1. GPIBGeneral Purpose Interface Bus Raymond Giron, Adam Bahr, George Asbeck

2. History • Originally developed by HP in the 1960’s • Wanted an easier way to interface the instruments and controllers • Other companies started using it and named it the General Purpose Interface Bus • The device was standardized in 1975 by the IEEE and again in 1978 and 1987 • IEEE 448.1 is the standard for the connector, while IEEE 488.2 is the control command standard

3. Characteristics • Total of 24 pins on the device • 8 pins for data, 8 for ground, 5 for bus management and 3 “handshake” pins • Connected devices can be talkers, listeners, or controllers • Wires are “double-headed” with a male connector on one side and female on the other

4. Advantages • Rugged connector that is screwed in place • Well established and supported by many devices • Fast and slow devices can be used in the same system

5. Up to 15 connectors can be stacked together

6. Disadvantages • Connector is large and bulky • Cable and connector are more expensive to make than others such as USB • Maximum transfer rate is around 8 Mbits/s • USB 3.0 can transfer at 5 Gbits/s • Not a standard connector on modern PCs

7. Sources • http://www.hit.bme.hu/~papay/edu/GPIB/tutor.htm • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE-488 • http://digital.natinst.com/public.nsf/$CXIV/ATTACH-AEEE-7E8RYX/$FILE/GPIB.JPG • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IEEE-488-Stecker2.jpg • http://www.ee.ucla.edu/~ftwang/ee202/Week7/gpib.jpg