Install the CEC PCI-488 GPIB card

From SubfireWiki

Installing the driver and support software

1. Download the linux-gpib driver and interface library from http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=42378.
   • Choose the latest driver package for 2.4.x kernels. At the time of writing, this was 3.1.101.
   • Firefox will put it in hwtester's home
   • Create a 'downloaded_drivers' folder and a 'drivers' folder in hwtester's home
   • Open the drivers folder
2. Open the archive with the archive manager and extract its contents to the drivers directory
3. Move the .tar.gz file to downloaded_drivers.
4. Open a terminal and run these commands:
   1. cd drivers/linux-gpib-3.1.101/
   2. ./configure --disable-guile-binding --disable-perl-binding --disable-php-binding --disable-python-binding --disable-tcl-binding --disable-documentation
   3. make
   4. su -c 'make install'
   5. su -c 'usermod -G uucp,gpib hwtester'

Loading the driver

• Once installed, the driver can be loaded manually or automatically. Either way, you must modify /etc/gpib.conf.
  1. open a terminal and execute "su -c 'gedit /etc/gpib.conf'"
     • Replace the contents of the file with this:

/***********************************************************************
                 GPIB.CONF IEEE488 library config file
                             -------------------  

   copyright            : (C) 2002 by Frank Mori Hess
                          (C) 1994 by C.Schroeter
   email                : fmhess@users.sourceforge.net
 ***************************************************************************/
/***************************************************************************
 *    
 *   Syntax:
 *
 *         interface { ... } starts new interface board section
 *         device {...} device configuration
 *
 ***************************************************************************/  
/* This section configures the configurable driver characteristics
 * for an interface board, such as board address, and interrupt level.
 * minor = 0 configures /dev/gpib0, minor = 1 configures /dev/gpib1, etc.
 */ 
interface {
	minor = 0	/* board index, minor = 0 uses /dev/gpib0, minor = 1 uses /dev/gpib1, etc. */
	board_type = "cec_pci"	/* type of interface board being used */
	name = "CEC_PCI"	/* optional name, allows you to get a board descriptor using ibfind() */
	pad = 0	/* primary address of interface             */
	sad = 0	/* secondary address of interface           */
	timeout = T3s	/* timeout for commands */ 

	master = yes	/* interface board is system controller */
}

• Now, to manually load the driver, simply open a terminal and do this:
  1. su -c 'modprobe cec_gpib'
  2. su -c 'gpib_config'
• To do it automatically, simply do su -c 'gedit /etc/rc.local'
  • Add the following two lines (in order) somewhere before the last line:
    1. modprobe cec_gpib
    2. /usr/local/sbin/gpib_config

Testing the card

• Make sure you're in the 'gpib' group. If you've installed the drivers as mentioned above, and have not logged out and logged in, do so now.
• linux-gpib software comes with a simple testing program called ibtest. With it, you can write any string you like to any device on the GPIB bus.
• Open a terminal and execute these commands:
  1. ibtest
  2. d
  3. 1
  4. w
  5. MESS:STATE ON
     • Note that a box should have appeared on the first scope on the bus<
  6. w
  7. MESS:STATE OFF
     • Note that the box has disappeared