Setting Transera HT Basic setup on PC - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: tkamiya
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2021, 02:07:38 am
content: I think this forum is the best fit....I have several HP equipment connected via GPIB. My host adapter is a genuine NI USB-Plus. PC side is a Windows 10 PC with HTBasic, as well as native software, like PN3086 by John Miles. I also have the latest as of today drivers installed.Long story short, I can get PN3086 to find all of my devices in GPIB chain. They are found, and they do respond to commands. However, Transera HT Basic cannot see the controller and nothing on chain is detected. I've followed instructions and told HT Basic to enable GPIB and load the driver first. But still no go.Before I go into gory details, is there anyone who has experience setting up Transera HT Basic on PC platform?

author: Tony_G
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2021, 01:42:42 pm
content: I don't know how similar it is but I use the last version of HP Basic on my machine (which I think was developed for HP by Transera) with a NI GPIB-ENET/100.Happy to help however I can.TonyG

author: tkamiya
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2021, 04:29:25 pm
content: Tony,Thank you. Yes, I think HT basic and later version of basic by HP are the same thing. Mine is a PC is windows 10 connected to NI-USB-HS. On it, I have a Transera HT Basic development version.As I said earlier, I know physical connection and the setup works because another software can access all devices and they actually work like they should. However, HT basic implementation doesn't. I'm running HP3048 software for phase noise measurement. I have populated the configuration part of software with all devices with 7<GPIB ID> format as required. On HT side, I have OPTION > RUN env setup with the following enabled: BDAT LSB first, Create BASIC for Windows, Enable long filenames, Enamble MSI, enable DIM, save ASCII, enable long CAT dates. Change MSI is set as Add GPI BNI support, and I have a check mark on load at startup. Filemenu has Change MSI on open is selected.First few times, I was actually able to start up the HP3086 and go through the menu. So I did all that. But it saw none of the devices. Then, I went to the devices setup and eliminated all the equipment that isn't actually there. Now, I can't even startup the software. As soon as I startup the software (HP), it goes to error in a part where it go through the loop where it tries to check all the devices in a chain. Restoring the config table to original version didn't help at all.I have John Miles PN3086 also installed on that box. That one works. Sees every devices and does what it is supposed to do. HP's original version does not.Did you have to do anything more/different to get HP basic to recognize devices?

author: merox
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2021, 04:59:41 pm
content: Quote from: tkamiya on May 04, 2021, 02:07:38 amWell, I've about two dozends testing machines running with that software in our electronics production, so I guess I have quite some experience with using and programming that software.How exactly have you set up the GPIB-Interface in HT Basic? Are you loading the drivers via the AUTOST-File or are you have you added it via the Drivers-Panel in HT Basic?Quote from: tkamiya on May 04, 2021, 04:29:25 pmWhat do you mean by "configuration part of software"? The HTBasic drivers panel?Also what you configure in "Option -> Run Environment" has absolutely nothing to do with device detection.A few explanations about what you've posted from that menu: "BDAT LSB first" just configures the byte order of binary files you create/save with HTBasic. "Enable DIM" configures wether you have to declare variables or not. "enable long CAT dates" configures the output of the CAT-command which is like the DIR-command in the windows shell. And why have you canged the MSI? The MSI just configures kind of the "root directory" for the software and should not be changed unless you have a good reason to do so.Please, post a few screenshots to clarify what you're doing.

author: Tony_G
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2021, 05:28:04 pm
content: It looks like they did a bunch more work after the version of HP Basic I have - I don't have any of those control panels.I did have to add this to my AUTOST file:LOAD BIN "GPIBNI;DEV GPIB0 ISC 7"to get it to work.TonyG

author: merox
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2021, 05:52:48 pm
content: Quote from: Tony_G on May 04, 2021, 05:28:04 pmI guess you've then got a version that just gives you a text interface and nothing else (apart from BPLUS) like Version 6.33 or so?The versions after that (the current one is 10.1 I think) are more windows-like and they let you choose wether you want to load drivers via the AUTOST file or a dedicated menu. But the AUTOST way still gives you more options than the menu.You also get a debugger (not the TRACE command) and a new editor interface which offers Syntax-Highlighting (in color :-P ) which also has copy and paste instead of MOVELINES and COPYLINES.Apart from that, some things that you could do with the CONFIGURE-command are now accessible via a menu.

author: Tony_G
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2021, 06:46:28 pm
content: That's exactly it Merox - I think my version is 6.33 or so as you said - I have to do all my config via the AUTOST file - You probably have way more insight into the problem than I do as I'm many versions behind.I'd love those features but I'm not going to pay Transera prices to get themHappy to help out if needed though, just let me know.TonyG

author: tkamiya
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2021, 02:11:44 am
content: Thanks everybody. I'm away from home today. I'll get screen shots tomorrow and update. Mine is the latest from Transera as of less than a week ago - whatever it was.As to why I made those changes in various places, I was following notes on HP3048A that were made available (with HP's permission) on an HP history web site.

author: tkamiya
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2021, 04:07:46 am
content: I got it going.There was a hint. National Instrument "NI MAX" didn't run. Search for solution lead me to Windows runtime 32bit/64bit issue. I had to go to Microsoft site and download the latest for each. NI MAX ran and let me configure the adapter. After that, found few dumb mistake of my own with HT Basic setup. Then set up the HP3048. Now, instruments are seen correctly.Thanks everybody.

author: time27
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 01, 2024, 11:39:13 pm
content: I used Agilent E5810B, LAN to my LAN/WIFI, WIFI to "everything" in my lab.All my instruments talk on any laptop in house running Win10 and HT-BasicTesting was done with Agilent IO Library suiteIt worked flawlessly, I hope all my other projects were as lucky.//Nick