A VISA (Virtual Instrument Software Architecture) library must be installed on your computer before the Windows VXIplug&play software can be installed. The software setup program will inform you if a VISA library installation cannot be found and then exit without installing the software.
The B.01.02 VXIplug&play driver contains no source code changes except the revised firmware version. However, date codes may differ from previous versions due to recompiling. The B.01.02 firmware corrects a bug in earlier versions wherein the TTL trigger delay was not matched properly to decimation filter delay as spans were changed. The trigger point is now independent of span (decimation), though a trigger-source-dependent delay remains because of the analog input implementation of the TTL trigger input.
Please Note: The term "firmware" refers to the embedded binary program image stored in E1439 non-volatile memory. E1439 firmware updates are provided by Agilent Technologies for use by Agilent E1439 customers only. E1439 firmware updates are copyright and patent-protected by Agilent Technologies.
The B.01.02 VXIplug&play driver supports the new E1439C and E1439D modules with B.01.00 or B.01.02 firmware, as well as E1439A and E1439B modules with A.01.00, B.00.00, B.01.00, or B.01.02 firmware.
The B.01.02 firmware included on this installation disk is compatible with existing E1439A and E1439B modules with serial numbers US41140000 or above.
The B.01.02, B.01.01, B.00.00 and A.01.00 VXIplug&play drivers are not compatible with the older A.00.00 firmware. When the VXIplug&play driver is updated you must also update any E1439 modules that have A.00.00 firmware. The firmware is easily upgraded with a program included with the VXIplug&play software. See Upgrading the Firmware in your E1439 .
The A.01.00 driver can run modules with B.00.00 firmware, except TTL trigger and fiber interface are not available.
After upgrading to the B.01.02 VXIplug&play driver, it is usually not necessary to recompile software programs previously compiled with earlier VXIplug&play drivers. However, if the program tests for the error state AGE1439_VERSION_B_HARDWARE_REQUIRED it should be changed to use the new error state AGE1439_FIBER_HARDWARE_REQUIRED.
The fiber interface is only available on E1439B and E1439D modules. The TTL trigger feature is available on all E1439B, E1439C, and E1439D modules and on E1439A modules using B.01.02, B.01.00 or B.00.00 firmware and having a serial number of US41140000 or above.
To meet published specifications, all E1439 modules in a multi-module configuration must use the same firmware version.
HP-UX is not supported with this release. However, the HP-UX drivers for version B.00.00 are included with the B.01.02 installation disk to use at your discretion.
It is left up to the progrmmer to avoid calling local bus functionality on C models.
You can determine the current version number of your firmware by executing the "C" example program "info.exe", or running the Soft Front Panel and clicking on Help/About. The current version number of your firmware is also reported by the API function age1439_revision query(). A module with a firmware revision of B.01.02 will report a firmware revision of date of "1/12/2004, 10:39 AM". Use the included FirmwareInstall program to install B.01.02 firmware in your E1439 module. Please refer to instructions in the product manual for details.
If you are using a National Instruments PCI-based MXI-2 interface with a Pentium processor, you must perform the following step to prevent unpredictable system performance.
Run the WindowsNT registry editor (regedit.exe) and find the registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\National Instruments\NI-VXI for WIN32
Then edit the DisableMiteDMA value and set it to 1.
This problem is documented in the "Known Bugs" section of the "00readme.txt" file that came with your PCI MXI-2 interface driver.
The E1439 VXIplug&play installation adds the path to the DLLs installed by the VXIplug&play driver to the system's PATH environment variable. This addition permits the sample applications supplied with the product, as well as customer-developed applications, to find the DLLs installed by the driver without registering each individual application.
Also, an environment variable called E1439PATH is added during installation. This variable is used by the Microsoft Visual C++ workspaces and makefiles so that all necessary files can be located by the compiler.
These environmental variables are implemented by editing the system registry in the WinNT framework.
The E1439 Windows software includes several example programs to demonstrate programming the module with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 or greater and Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0.
Executables for these examples are installed during setup; however, they will not run in simulation mode. They require an E1439 and VXI interface hardware with VXIplug&play support.
The Visual Basic examples are installed under VXIPNP\WinNT\age1439\vb for Windows NT/2000 where "VXIPNP" is the location where you have installed your VISA library and drivers.
Similarly, "C" examples are found in VXIPNP\WinNT\age1439\msc\examples.
ACVolts_32.exe is a simple practical program using the E1439. It is written in Visual Basic.
acvolts.exe is a console (MS-DOS) version of ACVolts_32.exe, written in Microsoft Visual C++.
Benchmark_32.exe is a performance benchmark program that is more of a utility than an example, although source code is provided. It measures data transfer rates and command processing times. The utility is written in Visual Basic.
bench.exe is a console version of Benchmark_32.exe, written in Microsoft Visual C++.
multchan_32.exe demonstrates how to synchronize multiple modules to achieve simultaneous sampling, filter decimation, and matched local oscillator phase. It is written in Visual Basic.
info.exe demonstrates how to retrieve option and revision information from an E1439, and it doubles as a handy utility. It is written as a console program in Microsoft Visual C++.
interrupt.exe demonstrates how to set up and trap a VXI interrupt to indicate an error condition in the E1439. It is written as a console program in Microsoft Visual C++.
What Changed in Revision A.01.00
The A.01.00 revision is a feature upgrade to the E1439A embedded firmware and VXIplug&play driver. There are no changes to the E1439A hardware.
The new capabilities made available in this release include:
The B.00.00 VXIplug&play driver supports hardware changes to the E1439A and E1439B:
The fiber optic interface, available on the Agilent E1439B, provides a selectable data rate of 106 or 250 MB/second. It can transmit filtered or unfiltered data, copy data from its receiver to its transmitter, or append data to copied data.
The E1439B fiber optic interface uses a serial data stream protocol providing high data throughput and low latency characteristics. This protocol is intended to be compatible with the Serial Front Panel Data Port Draft Standard (VITA 17.1, draft 0.5 dated February 26, 2001) currently under development by the VITA Standards Organization (http://www.vita.com). VITA 17.1 is not yet approved and manufacturers are not yet permitted to claim conformance to the draft standard. However, laboratory testing at Agilent Technologies has demonstrated interoperability of the E1439B with fiber optic products from other manufacturers that also intend to support the draft standard. These products include Systran Simplex Link Protocol products, such as the SL100 and SL240, and Mercury Computer products, such as the RINOJ-F RACEway I/O daughter card.
The B.01.01 VXIplug&play driver supports hardware for the new models E1439C and E1439D: