Optical
Chopper
System
18488-D02 Rev G, September 24, 2012
Page 15
www.thorlabs.com
Part 6.
Remote Communications
The MC2000 may also be controlled by a command line language through the USB port. This is offered
to enable operation through a terminal interface or for those who may want to write their own program
to control the system.
6.1. Installing the USB Drivers
Prior to running the command line interface, the USB drivers must be installed. The MC2000 must not
be connected to the PC while installing the drivers. Insert the CD that was supplied with your unit into
your PC. From the dialog box that is displayed, select the Install Drivers button. If the dialog box is not
displayed, browse to the CD and run CD-Starter.exe. Follow the onscreen prompts to install the driver.
After the driver is installed, attach the MC2000 to the PC and power it on. Your PC will then detect the
new hardware and will prompt you when the installation is complete.
6.2. Command Line Interface
Once the USB drivers have been installed and the unit connected to the PC and powered on, configure
the terminal emulator as follows:
•
Baud Rate = 115.2K Bits Per Second
•
Data Bits = 8
•
Parity = None
•
Stop Bits = 1
•
Flow Control = None
If the connection is correct you will see the following after pressing the “Enter” key.
Command error CMD_NOT_DEFINED
Followed immediately by the prompt:
>
The basic structure of the interface is a keyword followed by either an equals sign “=” or a question
mark “?”. The “=” or “?” will determine if the string is a command or a query. All strings (commands
and queries) must be terminated by a carriage return (CR) or pressing the ENTER key on the computer.
The command structure is as follows:
Keyword=argument(CR)
Where “keyword” defines the function and “argument” is a numerical value followed by a carriage
return (CR). See listing below.
