*********************** **** Read Me First **** *********************** Version 1.1.1.3 March 2012 Introducing the Agilent IVI Driver for the M9036A PXIe Embedded Controller --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This instrument driver provides access to the functionality of the M9036 PXIe Embedded Controller through a COM server or ANSI C API which also complies with the IVI specifications. This driver works in any development environment which supports COM or C programming including Microsoft Visual C++, Microsoft .NET, Agilent VEE Pro, National Instruments LabView, LabWindows CVI, Matlab and others. Supported Instruments --------------------- M9036A (PXIe Embedded Controller) Installation ------------- System Requirements: The driver installation will check for the following requirements. If not found, the installer will either abort, warn, or install the required component as appropriate. Supported Operating Systems: Windows 7 IVI Shared Components Before this driver can be installed, your computer must already have the IVI Shared Components installed. Minimal IVI Version: 2.1.1 The IVI Shared Components installer is available from: http://www.ivifoundation.org/shared_components/Default.aspx Agilent IO Libraries The latest version of Agilent's IO Libraries includes VISA. Agilent always recommends downloading the latest IO libraries from: http://www.agilent.com/find/iosuite In general, each new version of the M9036 driver will only be tested against the most current version of Agilent IO Libraries available at the time of release: Agilent IO Libraries 16.2 For version 1.1.1.3 of the M9036 driver, IO Libraries version 16.2 or later is required. Older versions of IO Libraries may not work as expected with this driver software. ADLINK Software The M9036 driver interacts with components from ADLINK Technology that will not be installed or updated automatically. After installing the M9036 software, you may need to manually update your ADLINK software as instructed below. Uninstall --------- This driver can be uninstalled like any other software from the Control Panel using "Programs and Features" in Windows 7. The IVI Shared Components may also be uninstalled like any other software from the Control Panel using and "Programs and Features" in Windows 7. Note: All IVI-COM/C drivers require the IVI Shared Components. To completely remove IVI components from your computer, uninstall all drivers and then uninstall the IVI Shared Components. Source Code ----------- Driver source code is available by choosing "Custom" and selecting "Source Code" when installing the driver. This code is provided as is for informational purposes only. Modification of this code is not supported. Caution: Once you have installed version 2.x of the IVI Shared Components, you will not be able to build IVI drivers and applications developed with earlier versions. You will need to upgrade those drivers/applications to the new IVI Shared Components and to build on Visual Studio 2008 or higher or you will need to build those drivers/applications on a different machine that does not have version 2.x of the IVI Shared Components. Start Menu Help File -------------------- A shortcut to the driver help file is added to the Start Menu, All Programs, Agilent IVI Drivers, AgM9036 group. It contains "Getting Started" information on using the driver in a variety of programming environments as well as documentation on IVI and instrument specific methods and properties. You will also see shortcuts to the Readme file and many programming examples for this driver. Additional Setup ---------------- .NET Framework The .NET Framework itself is not required by this driver. If you plan to use the driver with .NET, the minimal .NET framework version is: 2.0 The .NET Framework requires an interop assembly for a COM server. A Primary Interop Assembly, along with an XML file for IntelliSense is installed with the driver. The driver's PIA along with IVI PIAs are installed by default in: :\Program Files\IVI Foundation\IVI\Bin\Primary Interop Assemblies The PIA is also installed into the Global Assembly Cache (GAC) if you have the .NET framework installed. Using a New Version of the Driver --------------------------------- New versions of this Agilent IVI-COM/C driver may have a new ProgId. If you use the version dependent ProgId in CoCreateInstance, you will need to modify and recompile your code to use the new ProgID once you upgrade to the next version of the driver. Doing a side-by-side installation of the driver to use multiple versions of the driver is not supported. If you need to go back to an older version of the driver, you need to uninstall the later version and install the older version. If you use the version independent ProgId in CoCreateInstance, you will not need to modify and recompile your code. The new version of the driver has been tested to be backwards compatible with previous versions. To access the new functionality in a new version of the driver you will need to use the latest numbered IAgM9036[n] interface rather than the IAgM9036 interface. The IAgM9036[n]. property will return a pointer to the new IAgM9036[n] interface. The IAgM9036[n] interface contains the methods and properties for the new functionality. The new interfaces were introduced rather than modifying the existing interfaces for backwards compatibility. The interfaces that were previously shipped have not been changed. Installation of ADLINK software ------------- Each version of the Agilent M9036 software interacts with a companion set of software (GPIB, PXI Trigger, SMBUS) from ADLINK Technology. While Agilent will attempt to keep the M9036 backward compatible across all previous ADLINK software releases, each version of the M9036 software will be only tested against one set of ADLINK software, as noted below. For new system purchases, Agilent will pre-install M9036 software along with the corresponding set of ADLINK software components automatically. If you later upgrade your Agilent M9036 software, you may need to manually update your ADLINK software. To manually install/update ADLINK software, the following process is recommended: 1) Install Agilent M9036 software (M9036_Setup.exe). 2) Per the release notes below, assess which (if any) ADLINK components should be manually updated. Use the Windows 7 Control Panel, Programs and Features to determine what ADLINK software version(s) you currently have installed GPIB: ADLINK GPIB Driver vx.xx.x PXI Trigger: ADLINK PXI Trigger I/O Driver Ver. x.x.x SMBUS: AgSMDuKerServ Ver. x.x.x 3) Uninstall existing ADLINK software from the Windows 7 Control Panel as needed. 4) Install new ADLINK software by navigating to one of the following locations: C:/Program Files/Agilent/M9036/bin (for 32 bit systems) C:/Program Files(x86)/Agilent/M9036/bin (for 64 bit systems) 5) Run the appropriate ADLINK setup.exe, choosing default installation options GPIB: AdlinkGpib_Setup.exe PXI Trigger: AdlinkTrig_Setup.exe SMBUS: AgSMBusKerSrv_setup.exe Known Issues ------------ ADLINK software components are not detected or installed automatically. Revision History ---------------- Version Date Notes --------- -------- ----- 1.1.1.3 Mar 2012 Initial public release This version has been tested with the following set of ADLINK software GPIB: 3.12.1 PXI Trigger: 3.2.6 SMBUS: 0.9.6 IVI Compliance -------------- IVI-COM/IVI-C Custom Specific Instrument Driver IVI Instrument Class: None Optional Features: Interchangeability Checking no State Caching no Coercion Recording no Driver Identification: Vendor: Agilent Technologies Description: IVI Driver for the Agilent M9036A PXIe embedded system controller Revision: 1.1.1.3 Component Identifier: AgM9036.AgM9036 Hardware Information: Instrument Manufacturer: Agilent Technologies Supported Instrument Models: M9036A Supported Bus Interfaces: PXIe 32-bit Software Information: Supported Operating Systems: Windows 7 32 Support Software Required: VISA Source Code Availability: Source code included with driver. 64-bit Software Information: Supported Operating Systems: Windows 7 64 Support Software Required: VISA Source Code Availability: Source code included with driver. More Information ---------------- For more information about this driver and other instrument drivers and software available from Agilent Technologies visit: http://www.agilent.com/find/adnivicominfo A list of contact information is available from: http://www.agilent.com/find/assist Microsoft, Windows, MS Windows, and Windows NT are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. © Copyright Agilent Technologies, Inc. 2012