Previous Section

ECBASIC With IBM PC Adaptor Board

Software Revision 2.05 (20 August 1993)
Manual Revision 1.2 (26 December 1993)

INTRODUCTION

This configuration alternative is offered for those researchers who must minimize the cost of experiment control, and who can afford to dedicate an IBM-compatible computer to the task of experiment control while an experiment is running. Either a relatively simple and obsolete computer can be permanently allocated to the task, or the adaptor board could be interchanged with the printer when experiments are to be carried out. Obviously, a parallel switch box is the most convenient way to implement this second option.

In order to use the adaptor board alternative, the experimental apparatus is connected to any of the three interface/daughter boards. The interface board is then connected to the adaptor board, and finally the adaptor board is plugged into the printer port of an IBM-compatible PC. This configuration is illustrated in Figure 10. The program EBAS.EXE is then run on the IBM PC just as any other program. EBAS executes virtually all ECBASIC commands. For example, typing TURNON 1 on the IBM PC keyboard will turn on whatever output is connected to the first output on the interface board.

There are some minor differences between running an experiment on an IBM PC with an adaptor board and on an Experiment Controller. For the most part, they are intuitively obvious. The following provides a quick overview of those differences. The ECBASIC Language Reference Manual portion of this document details what each instruction does on each type of configuration.

PECULIARITIES OF EBAS

Functions

INCH - reads a character from the IBM PC keyboard
INPB - not intended for IBM PC use, but will work on a PC I/O space
LINCH - not implemented, will generate an error

Program Commands

CONFIG SPORT - not implemented, will generate an error
CONFIG INIT2 - not implemented, will generate an error
CONFIG INIT3 - not implemented, will generate an error
INPUT - prompts to IBM CRT and reads a number from the keyboard
LPRINT - prints to the IBM PC monitor
OUTPB - not intended for IBM PC use, but will work on PC I/O space
OUTPW - not intended for IBM PC use, but will work on PC I/O space
PRINT - outputs to the IBM PC monitor

System Control

LIST - lists program on IBM PC monitor
ECHO/NOECHO - will have no effect
OFF - will have no effect
OFFRUN - same as RUN
LLIST - lists program on IBM PC monitor
LOAD - loads an EBAS program from an IBM PC disk
SAVE - saves an EBAS program to an IBM PC disk
QUIT - quits from EBAS and returns to DOS

Next Section