HP 3468A - Trying Out Basic Commands

Actually, any message of up to 12 characters may be displayed in this manner.
The command “D2your name” tells the 3468A to display the message “your
name” in its display; “D2” is called the ” COMMAND CODE”. The 3468A cannot
display lowercase letters, it displays unusual symbols instead. It can display,
however, special characters such as $, %, &, #, etc. Try these characters in place
of “your name”.
At the end of the previous chapter is a blue page that describes each of the pro-
gram commands the 3468A will respond to, and how they are used.
Each instrument that you connect to the interface loop has a unique “ address”,
and the 3468A is no different. The address provides a way for the controller to
send or receive data from one instrument on the loop when actually there are
several instruments connected together. In the previous example, where you
displayed your name, we used the statement “OUTPUT 901”. The “901” refers
to the controller interface select code (isc) which is 9 and the 3468A address
which is 01.
Remember that the controller automatically reassigns addresses to each device in
the loop. Addresses are assigned sequentially to devices in the loop in the direc-
tion of information flow. The first device in the loop, after the controller, will have
an address of ‘’1’’. The second device will have an address of ‘’2’’, and so on
around the loop. The 3468A may be connected anywhere in the interface loop;
the loop consisting of up to 30 devices. All the examples in this chapter assume
that the 3468A will be the only instrument in the loop and therefore addressed at
901.
When the controller tells a particular instrument to talk, i.e., send data over the In-
terface Loop, we say that the instrument has been ” Addressed to Talk”. Likewise,
when the controller tells an instrument to listen, i.e., receive data or instructions
from the Loop, the instrument is said to have been ” Addressed to Listen”. The
3468A is capable of both talking and listening or it may be set to Talk-only, in
which case it cannot listen to instructions or data coming over the Loop. There
can be only one instrument addressed to talk on the Loop at any one time.
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