National Instruments PXI-8156 PXI Controller

Featured with complete PXI functionality through C function calls and interactive utility, the National Instruments PXI-8156 is a PXI/cPCI Embedded Controller. This model comes equipped with a 3.5 in. 1.44 MB floppy drive, a 2 GB hard drive (expandable), Super VGA, 2 RS-232 Serial ports, 1 Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, 1 PS/2-style keyboard board, 1 PS/2-style mouse port, 1 10BaseT Ethernet port, 1 Extended Capabilities Port (ECP), and 1 GPIB Port (24-pin standard GPIB connector). All of these I/O ports are provided on the front panel of the NI PXI-8156. Moreover, two front panel LEDs are provided to indicate device power and drive status. Two separate LEDs are provided to show Ethernet port status (TX/RX & LINK LEDs).

For peripheral expansion, this device relies upon the ISA bus and PCI local bus. The RSA bus is the powerful legacy peripheral bus used on older and modern PCs. The National Instruments PXI-8156 offers the user a variety of software options. This embedded controller is provided with the NI-488.2M software kit that enables the user to access NI-488.2M software for controlling external GPIB capable instruments by using the GPIB port. With this model, the user will be able to use the NI-VISA programming API to program serial, parallel, and GPIB devices easily.

The NI PXI-8156 has incorporated several peripherals that usually require add-in cards on Windows-based desktop computers. This Embedded Controller is designed for easy handling and allows the user to alter the amount of DRAM installed or to change any of the jumper settings easily. 

PXI-8156 Obsolete Status has been announced by National Instruments, but the Controller will still be available for purchase and repairs by Apex Waves.