Keysight IO Libraries Suite 2018 Update 1.0

Keysight IO Libraries Suite 2018 began the next generation of the former Agilent IO Libraries Suite, the libraries and tools you've come to rely on to speed up connection and control of your instruments. IO Libraries Suite 2018 completes the implementation of the Keysight name in file paths, Windows service names, etc. Agilent’s Electronic Measurement Group became Keysight Technologies in 2014; for more information, see http://www.keysight.com.

Table of Contents

• What is the Keysight IO Libraries Suite?
• System Requirements
• Installing the Software
• What's New in IO Libraries 2018?
• Upgrading from Earlier Versions
• Known Issues
• Uninstalling the Software
• License Grant

The Keysight IO Libraries Suite is a collection of libraries and utility programs. The IO libraries (SICL, VISA, VISA.NET and VISA COM) enable instrument communication for a variety of development environments (Keysight VEE Pro, Microsoft Visual Studio, etc.) that are compatible with GPIB, USB, LAN, RS-232, PXI, AXIe, and VXI test instruments from a variety of manufacturers. Several utility programs help you quickly and easily connect your instruments to your PC.

Establishing communication between your instruments and your PC is as easy as 1, 2, 3:

1. Install the IO Libraries Suite: Get all the software you need to connect instruments to your PC via GPIB, USB, LAN, and other standard interfaces.
2. Install Instrument Software and Connect Your Instruments: Install any software and drivers that came with your instruments. Connect cables and apply power.
3. Run Keysight Connection Expert to Identify and Communicate with Instruments: See connected instruments, send commands to your instruments, and configure the settings.

If you received two disks with your Keysight product, install the IO Libraries Suite first. Then browse the second disk to find instrument drivers, documentation, or other application software included with the product.

Keysight has tested IO Libraries Suite 2018 on the following system configurations. In general, the product should run on any x86 or x64 (except Itanium) processor. Note that performance may be impacted with less powerful systems.

Browser: Use a supported version of Internet Explorer; see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969393.

¹ On older PCs with minimum RAM, installation can take a long time when installing the IO Libraries Suite and the .NET Framework.

² Because of the installation procedure, less disk space may be required for operation than is required for installation. The amount of space listed above is required for installation.

Other Requirements

Windows version 8.1 and Windows Server version 2012 R2 require Windows update 2919355 before Keysight IO Libraries can be properly installed.

Licensing

See the License Grant at the end of this file to determine whether you are licensed to install this software.

Support for Older Operating Systems

Keysight recommends you use the current version of the IO Libraries Suite. This version supports the newest interfaces and operating systems and has the most advanced features. If you need to install an earlier version support an older interface or operating system, go to http://www.keysight.com/find/iosuite to locate legacy versions.

To install Keysight IO Libraries Suite:

1. Disconnect any USB instruments, USB/GPIB converters, PXI and AXIe chassis, and FireWire (IEEE 1394)/VXI interfaces that are connected to your PC.


2. Close all applications running on the PC.


3. Install the software:
   
   
   • If you have the IO Libraries disk, insert it and double-click Autorun/auto.exe.
   • If you are downloading from www.keysight.com, download and run IO Libraries Suite 2018.

   When you install, select Typical to install with recommended settings, or Custom to:

   • Install the IO Libraries Suite in another directory (32-bit operating systems only).
   • Use Keysight 32-bit VISA with another vendor’s VISA on the same PC in side-by-side mode. For details, see Non-Keysight 32-bit VISA Detected on www.keysight.com or to the IO Libraries Suite Help following installation.

4. Re-connect any devices that you disconnected before installation.

New Features

IO Libraries Suite 2018 Update 1.0 provides several enhancements:

• Support for Keysight Streamline Series USB Vector Network Analyzer
• Support for E1406A GPIB to VXI on Windows 7 and Windows 10
• Includes the following IVI Foundation shared components:
  • VISA Shared Components 5.10
  • IVI Shared Components 2.5
  • IVI.NET Shared Components 1.4
• The IO Libraries installer is now a single executable and not a self-extracting zip file.

Defects Fixed

IO Libraries Suite 2018 Update 0.2 fixed the following defects:

• IO Libraries Suite installer would hang if other applications were doing I/O (47826)
• Some Keysight PXIe cards were not enumerated correctly (47887)
• Keysight VISA was unable to report all PXI devices with viFindRsrc (47825)
• The Connection Expert Chassis tab showed incorrect addresses for some PXI modules (47615)
• Connection Expert was unable to set LU values of 14, 15, 17, or 18 on Keysight USB/GPIB adapters (47886)
• Keysight VISA connections failed when using the VXI-11.2 protocol (47877)

Defects Fixed

IO Libraries Suite 2018 Update 0.1 fixed the following issues:

• Issues that caused Connection Expert to:
• Get stuck on the Loading Instruments… screen (46901)
• Load images very slowly if internet access was unavailable (47661)
• Automatic scanning for PXI devices after initial boot has been disabled to fix a defect where PXI configuration could get lost on large systems (47698)

New Features

IO Libraries Suite 2018 provides support for:

• Keysight USB/PXI devices
• E8491B FireWire to VXI on Windows 10

Defects Fixed

• Issues that caused crashes in:
• Connection Expert (44266, 44271, 44274)
• Various I/O services and tools when FIPS compliant algorithms was enabled (44410)
• Interactive IO if too much data was transferred (46070)
• PXI Resource Manager if defective PXI drivers were encountered (45871)
• Some issues where the Discovery Service and Connection Expert would become unresponsive (44459)
• Issue where IO Monitor might display different timestamps if a log is opened on different systems (41227)
• A PXI issue where aliases were only returned if they were defined on the Legacy form of the PXI VISA address (44140)
• Issue where updating the Active PXI Resource Manager could cause other vendors to lock the configuration.ini file incorrectly (41367)
• Various other defects

The following enhancements were made to address defects:

• The PXI Resource Manager now monitors for new devices for 5 minutes after boot (44265)
• Added the ability to copy data out of IO Monitor to the clipboard (41272)
• Added an option in IO Monitor to Automatically Capture Messages on Startup (44685)

There are no issues upgrading from IO Libraries Suite revisions 17.0, 17.1, 17.2, 17.3, 2017 or 2017 Update 1 to revision 2018.

When you upgrade from versions prior to IO Libraries Suite 17.0, in general, your configuration is retained. However, you may see some changes in your configuration and some instrument properties may be lost. For detailed information and workarounds, see Upgrading from Earlier Versions in the IO Libraries Suite Help. To find this help, click the IO Control in the Windows notification area, then select Documentation > IO Libraries Suite Help.

• As of version 17.0, IO Libraries Suite constantly monitors mDNS traffic to detect changes in instrument status, including new and deleted connections. In rare cases, certain instruments may produce large amounts of mDNS traffic. If this happens, you'll see a large number of extraneous messages in Connection Expert's message area. To eliminate this traffic, turn off mDNS on the instrument's web interface or front panel.


• The range of valid VISA interface IDs for remote USB interfaces is USB1 through USB254. If you are using a release prior to 17.1 and have assigned a remote USB interface ID above 254, its ID will be blank upon upgrade.


• In some cases, when you upgrade to IO Libraries Suite 2018, Keysight 488 may be disabled even though it was previously enabled. To enable it, open Connection Expert and select Settings > Options > Keysight 488 Options, then turn on Enable Keysight GPIB cards for 488 programs.


• The GPIB auto-scan feature is incompatible with certain instruments, including some Keysight 34980As and 34410As. In some cases, compatibility depends on the version of firmware on your instrument. If IO Libraries detects an incompatible instrument on a GPIB interface, it automatically turns off auto-scan for that GPIB interface.
  
  Some older instruments that do not respond correctly to the SCPI *IDN? identification query may experience problems when queried. After two failures, IO Libraries stops querying the instrument until the next reboot or reconnect. To prevent *IDN? from being sent to a specific instrument, add the instrument manually and turn off its auto-identification property.
  
  For more information on the auto-scan and auto-discovery features, click the IO Control icon in the Windows notification area, then select Documentation > IO Libraries Suite Help. Search for auto-scan or auto-discover in the help file. For up-to-date information about compatibility issues and solutions, visit www.keysight.com/find/iosuitecompatibility.

Use the Windows Control Panel > Programs & Features utility to uninstall or modify the software. Do not delete files directly.

Removing the IO Libraries Suite does not delete the standard VISA directory, standard VISA COM files, standard VISA.NET files, standard IVI (Interchangeable Virtual Instrument Foundation) files, and IVI Shared Components. This is because there is no reliable way for the IO Libraries Suite uninstaller to be sure that no other installed product (whether from Keysight or another vendor) is using these files and directories.

Keysight grants you a non-exclusive license of the Software at no charge pursuant to the terms of the License Agreement. The License Agreement is displayed when you install the software and is available in the IO Libraries Suite Online Help. You may download the Software, and store or run the Software for internal use and purposes in accordance with this Agreement and the documentation provided with the Software. Such documentation may include license terms provided by Keysight's third party suppliers, which will apply to the use of the Software and take precedence over these license terms. In the absence of documentation specifying the applicable license, you may store or run the Software on your PC(s) and instrument(s). If the Software is otherwise licensed for concurrent or network use, you may not allow more than the maximum number of authorized users to access and use the Software concurrently.

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