[time-nuts] Prologix GPIB-USB vs. GPIB-LAN

Esa Heikkinen scifiscifi at sci.fi
Sun Jul 5 14:50:51 UTC 2009


If it's about "Ethernet vs. USB" queston I would always suggest 
Ethernet. - With any kind of equipment in question!

Ethernet is simpy much better: you don't need device drivers, it works 
with longer cables (over 10 times longer than USB), it's routable, you 
can use it remotely (VPN), you can turn it wireless (WLAN) and because 
there are no need for drivers it's much more platform / OS independent 
than USB.

USB is good for devices which can draw their power from USB port, like 
mices or keyboards. But it has many drawbacks: some USB devices won't 
work with Windows Vista. Some USB devices has stupid drivers which need 
to be installed for each USB port in the computer. I'm talking about the 
issue when you install a driver and later plug it into different USB 
port the system will ask you to isntall the driver again. Also, many USB 
devices based on some kind of USB-Serial chip (like FTDI) may have 
different COM-addresses for different USB ports and this leads to same 
kind of issue: it works only with one USB port witout changing some 
settings. In the worst case you must remember the corrent USB port for 
each device.

With Ethernet it's not essential which port (or to which switch) you 
plug in your device, as long the switch you are using is a part of your 
local network (or there is VPN remote connection to your network).

But... of course this in only my opinion. :-)

I have used the Prologix (LAN version) with KE5FX GPIB toolkit. You can 
use it for capturing plots from oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers etc. 
and write some kind of command scripts for the instruments. Maybe it's 
not best possible software for Prologix but it it's free.

-- 
73s!
Esa
OH4KJU




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