man1/agilent_ctl

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Name

agilent_ctl - setup save/restore for Agilent oscilloscopes

Synopsis

agilent_ctl --<arguments>

Description

agilent_ctl allows setups to be uploaded or downloaded to and from Agilent 54621A, 54622A and 54624A oscilloscopes.

The user first adjusts the oscilloscope to produce the desired waveform, then agilent_ctl is used to upload the setup information and store it in a disk file.

The saved setup file may be sent back to the oscilloscope later to restore the setup.

It is the responsibility of the user to make sure the baud rate is set properly at both ends and that the tty port is properly configured.

The tty port should be configured raw, clocal -onlcr and -echo.

The idea is that the port shouldn’t filter out Xon/Xoff chars (raw option) on input or output, should use the modem DTR/DSR signals (clocal mode) and should NOT translate newlines to carriage returns on output (-onlcr mode).

The port should also be able to pass eight bit chars (cs8 mode). This seems to be the default.

The oscilloscope should be configured for the correct baud rate and for DTR handshaking. A serial cable which supports all of the modem control signals should be used.

Arguments

--cmd - required

read - read from the scope to a disk file.
write - write from a disk file to the scope.
--local <dev>

The pathname to the serial port used by the scope.
--remote <remotehost>,<remoteport>

If connecting remotely the host and port to use.
--setup_file - required

The name of the file to save data into or to read data from.
--debug - optional

If this argument is present debug output is written to stderr.
--help - optional

Prints a usage message and exits.

Exit Codes


0 is returned on success.
1 is returned on all errors.

Examples


#
# set the tty port characteristics
# using /dev/ttyS1 (com2) as the port
#
# (this only needs to be done once
# but could be done each time the
# program is started)
#
stty 9600 raw -echo clocal -onlcr < /dev/ttyS1
#
# upload a setup and save to a file
#
agilent_ctl --cmd read --local /dev/ttyS1 --setup_file test_setup
#
# download a setup to the scope
#
agilent_ctl --cmd write --local /dev/ttyS1 --setup_file test_setup

Notes

Unlike many AccelNET programs this one may only be used on a local tty port. There is no support for terminal server connections.

The tty port settings seem to work however there could be cases where there are still problems. The major problem is the tty line discipline removing characters from the data stream that it thinks are flow control chars etc.

The system has been tested at various baud rates and seems to be ok up to 19200 baud. Higher baud rates fail, this may be due to known bugs in the Linux com port driver. The driver is known to have problems with hardware handshaking sending chars after being told to stop. The ’scope is supposed to tolerate up to 32 chars and the port is known to send up to 16 but who knows.

We have found that scope setups saved from one scope apparently don’t match the format of newer scope save files. Apparently as the firmware changes in the scope so does the dump file.

We have found that scope setups saved from one scope apparently don’t match the format of newer scope save files. Apparently as the firmware changes in the scope so does the dump file. Very likely one needs to recreate the setup files when setting up a new system

Manual Page Revision

$Id: agilent_ctl.1,v 1.3 2009/02/24 17:43:07 mcnamer Exp $

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