I needed to automate some old GPIB instruments but ran into issues with GPIB adapters. This post mostly serves to document the modifications I made and as a reference for how to connect.

I started out with a (knockoff) Agilent 82357B USB to GPIB adapter. I was able to get my power meter to respond to a GPIB query exactly once but never again. After fighting with linux-gpib configuration on and off, I got fed up and bought an Agilent E5810A Ethernet to GPIB adapter. I had no problems communicating with my power meter immedately after power everything on.

I’m using PyVISA with the pyvisa-py backend. I’ve now begun writing python device drivers to simplify scripting this and other test equipment.

import visa
rm = visa.ResourceManager('py')

ip = '169.254.58.10'
gpib_addr = 13
inst = rm.open_resource(f'TCPIP::{ip}::gpib0,{gpib_addr}::INSTR')

Backlight

Since this originally lived in my bedroom back in college I wanted to disable the backlight which is always on. This is extremely easy by removing (or disconnecting one end of) two unlabeled resistors next to P102: