAconf B 2 to B 3 VXIedit B 2 to B 3 VXI...

Page 60: ... VXIpc PCI Tab default settings table A 2 VXIpc Shared Memory Tab default settings table A 2 V verifying system configuration 2 4 VIC utility debugging applications 3 7 interacting with devices 3 3 VISA API 3 4 VISAconf utility B 2 to B 3 VISAIC utility debugging applications 3 7 interacting with devices 3 3 3 4 VME devices adding manually with T M Explorer 3 1 to 3 2 programming considerations 3 ...

Page 61: ... 1 5 hardware description 1 2 installing in slot other than system controller slot B 7 LEDs on front B 5 requirements for getting started 1 1 to 1 2 software description See software upgrading B 7 VXI VMEpc embedded computers determining serial number and hardware revision B 4 W writing applications See developing applications ...

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