Keysight's 32-Bit Software Compatibility Architecture

This section contains information specific to the Windows product.

Keysight software supports National Instruments (NI) interface hardware through TULIP drivers1 that use NI-488.2 library calls to communicate with National Instruments hardware. This architecture also supports hardware from other vendors who implement an NI-488.2–compatible interface to their products.

  • You must install NI-488.2 and configure the National Instruments GPIB cards before they can be accessed by Keysight 488, Keysight VISA, or SICL programs.

  • You do not need to install NI-488.2 if you have only Keysight GPIB interfaces. Your NI-488.2 programs will run correctly with the Keysight 488 library, without recompiling. The second diagram below illustrates the architectural relationship of Keysight 488 to NI-488.2.

National Instruments supports Keysight interface hardware through a Passport for Tulip driver under NI-VISA. This driver allows NI-VISA to communicate with Keysight hardware.

  • You do not need to install or use NI-VISA in order to use Keysight interface hardware. If you do not need to use National Instruments software that depends on NI-VISA, you can use the Keysight IO Libraries Suite, including the Keysight VISA library.

  • The Passport for Tulip is not enabled by default. Click here for instructions on enabling the Passport for Tulip in National Instruments Measurement & Automation Explorer.

  • To use NI-VISA, you must install it as the primary VISA. (At the time of this writing, NI-VISA does not have the capability of being installed in a secondary role.) This means you must install Keysight VISA in side-by-side mode. The first diagram below illustrates the architectural relationship of Keysight VISA to NI-VISA; this relationship depends on which VISA implementation is installed as primary.

The diagrams below illustrate how Keysight software, together with National Instruments software, supports multivendor hardware communications.  

Keysight IO Libraries Software Architecture: VISA

 

 

 

Keysight IO Libraries Software Architecture: NI-488.2 / Keysight 488

See Also

64-Bit VISA Architecture

Keysight 488 Help

 

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