"Eric J. Korpela" <korpela_at_ellie.ssl.berkeley.edu> wrote:
> On a related note. I have several machines with HPIB/GPIB/IEEE-???
> type interfaces, and occasionally see disk drives with the same interface.
> Is the protocol such that one size fits all?
HP has used at least three protocols for HP-IB disk drives: Amigo,
CS/80, and SS/80.
Some models of disk drives, such as the HP 9134, have variants to support
different protocols.
I think the HP-8x computers need SS/80.
> Is there a good HPIB reference
> available that someone could recommend?
IEEE-488.1-1987 is the definitive reference. Print copy is $60 for
non-members, PDF is $90 for non-members.
http://standards.ieee.org/
> Could a PC with a GPIB card act
> as a file server,
Yes, if you wrote suitable software.
> or is there some host/slave dichotomy that prevents such
> things?
Most (all?) IEEE-488 cards for PCs support acting as a controller or
a device, but software support for acting as a device tends to be
pretty minimal.
It's theoretically possible to have multiple controllers on a bus,
with only one as an active controller at any given time, through the
use of the TCT (Take ConTrol) message. However, I've never seen
this done.
Received on Fri Jul 07 2000 - 18:31:19 BST