OS for GPIB, logging, graphing, voltnutting and such. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: kj7e
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2018, 04:35:37 pm
content: Going to finally setup a workstation for the electronics lab, I have an extra, late model Mac Mini I can use with a NI GPIB to Ethernet interface as well as a ICS 9065 GPIB Ethernet hub. For work, I use Linux and OSX, but I'm comfortable with Windows as well. I can set the Mac Mini up on either of the big three, OSX, Linux, or Windows. Which OS would be best suited for general metrology use including graphing/logging applications? Keep in mind, I'm a noob with GBIB and have lots to learn.

author: GEOelectronics
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2018, 05:36:42 pm
content: Mark me as +1 on the noob to this area of interest. Definitely something that's on the bucket list.This will be a great topic for me to watch and try to follow along.Is there a photo album on this blog showing home workstations?Late last year it became obvious that a "workbench" wasn't what was needed, because one project was never quite finished before another project interjects itself.Now the intention is several "workstations".The problem isn't with the concept, it's with the implementation with limited space, but so far so good.Anyhow, great topic, thanks for starting it, just remember type slow because I can't read all that fast.Geo

author: TiN
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2018, 05:50:47 pm
content: Can't get much smaller than Raspberry Pi running some Linux and storing data into CSV-files, with little help of linux-gpib and USB GPIB dongle (or network gateway, etc).I have guides how to setup few of popular industry standard GPIB dongles like NI GPIB-USB-HS and Agilent one on my site.UPD: Granted , coding some bodges might not look like noob-friendly, but getting paws dirty and figuring out how to get all working will lead to amazing feelings, when one line of code typed in 5 seconds will do what often takes mouse clicking and panning in noob-friendly GUIs and fangled fancy interfaces for 30 minutes (hello LabView)..

author: kj7e
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2018, 05:57:21 pm
content: Haha, I'm typing slow right now too. Had a nasty get-off on my dirtbike last Sunday, broken clavicle a few ribs. So in bed with one arm.I would also like to know, what programs people are using and are noob friendly, I found this in TiN's sticky above;RF Scientific GPIB logger:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/rf-scientific-gpib-logger-v-1-0/

author: dr.diesel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2018, 06:01:02 pm
content: Please excuse the mess, but I use two Pi's/touch screens built on a 3U aluminum plate dedicated for logging.Linux, lots of scripts, GPIB and SSH.

author: awallin
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2018, 06:23:14 pm
content: for long runs it's useful to have NTP keeping the machine clock approximately right.also long slow logging jobs run fine unce per minute or 10 minutes from cron.rrdtool or sqlite or similar for storing values and matplotlib or similar for plotting graphs.we have some ubuntu-LTS machines with this setup going for 4+ years without much trouble. (disable all auto-updates once you find a setup that works!)

author: Andreas
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2018, 07:07:27 pm
content: nothing is more annoying than that the time is walking back by some minutes suddenly.I switch time synchronisation off on my logging devices.with best regardsAndreas

author: MisterDiodes
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2018, 09:54:12 pm
content: ...On a Linux / Win system, keeping NTP service running shouldn't normally be causing time jumps. Ever. That is specifically designed from the ground up to smoothly slew the system clock, not jump it. NORMALLY. If you're seeing time jumps that could be an indicator that something is wrong on your system, or maybe you have a problem with your config - You might want tocheck on that. On our Linux systems from Rasp-Pi to multi-core servers that has never been an issue; for instance if file timestamps got mixed up that could be a real disaster.We keep the lab logging timestamps lined up to a couple small dedicated NTP servers (one is a R-Pi) that are disciplined by local GPS as well as the 'net time pool servers. If we see a glitch in the data we want to see what else happened at around same moment in real time...maybe a lightning strike, solar storm. earthquake, etc.EDIT: If you're using some other platform / device that can't slew the clock smoothly, then having the timestamp jump around would be a real problem.

author: sokoloff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2018, 11:22:18 pm
content: Quote from: dr.diesel on April 25, 2018, 06:01:02 pmTell us more, please...

author: thermistor-guy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2018, 02:13:37 am
content: Linux or cygwin; ethernet, Prologix ethernet-to-GPIB, Wiznet ethernet-to-RS232; gawk (GNU awk) scripts for controlling the test gear, logging, and extracting raw data from the logs; GNU Octave scripts for number crunching.The scripts can run locally or remotely, on Linux-native PCs, rpi, or Win PCs with cygwin.

author: guenthert
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2018, 09:24:12 am
content: Quote from: Andreas on April 25, 2018, 07:07:27 pmOuch. Make sure your logging software uses (monotonically increasing) system time, rather then wall time (which significantly jumps at least twice a year in most regions). But that is unrelated to NTP, which slews the clock (even for those pesky leap seconds), rather then sets it outright, unless it is way off.Relatedly, Raspberry Pi systems sadly lack a RTC; so after reboot you have to let them synchronize to a network time server.

author: kj7e
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2018, 01:09:09 pm
content: I have been off work this last week recovering from a dirt bike crash which left me with 4 rib fractures, a broken clavicle, and sever bruising from my lower back to my upper thigh on my right side (and I'm right handed). So I have had the time but just not the energy to get much done in the lab. I did manage to get a spare MacMini (i5 2.8Ghz, 16G Ram, 256GB SSD) I had laying around built, I decided to put Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit on it, since I had a copy laying around and I wanted a more general purpose dedicated LAB PC for both logging, device control, firmware updates, data plotting and manipulation. Got the NI-VISA library, PyVISA, LibreOffice (for CALC) + Bud's Legacy HP VB Macro XLS logger, EasyGPIB + Plotter, KE5FX GPIB tools, RF Scientific GPIB Logger, Keithley Kickstart and Test Script Builder, relevant Siglent software. Scored an eBay lot of GPIB cables and picked up a Keysight GPIB to USB controller.I may still pick up a Raspberry Pi 3 and tie it in, but I have lots to learn and play with for the next week or so. I can script in Pearl and Bash all day long, need to brush up on Python and VB.

author: ManateeMafia
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2018, 06:29:09 pm
content: I have three to four RPi running at a time. Two of them with linux-gpib that work great with the National Instruments USB GPIB interface.One is monitoring room temp/rh/BP with a BME280 and a fourth used as an IRC client and another BME280 + linux-gpib interface if needed.I recommend the RPi 3 version as it is a huge improvement to the RPi 2 variants. A Banana Pi has a SATA interface in case you want to use a SSD for data storage.I have some Mac PC's that could be used but I mostly run VM's with Windows and use the NI utilities to monitor the sent commands for debugging. Being able to monitor commands send to remote devices can save a lot of headache when you are debugging code.

author: hwj-d
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 29, 2018, 07:34:35 pm
content: Quote from: kj7e on April 28, 2018, 01:09:09 pmHave a look at Pizerow. They are small, cheap and powerful enough for this.https://www.pcworld.com/article/3175256/computers/the-10-raspberry-pi-zero-w-brings-wi-fi-and-bluetooth-to-the-minusule-micro-pc.htmlI wish you a speedy recovery.