GPIB Support
Message Passing Facility

Release 1-3

Marty Kraimer
April 14, 2000

Requires

vxWorks 5.3 or later
Epics base release 3.13.beta12 or later
mpf 1-5 or later.

Acknowledgements

This support was derived from the GPIB support Jim Kowalkowski implemented for Hideos.
Tom Coleman wrote the first version for MPF.
Ron Sluiter helped improve the robustness of the implementation.

Introduction

Gpib support consists of the following:

Gpib - An abstract base class.
gpibSniff - The module that implements sniff for gpib.
GpibGsTi9914 - Support for the SBS Tech IP-488 (Formerly Green Springs).
GpibHideosLocal - This is an interface between the EPICS base drvGpib support and Gpib residing on the same processor. It does NOT use the MPF.
GpibHideosRemote - This is an interface between the EPICS base drvGpib support and Gpib residing on another processor. It uses MPF to pass requests and replies between the processors.
gpibServer.h - If GpibHideosRemote is used this is the server that receives messages from the client.

The Gpib support is complete in the sense that most users will not have to extend it. It is compatible with the Gpib support provided with epics base.

Restriction: Only one of GpibHideosLocal or GpibHideosRemote can be used on a particular processor. Removing this restriction requires changes to the version of drvGpib supplied with base.

GpibHideosXXX

These two source modules were written to be compatible with the Hideos support for the version of devGpib that appears in epics base releases 3.13.xxx and earlier. Hopefully drvGpib will be changed some day to allow interface specific gpib support to register itself with the driver. When this day comes GpibHideosXXX should be replaced.

The gpib support for mpf was written to be completely compatible with devGpibCommon and drvGpib.

Using the support in applications

In <top>/config edit the file RELEASE

Add the line

MPF_GPIB=<full path name>

In pre 3.13.1 versions of makeBaseApp it is also necessary to edit the file CONFIG_APP. Add the lines

ifdef MPF_GPIB
MPF_GPIB_BIN = $(MPF_GPIB)/bin/$(T_A)
endif

In your source directory edit Makefile.Vx:

If the mpf is being used in local mode, i.e. client and server of the same processor

LIBOBJS += $(MPF_GPIB_BIN)/Gpib.o
LIBOBJS += $(MPF_GPIB_BIN)/gpibSniff.o
LIBOBJS += $(MPF_GPIB_BIN)/GpibGsTi9914.o
LIBOBJS += $(MPF_GPIB_BIN)/GpibHideosLocal.o

LIBOBJS += $(MPF_BIN)/mpfLib
LIBOBJS += $(MPF_BIN)/ipLib

If mpf is being used in remote mode, i.e. client and server are on different processors

The server processor

LIBOBJS += $(MPF_GPIB_BIN)/Gpib.o
LIBOBJS += $(MPF_GPIB_BIN)/gpibSniff.o
LIBOBJS += $(MPF_GPIB_BIN)/GpibGsTi9914.o
LIBOBJS += $(MPF_GPIB_BIN)/gpibServer.o
LIBOBJS += $(MPF_BIN)/ipLib

LIBOBJS += $(MPF_BIN)/mpfLib

The client, i.e. epics processor

LIBOBJS += $(MPF_GPIB_BIN)/GpibHideosRemote.o

LIBOBJS += $(MPF_BIN)/mpfLib

For local mode the st.cmd file must have the following command.

...
initIpacCarrier("carrierName", 0)
initGpibGsTi9914("moduleName","carrierName","carrierSite",intVec)
HiDEOSGpibLinkConfig(link,0,"moduleName")

For remote mode

Server

...
initIpacCarrier("carrierName", 0)
initGpibGsTi9914("moduleName","carrierName","carrierSite",intVec)
initGpibServer("serverName","moduleName",bufsize,queuesize)

Client

HiDEOSGpibLinkConfig(link,0,"serverName")

Parameter	Value
moduleName	The IP module name. It is used to link the initGpibGsTi9914 and HiDEOSGpibLinkConfig commands.
carrierName	The name of the IP carrier. It links the initGpibGsTi9914 command with an initIpacCarrier commmand. See MPF documentation for details about initIpacCarrier.
carrierSite	The carrier site. Normally IP_a or IP_b or IP_c or IP_d
intVec	The vme interrupt vector to use. NOTE: intVec must be odd. If an even number is specified an error message is generated and intVec is increased by 1.
link	This is the link number as specified in the INP or OUT fields of records attached to this gpib interface
serverName	The name that connects the client to the correct server
bufsize	The read buffer size
queuesize	The maximum number of requests to queue

gpibSniff("moduleName",seconds)

This vxWorks shell command shows every character transmitted and received by the specified module for the number of seconds specified. For example:

gpibSniff("a-ip488",3) 
value = 0 = 0x0
iochp3458> 
R
T_?V
R-8.874270409E-01 0x0d 0x0a
T_?_?V
R-9.341735006E-01 0x0d 0x0a
T_?_?V
R-9.575970835E-01 0x0d 0x0a
T_?_?V
R-1.004537279E+00 0x0d 0x0a
T_?_?V
R-1.027972941E+00 0x0d 0x0a
T_?_?V
R-1.051432207E+00 0x0d 0x0a
T_?
gpibSniff done

GPIB Support Message Passing Facility