Instrument Drivers or GPIB Pallete?

[Kastun27]

This seems like such a simple question but every time I post something on here I get tons of great information much faster than I can find myself so I'm going to keep on riding this train. My inherited .lvproj is running a calibration process. It controls two Keithley multimeters, a big Datron AC calibrator, a Fluke DC calibrator, and an HP switch that switches between them when needed. They are all controlled via GPIB, and I have drivers for everything except the Datron. So I have this .lvproj...but I see no manufacturer drivers in it. Everything seems to be controlled via standard GPIB pallete. When I inherited this project (which I am working on from a different computer than the development machine), I was under the impression that I would need the drivers. Is this not the case?

[GerdW]

Hi kastun,

most device drivers (for external 3rd party devices) use VISA functions. VISA functions are used for many kinds of communication busses, including GPIB. And those GPIB functions are "old" as in "used before VISA was available".

So long story made shorter: you can use device drivers from IDNet or make your own using VISA functions!

[RTSLVU]

On top of what GerdW said, most "instrument drivers" are nothing more than the instrument's SCPI commands wrapped up in a LabVIEW vi. 

The manufacturer is just making their instrument more sellable by doing the grunt work of building a base vi set for you. 

[Kastun27]

Ok thank you. So if the project is already set up with the standard GPIB functions, there's no need to mess with it. Correct? 

[Kyle97330 · Accepted solution]

Pretty much.  The main benefit from using VISA is that you can switch to other interfaces easier, such as if some of those devices also had serial or Ethernet connections and you wanted to use that instead.  But if that's not the case, no need to fix what's not broken.