Looking for ~20 yr old software to interface Agilent 54622D oscilloscope with PC - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: CzarAlex
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 28, 2022, 02:23:08 am
content: Greetings.I picked up my first oscilloscope this weekend:Agilent 54622D (specs and description)I see there is (was?) software available to interface this with a PC using an RS-232 serial cable. I have a serial to USB cable that I've used for other applications without incident. I hooked it up and tried to find the needed software.It's called "Intuilink". I was able to find a copy, provided by the Keysight company (did they buy Agilent?):Here is the page for the software I grabbed.While 3.1 is the newest version, I couldn't get it to run the installer on my Win10 machine. The 1.1 version did run and I see the main screen. When I try to connect to the scope, I'm greeted with the following two screens:This one expecting a connection through GPIB::7And this when I go to search for an instrument.I understand that the GPIB interface is an optional addon for this unit which I don't have. I thought this software would allow me to use RS-232 but I don't have an option to change the interface.There was mention that I needed to download Agilent IO Libraries. I could find Keysight IO libraries (actually, I was redirected there) and was able to install "IO Control".I could get this far and got that program to apparently recognize my scope.Here is a picture of that.I am not able to send or read any commands from the unit with the drop down list of commands I can apparently send. I used the alias GPB::7 juuuust incase that made a difference. It did not.So.. I'm at a standstill. Would anyone here have any insight? My other option is to grab a USB floppy drive to transfer BMPs of the scope screen. No, I don't -need- any of this but it would be kinda fun.Thank you for taking a look!

author: Venturi962
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2022, 12:53:11 pm
content: Assuming you've setup the Scope I/O to use RS-232, I believe you'll also need a Null Modem Adapter. This is mentioned here:https://www.keysight.com/us/en/lib/resources/training-materials/communicating-with-instruments-using-rs232.htmlBefore trying Intuilink, you want to make sure you can get a response to the *IDN? command in IO Control, this means that the PC can talk to the scope.This thread implies that Intuilink 4.3 is the latest:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/fs-(eu)-agilent-54622d/msg3068220/#msg3068220

author: CzarAlex
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 28, 2022, 01:03:03 pm
content: I'm using this cablehttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B0759HSLP1With this gender changerhttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B00005111MI'll take a look tonight to see if the wiring matches what's needed.

author: Venturi962
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2022, 01:11:20 pm
content: You'll need something like this:https://www.amazon.com/female-slimline-transfer-serial-adapter/dp/B075XHWVSJ/

author: CzarAlex
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 28, 2022, 01:34:54 pm
content: Ordered! Slated for delivery tomorrow. I'll report back.Thank you for finding a direct link like that.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2022, 04:15:21 pm
content: I did manage to get all this working with my 65422D, but the software is quite limited and very slow...

author: CzarAlex
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 28, 2022, 04:16:27 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on February 28, 2022, 04:15:21 pmWas this via RS-232?

author: EE-digger
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2022, 04:53:58 pm
content: If I remember correctly, the Intuiilink interfaces use VB scripts which you can view or edit within Excel. As another poster mentioned, it tends to be slow and is limited, but it did work. Used it for DMM and for signal generator in the past.

author: CzarAlex
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 28, 2022, 04:55:21 pm
content: Quote from: EE-digger on February 28, 2022, 04:53:58 pmThank you. I'm hoping this null modem adapter is all I need. Slow is alright with me for this.

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2022, 06:09:40 pm
content: Quote from: CzarAlex on February 28, 2022, 04:16:27 pmYes, via RS232.Downloading data is very slow, e.g. for a screen shot.

author: CzarAlex
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 28, 2022, 06:11:21 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on February 28, 2022, 06:09:40 pmDid you use a null modem cable for this? And which software were you using?

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2022, 10:10:25 pm
content: Quote from: CzarAlex on February 28, 2022, 06:11:21 pmYes, I used a null modem adaptor in the line.I pretty much followed the guidance here:https://hackaday.io/project/171625-agilent-5460054500-extract-data-to-pcI downloaded the software as described in that article, and got it to work (on Windows 7).I found it so slow that I went back to using a floppy disk! There is another option: the BenchLink XL 54600 v2 application, which I found on the Keysight web site. This is very old software, but a lot lighter weight than the above monstrous libraries, but I had trouble getting it to work on Windows 7. But you inspired me to try again just now: I extracted the archive and set the Setup.exe to run in Windows XP sp3 compatibility mode. The install started right up and looks like it might work! If it can be made to work it actually looks better than the above newer software in many ways... I think this is the software @EE-Digger was talking about above, it comes with Excel plug-ins etc. that may or may not work with newer versions of Excel!

author: CzarAlex
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 28, 2022, 10:32:52 pm
content: Quote from: SilverSolder on February 28, 2022, 10:10:25 pmExcellent. I'll wait until tomorrow when my null modem adapter arrives and try this out. I was able to find the specific software version mentioned in the hackaday article and have it installed. Thank you! I'll report back!

author: SilverSolder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 01, 2022, 07:32:56 pm
content: I was playing a little with BenchLink XL 54600 v2 yesterday. It is, unfortunately, very ancient software going back to the Windows 98 days. It does not like 64 bit windows, as you'd expect. It might work well in a virtual machine with an older version of Windows...What we really need is a "new" application that talks to this scope!

author: CzarAlex
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 01, 2022, 11:13:20 pm
content: SOLVED!The null modem adapter worked just fine and I have access to the unit. Thank you everyone!!