Open source project brings 53-year-old interface to USB — GPIB adapter v3 adds integrated Ethernet port with PoE
An open source USB to GPIB adapter will soon reach version 3, bringing an integrated Ethernet port with PoE support.
(Image credit: Wikipedia public domain imagery)
An open source USB to GPIB adapter will soon reach version 3, bringing an integrated Ethernet port with PoE support to the design. Project originator Kai Gossner (Xyphro) recently contacted CNX Software about the impending milestone. Regular readers will have moderately fresh GPIB imprints on their brains, as we recently reported on this ancient (53-year-old) cable connectivity standard introduced by HP back in 1972 getting its first stable Linux driver.
XyphroLabs’s UsbGpib project can be found on GitHub, where you can check out the buy it or build it guide, download resource files, and read about the latest v2.2 update. The project exists to provide “access to legacy GPIB/IEEE-488 instruments using contemporary hardware and software,” using modern hardware, specifically via USB, hence the name.
UsbGpib v3 sneak peek (Image credit: XyphroLabs’s UsbGpib project)
UsbGpib hardware features a list of “easy to source” components – an important asset for building an interface for such a lost-in-time standard. Central to its operation include an easily sourced ATMega32U4 microcontroller for 5V I/O compatibility, a USB Type-C port with full USBTMC (USB Test and Measurement Class) support, a 16 MHz Crystal, and of course, a physical 24-pin GPIB interface. Xyphro kindly expands upon the physical necessities by sharing housing/enclosure resources, firmware, and software that includes the source code.
Work on v3 of the UsbGpib project seems to be quite advanced. Several 3D designs of this integrated Ethernet with PoE support revision have been made, and CNC machined housing ordered. Xyphro says that “V3 is converging and nearing completion… [and] prototypes will arrive approximately end of January.”
