Chapter 1 Introduction
© National Instruments Corporation 1-3 NI VXIpc-882 User Manual
• The Super I/O block represents the other peripherals included with the
NI VXIpc-882 controller, including:
– One serial port
– One parallel port
• The GPIB block contains the GPIB interface.
• The ExpressCard/34 slot accommodates an ExpressCard/34 module.
• The VXI Interface connects the NI VXIpc-882 controller to the VXI
backplane through the National Instruments MITE ASIC.
• The External Clock SMB provides an input for an external source to
generate CLK10 to the VXI backplane or allow you to output CLK10
to an external device.
• The VXI Trigger In/Out SMBs provide a routable connection of the
VXI triggers to and from the VXI backplane.
National Instruments Software
National Instruments has developed several software kits you can use with
the NI VXIpc-882. NI-VISA and NI-VXI are already installed on your hard
drive; LabVIEW is optional.
NI-VISA is the National Instruments implementation of the VISA
specification. VISA is a uniform API for communicating and controlling
Serial, GPIB, VXI, and VME instruments. This API aids in the creation of
more portable applications and instrument drivers.
NI-VXI is the name of the National Instruments VXI bus control library.
You can create applications using NI-VXI to control both VXI and VME
devices. NI-VXI gives you complete VXI/VME functionality, including
an API for performing basic VXI/VME data transfers and handling
VXI/VME interrupts as well as VXI-specific functionality, such as
doing message-based communication and handling VXIbus triggers.
The NI-VISA/NI-VXI software includes an interactive configuration and
troubleshooting program, libraries of software routines for test and
measurement (T&M) programming, interactive control programs for both
NI-VISA and NI-VXI, a logging utility you can use for debugging your
applications, and a VXI Resource Manager. You can use this software to
seamlessly program multiple-mainframe configurations and have software
compatibility across a variety of controller platforms.