Measurement Computing Personal488 rev.3.0 - Manual (Page 60)

5-6 Using IEEE 488 04-09-01 Personal488 for Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000
Step 5
From the Bus menu select Clear.
Step 6
Verify that (0)result = Clear(0) appears
in the function display, as shown.
If Wintest hangs for a brief period and
then returns (-1)result = Clear(0) then
the interface test has failed.
The Clear command verifies two levels
of communication. First, it verifies
that your instrument will accept a series
of commands from the IEEE 488
Controller. Second, it verifies that
Driver488 was able to receive
confirmation of command execution
(IRQ) from the interface.
The Clear command is an ideal test command since it writes only low-level commands to the IEEE 488 bus.
No data is transferred during the execution of the Clear command. Because all standard IEEE 488 devices
read and evaluate low-level commands; the Clear command test avoids issues such as the instrument’s
IEEE 488 address, device dependent commands and EOS characters that would otherwise be necessary to
know in advance.
How do I communicate with my instrument?
With the exception of transferring binary data or uploading large amounts of data to devices, Wintest can be
used to thoroughly exercise IEEE 488 devices.
Start Wintest and click the devHandle field, which lists your pre-configured devices. For more information
regarding pre-configured devices, refer to the section IEEE 488 Configuration Utility. If no changes were
made to the factory default, the table should include a device called ‘Wave’. Select the device ‘Wave’, then
click the OpenName button. The number [–1] in brackets will change to a positive number
(greater than –1) indicating that the device handle has been assigned. This positive number is the device’s
handle.