Agilent 82357B GPIB interface programming on Ubuntu Linux

Agilent 82357B GPIB interface programming on Ubuntu Linux.rst

GPIB interfacing using Agilent 82357B on Ubuntu Linux

I initially had some problems installing on my laptop, so decided to boot Ubuntu 12.04.5 LTS, 3.13.0-32-generic from USB and work from there.

Download the linux-gpib package, unpack and build. Get python-setuptools first for later Python bindings support.

wget --content-disposition --no-check-certificate https://sourceforge.net/projects/linux-gpib/files/linux-gpib%20for%203.x.x%20and%202.6.x%20kernels/3.2.20/linux-gpib-3.2.20.tar.gz/download
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python-dev libboost-python-dev python-setuptools --yes
tar xvfz linux-gpib-3.2.20.tar.gz
cd linux-gpib-3.2.20
./configure
make -j8
sudo make install
cd ..

Also download the firmware binary for the 82357B:

wget http://linux-gpib.sourceforge.net/firmware/gpib_firmware-2008-08-10.tar.gz
tar xvfz gpib_firmware-2008-08-10.tar.gz
cd ..

Use fxload to upload firmware to the GPIB interface:

wget --content-disposition --no-check-certificate https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/linux-hotplug/fxload/2008_10_13/fxload-2008_10_13.tar.gz
tar xvfz fxload-2008_10_13.tar.gz
cd fxload-2008_10_13
make
sudo make install
cd ..

Edit /etc/gpib.conf (as superuser) to say

board_type = "agilent_82357a"
name = "agi"

Load kernel module(s):

sudo modprobe gpib_common
sudo modprobe agilent_82357a

Insert the dongle into the USB port. Only the red "FAIL" LED should be on. Find the bus and device ID:

lsusb

e.g.

...
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 0957:0518 Agilent Technologies, Inc.
...

Plug the found bus and device ID into the command for fxload:

sudo fxload -D /dev/bus/usb/002/005  -t fx2 -I gpib_firmware-2008-08-10/agilent_82357a/measat_releaseX1.8.hex

Still only the "FAIL" LED is on.

The USB bus and device ID have now changed. Wait a moment and get the new ID:

lsusb

e.g.

...
Bus 002 Device 006: ID 0957:0518 Agilent Technologies, Inc.
...

Run fxload again with the new bus and device ID:

sudo fxload -D /dev/bus/usb/002/006  -t fx2 -I gpib_firmware-2008-08-10/agilent_82357a/measat_releaseX1.8.hex

All lights should be on.

Change permissions on /dev/gpib0 (ideally, you would manage this with a "gpib" usergroup instead):

sudo chmod 666 /dev/gpib0

Now, initialize the dongle. gpib_config has some trouble finding the library, so create a symbolic link first:

sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/libgpib.so.0 /lib/libgpib.so.0
sudo gpib_config

Only the green "READY" LED should now be on.

Now, make an entry for your device in /etc/gpib.conf. Default HP3456B factory address is ASCII "V" (22 dec) for talk and "6" for listen

...
name = "hp3456a"
pad = 22
...

You can use ibtest to do some testing.

ibtest

A simple Python interface can now be made using the linux-gpib Python bindings. For more advanced applications, consider using the visa (PyVISA) libraries.

import gpib
dev = gpib.find("hp3456a")      # N.B. define device ID in ``/etc/gpib.conf``
print dev.read()

References

[pyvisa]

PyVISA https://pyvisa.readthedocs.io/en/stable/

[linux-gpib]

linux-gpib : http://linux-gpib.sourceforge.net/

Hello. This was very useful. However, after following these instructions when I run the simple script:

import gpib
dev = gpib.find("hp3456a")
print gpib.read(dev, 99)

I get this error

InternalReceiveSetup: command failed
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/ubuntu/vna_comm_test/hello_world.py", line 3, in <module>
    print gpib.read(dev, 99)
gpib.GpibError: read() failed: An attempt to write command bytes to the bus has timed out.

Could you give me some insight as to why this could be happening? Thank you.

I am getting error with Agilent 82357b
$ sudo fxload -D /dev/bus/usb/003/010 -t fx2 -I gpib_firmware-2008-08-10/agilent_82357a/measat_releaseX1.8.hex
$ sudo chmod 666 /dev/gpib0
$ sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/libgpib.so.0 /lib/libgpib.so.0

$ sudo gpib_config
syntax error, unexpected $undefined
parameter error on line 1 of /etc/gpib.conf
libgpib: failed to parse configuration file
failed to parse config file /etc/gpib.conf
$

I get the same error as @vishnubpatel.

$ sudo gpib_config
syntax error, unexpected $undefined
parameter error on line 1 of /etc/gpib.conf
libgpib: failed to parse configuration file
failed to parse config file /etc/gpib.conf

ibtest and the Python "Gbip" module (from the linux-gpib tree) fail with the same error message. Can anyone help on this, please?

I am going back through this on a new machine (Ubuntu 16.04, kernel 4.15.0-34-generic) and I get this error when attempting sudo modprobe gpib_common:

modprobe: FATAL: Module gpib_common not found in directory /lib/modules/4.15.0-34-generic

I get a similar error when running sudo modprobe agilent_82357a:

modprobe: FATAL: Module agilent_82357a not found in directory /lib/modules/4.15.0-34-generic

Is there any way we can get help with this? It would be much appreciated.