Tektronix 4000 Series, User Manual

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Installation
Connecting Your Oscilloscope to a Computer
You may want to document your work for future reference. Instead of saving screen images and waveform data to a CompactFlash
storage device or USB
fl ash drive, and then generating a report later, you may want to send the image or waveform data directly to
a remote PC for analysis. You may also want to control an oscilloscope at a remote location from your computer. (See page 218,
Saving a Screen Image .) (See page 220, Saving and Recalling Waveform Data .)
Two ways to connect your oscilloscope to a computer are through the VISA drivers and the e*Scope Web-enabled tools. Use
VISA to communicate with your oscilloscope from your computer through a software application. Use e*Scope to communicate
with your oscilloscope through a Web browser.
Using VISA
VISA lets you use your MS-Windows computer to acquire data from your oscilloscope for use in an analysis package that runs on
your PC, such as Microsoft Excel, National Instruments LabVIEW, or a program of your own creation. You can use a common
communications connection, such as USB, Ethernet, or GPIB, to connect the computer to the oscilloscope.
To set up VISA communications between your oscilloscope and a computer:
1. Load the VISA drivers on your computer.
You will
fi nd the drivers on the appropriate
CD that comes with your oscilloscope or
at the Tektronix software
fi nder Web page
(www.tektronix.com).
Tektronix 4000 Series Oscilloscopes User Manual 41