National Instruments PCI-8212 GPIB Instrument Control Module

The National Instruments PCI-8212 is a combination Ethernet Interface and IEE 488 compliant Instrument Control Device. This model offers up to 1.5 and 7.7 MB/s second transfer rate for IEEE 488.1 and HS488 respectively. The NI PCI-8212 comes with an onboard, integrated bus master DMA controller. This device can easily be configured through software as separate GPIB and Ethernet interfaces. For Ethernet communications, it features an Intel 82559 Fast Ethernet Controller to deliver industry leading performance. The GPIB controller incorporated in this model is the well-known PCI-GPIB interface that is capable of handling throughputs at astonishing transfer rates.

 The deployment of this device requires no time and can be used by plugging into an empty PCI slot. Just insert this adapter into the slot gently until it gets seated firmly. For Ethernet based communications, this controller requires twisted-pair, CAT 5 wiring. If the user is planning to run this adapter at 100 Mb/s, then they should utilize a 100Base-TX switch or hub- not a 100Base-T4 hub. The National Instruments PCI-8212 GPIB Instrument Control Module is compatible with various versions of the Windows operating system (Windows 95 to Windows NT Ver 3.51).

 For testing the adapter, the user can utilize the diagnostics functions provided in the control panel of the software program. This device comes equipped with the standard RJ-45 Ethernet connector and 24-pin standard IEEE 488 GPIB connector. It also has two LEDs (one yellow and one green), which are provided to keep the user informed about the link`s health and activity.

PCI-8212 Obsolete Status has been announced by National Instruments, but will still be available for purchase and repairs by Apex Waves.