Software to collect and display measured data.

Discussions and images as necessary related to microcontroller or computer instrumentation and fusor control software and hardware.
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Cai Arcos
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Re: Software to collect and display measured data.

Post by Cai Arcos »

If this were to be done, I believe all Richard circuits (HV supplies, CSAs, etc...) could be included as FAQs. It's a shame that such an useful material is buried in the files section
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Richard Hull
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Re: Software to collect and display measured data.

Post by Richard Hull »

I have called Frank (to voice recording) and also e-mailed him regarding the two new suggested forums with suggestions related to same.

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
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russssellcrow
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Re: Software to collect and display measured data.

Post by russssellcrow »

This is very prescient and of course needed. Thanks Ralph, Richard, and Finn! Now we have a designated place to interchange uComp, circuit designs, and software for data purposes in Fusor operation. We hope to prove useful, and thank you for the chance to do so!
Jerry Biehler
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Re: Software to collect and display measured data.

Post by Jerry Biehler »

Labview is free for home use. It allows quick interface development and interfacing to a huge amount of instrumentation. Bit of a learning curve but it works well.

https://www.ni.com/en-us/shop/labview/s ... ition.html

I recently used it to build an interface to control an old spectrometer that used to run under DOS. I used a USB Digital I/O module from Advantec to control it replacing the old ISA card. https://hackaday.io/project/175985-optr ... ectrometer
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Finn Hammer
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Re: Software to collect and display measured data.

Post by Finn Hammer »

Jerry,

Thanks for a very usefull information, about Labview. With an abundance of used and new input and output modules on EBay, this could be the way to go!

Cheers, Finn Hammer
Frank Sanns
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Re: Software to collect and display measured data.

Post by Frank Sanns »

I guess we have come a long way from counting blocks on chart recorder paper!

The early part of my career was before computers. We had to be resourceful and used chart recorders for everything. They had variable speed and gain and one of the projects I was working on used six transducers that the entire event from beginning to end was around 1 second. No problem with the machines that were around back then. Even did area under the curve by cutting out the region defined by the graph and weighing the pieces on an analytical balance.

In a way, things were far simpler back then. No worries about interpreter language or programming. Turn it on, get your data, analyze, and you are done. Now control, well that is an entirely different story.

With that said, I have some DAQ units that I have purchased and used for the past 20 years along with more sophisticated interfaces. Ok, I admit, they really are sweet and exporting data and crunching numbers and noise is most certainly far more powerful.

I will be interested to see these continued contributions in this area.
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We have to stop looking at the world through our physical eyes. The universe is NOT what we see. It is the quantum world that is real. The rest is just an electron illusion. ---FS
Jerry Biehler
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Re: Software to collect and display measured data.

Post by Jerry Biehler »

Yeah, there are lots of options for tabview. I have interfaced DIO units, multimeters, spectrum analyzers, spectrometers, interferometers, rf switches, just a ton of options. My vacuum system is all controlled and sequenced with labview using DIO, ADCs, and serial connections.

The advantech stuff has real good labview support, I had gotten an older SeaLevel 96 DIO unit and it had really bad support, I ended up just buying the advantech version of it and I was up and running quickly. If I spent the time I probably could have gotten it working but the new one was just a little over $100 so for me its just not worth my time.

So that's what you really want to watch out for when buying stuff, make sure there are good drivers. If all else fails you can make your own drivers if it is something simple like a serial or serial over usb interface.

Oh, and get the regular labview, not the NXG version, it is a more modern interface NI came up with and has been pushing for a few years but compatibly is not great with older VI (Virtual instruments)

There are lots of videos to help you get going too.

Labview was originally created for Macs back in 1986, so it has been around a while.
brett_kvo
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Re: Software to collect and display measured data.

Post by brett_kvo »

Another option that is fairly turn-key is using a LabJack and DAQFactory Express. These work together out of the box. LabJack is a little more money than an Arduino, but there's a free version of DAQFactory that works just fine. All said, we've found it to be entirely superior to what we were building with an Arduino.

https://labjack.com/

https://www.azeotech.com/j/products/com ... sions.html
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