[time-nuts] OT: Prologix GPIB and HP3478A...The Answer!

[Chuck Harris]

Hi Abdul,

Bear in mind that it isn't proved that my HP3478A is working flawlessly.

It is possible that it has a flaw in its 488 drivers that prevents
them from ever putting pull ups on the bus.  This wouldn't be noticed
with a controller that fully met the 488 standard, such as the one in
the HP85B, or on a 488 bus that had more than one instrument.

You may still be safe with your cost saving decision.  Didier Juges says
his 3478A works just fine with his Prologix controller.  So we need
to ask him if he has ever successfully used his Prologix controller with
only the HP3478A on the bus... and what is the build number of his 3478A.

Mine is: 2911A523XX.

-Chuck Harris

Prologix wrote:
> Hi Chuck,
> 
> Good work identifying the problem! Leaving out the bus driver chips was a
> conscious decision based on available board space and was not made lightly.
> Extensive testing had shown that not to be an issue, so far. In fact, yours
> is the first reported case of a drive related problem. However, we consider
> even one incident to be one too many, and will be revisiting the decision
> during a future release.
> 
> Thank you for brining this to our attention.
> 
> Regards,
> Abdul