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Re: I need a new/used lab computer

 

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I haven’t tried to do anything useful yet, but I did succeed in getting a raspberry pi 5 to see an NI PCI-GPIB card hoping so a compact HPdrive system with the advantage of being able to ssh to it rather than being a microcontroller based solution.

From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Gabor Szucs via groups.io <sniper.asys@...>
Sent: Thursday, March 6, 2025 6:45:22 PM
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment] I need a new/used lab computer
?
About PCI(e) passthrough - I tried to breathe some new life into an old PCI NI AWG card that supposedly only works with Windows XP. The card works flawlessly on a native XP install on the same machine (a PC from the 2010s). My thinking was that I could install XP in a VM and set up PCI passthrough to gain "direct" access to the card from within the VM (that would've made the entire setup enormously more useful for obvious reasons, practically meaning that I could use a single computer to manage all the devices on my bench). However, although the virtualized XP recognized the card, the NI software couldn't initialize it the same way - or use it altogether. I've verified that the hardware supports IOMMU and it's indeed active. Other users had similar experiences on the NI forums. I didn't have more time to investigate and I left it at that and accepted defeat for the time being. So, as you said, YMMV.?

Gabor

So I guess

On Fri, Mar 7, 2025 at 1:15?AM Ed Marciniak via <ed=[email protected]> wrote:
That’s not absolutely true. One can use a thunderbolt equipped laptop with an external PCIe cage and a PCIe to PCI adapter or a PCIe 488 card.

It is even possible to use a virtual machine with an older OS than the hardware supports and use PCIe passthrough of the PCIe to PCI bridge to expose the card behind it to the virtual machine.

Due to lack of many necessary parts to support parallel ports, running things like E-cal that requires a GPIB port and a parallel port is likely not really feasible on modern hardware.

Another interesting problem is that it is possible to have hardware too new to run an older OS and you can find things like video drivers simply don’t exist, or USB ports not seen which can lead to no keyboard/mouse. Some can be worked around, some not.

I’ve fallen down that rabbit hole and had some wins, some losses and some I could pull off but would be hard pressed to replicate or help someone through.

Ultimately, some things that are possible aren’t economically viable or cost so much more than alternatives.

The higher cost and more limited options for a TB capable laptop plus all of the necessary adapters and extra hardware can easily add a few hundred dollars.
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of bownes via <bownes=[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, March 6, 2025 5:16:05 PM
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Cc: [email protected] <[email protected]>; [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment] I need a new/used lab computer
?
Looks like he needs a PCI slot for gpib card. Would have to go to USB to GPIB if he went w a laptop.

> On Mar 6, 2025, at 15:27, Harke Smits via <yrrah=[email protected]> wrote:
>
> ?Jim,
>
>
> Do you have anyone in your environment with a not too old laptop? Get it for a box of cigars, install an SSD and Linux Mint. You're back in business!
>
> Best 73 de Harke
>
>> On 6-3-2025 21:24, Jim Ford via wrote:
>> My garage lab computer went kaput recently, and I need to get another one to control my instruments via GPIB and USB.? I had a tower running Windows 7,? although it was originally my wife’s computer running (ick!) Windows Vista.? Sooooo slow!? Anyway, I don’t need anything fancy, just a PCI slot for the GPIB card, Ethernet jack for Internet connection, and at least 4 USB jacks (kbd, mouse, USB microscope, GPSDO).? Mini tower or thin client would be great.? Anybody have a PC they don’t need?? Thanks in advance.
>>
>> Jim Ford
>> Laguna Hills, California, USA
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