About This Manual
SC-2040 User Manual x © National Instruments Corporation

Conventions Used in This Manual

The following conventions are used in this manual:
bold italic Bold, italic text denotes a note, caution, or warning.
italic Italic text denotes emphasis, a cross reference, or an introduction to a key
concept.
MIO-16E MIO-16E refers to the National Instruments E-Series of MIO-16 DAQ
boards unless otherwise noted.
monospace Lowercase text in this font denotes text or characters that are to be literally
input from the keyboard, sections of code, programming examples, and
syntax examples. This font is also used for the proper names of disk
drives, paths, directories, programs, subprograms, subroutines, device
names, functions, variables, filenames, and extensions, and for statements
and comments taken from program code.
Abbreviations, acronyms, metric prefixes, mnemonics, symbols, and terms are listed in the
Glossary.

The National Instruments Documentation Set

The SC-2040 User Manual is one piece of the documentation set for your system. You could
have any of several types of manuals, depending on the hardware and software in your system.
Use the manuals you have as follows:
• Your DAQ hardware user manuals–These manuals have detailed information about the DAQ
hardware that plugs into or is connected to your computer. Use these manuals for hardware
installation and configuration instructions, specification information about your DAQ
hardware, and application hints.
• Software manuals–Examples of software manuals you might have are the LabVIEW and
LabWindows® manual sets and the NI-DAQ manuals. After you set up your hardware
system, use either the application software (LabVIEW or LabWindows) manuals or the
NI-DAQ manuals to help you write your application. If you have a large and complicated
system, it is worthwhile to look through the software manuals before you configure your
hardware.
• Accessory manuals–If you are using accessory products, read the terminal block and cable
assembly installation guides or accessory board user manuals. They explain how to
physically connect the relevant pieces of the system together. Consult these guides when you
are making your connections.