Lab uses for MAC- questions...
j...@slc.slac.stanford.edu
I have a question or two for those who know about laboratory
uses of macintosh computers.
I have a IIci, and would to know if there are some simple ways
to read realtime data to the mac over either rs232 via Nubus card or
over an ADB input.
What I would to do is read a set of devices in a dynamic setup
, such that I can get time-resolve plots of whatever it is I'm reading
. Are there simple I/O cards on the market? Is there simple I/O
translating software?
I guess I should clarify "simple", I mean relatively cheap. A
system that cost's $2k is out of my range, $400 would be about my
limit, but I really don't know what's out there. If there's something
really great let me know, I'd like to know what's out there regardless
of cost.
Something that could have like 4 I/O channels and 4 switches,
and software that reads and writes it to a file. Anything more would
be gravy. I don't need nS resolution, but mS would be nice.
Many thanks in advance.
-Josh
P.S. anybody out there know where I can get a cheap strain guage?
/ Joshua Hadler | Everything expresed here is the \
| Accelerator Operations | opinion of the idiot that wrote |
| Stanford Linear Accelerator Center| it, namely ME. So don't go suing |
\ j...@slc.slac.stanford.edu | the DOE, they don't care... /
Carl R. Osterwald
j...@slc.slac.stanford.edu writes:
> I have a IIci, and would to know if there are some simple ways
>to read realtime data to the mac over either rs232 via Nubus card or
>over an ADB input.
> What I would to do is read a set of devices in a dynamic setup
>, such that I can get time-resolve plots of whatever it is I'm reading
>. Are there simple I/O cards on the market? Is there simple I/O
>translating software?
Contact National Instruments, Austin, Texas (800-433-3488). They have a
good selection of NuBus I/O cards. They also offer LabView, a graphical
programming environment for data aquisition/manipulation. It is not
inexpensive, but it makes programming such tasks must simpler. The time
saved can more than make up for the extra cost. Their cards can also be
programmed with C or Pascal as well.
Dan Flatin
I would second the recommendation for National Instruments
products. Our lab has been using them for about four or five years.
The boards are reliable, and have good support. Each board comes
with the neccessary driver software and interface files for a
variety of compilers. All you need is something like Think C.
The least expensive NuBus data aquisition board in their 1993
catalog is the Lab-NB which is listed at $695. This is the overview
from the catalog:
The Lab-NB is a low-cost, multifunction analog, digital,
and timing I/O board for the Macintosh NuBus family. It
contains a 12-bit ADC with eight single-ended analog
inputs, two 12-bit DAC's with voltage outputs, 24 lines
of transistor-transistor logic (TTL)-compatible digital
I/O, and three user-available 16-bit couter/timer
channels for timing I/O.
If you want to go first class with the software, LabVIEW is an
incredible development environment. At about $2K it isn't cheap,
but you truely get what you pay for. They must have written their
own multi-threaded, multi-tasking system years before Apple's
version. They have the best implemented use of balloon help I have
seen, and that was available immediately after the release of
system 7. Their software engineers are on the ball.
I am currently using their NB-MIO-16L board for data aquisition,
and their NB-DMA2800 board for GPIB and DMA. They are driven by
LabVIEW v2.2.1 on a IIci. This board combination is probably the
most standard, most general purpose configuration.
Good luck,
Dan Flatin
Physics Dept.
The Ohio State University
d...@mps.ohio-state.edu