Section One
Operation of the GPIB
©National Instruments Corp.
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GPIB-PC User Manual
Configuration Requirements
To achieve the high data transfer rate that the GPIB was designed for,
the physical distance between devices and the number of devices on the
bus are limited.
The following restrictions are typical.
• A maximum separation of four meters between any two devices
and an average separation of two meters over the entire bus.
• A maximum total cable length of 20 meters.
• No more than 15 devices connected to each bus, with at least
two-thirds powered on.
Bus extenders are available from National Instruments and other
manufacturers for use when these limits must be exceeded.
Related Documents
For more information on topics covered in this section consult the
following related documents.
• IEEE Std. 488-1978, IEEE Standard Digital Interface for
Programmable Instrumentation.
• GPIB-PC Technical Reference Manual.