spec

Software for Diffraction

Hardware Devices

Hardware Interfaces

Hardware that operates on serial (RS-232C) interfaces can be used on any platform.

With release 4.01.11 of spec, up to four GPIB controllers can be configured simultaneously. With release 5.07.02-9, up to eight GPIB controllers can be used.

With release 4.05.06 of spec, up to four VME controllers can be configured simultaneously.

With release 5.06.02-1 of spec, up to four CAMAC controllers can be configured simultaneously (with some restrictions).

Operation of CAMAC controllers that plug into the host bus may require special drivers written by CSS. (Note that the DSP 6001/2 with PC004 and the KSC 2926 PC board may now be operated within in spec in a polled, driverless mode.) The KS 3929 SCSI to CAMAC controller on the Sun platforms (both Sun0S 4.x and Solaris 2.x) requires a special driver provided by CSS. The KS 3929 SCSI to CAMAC controller can be used on the HP700 platform either with the (rather expensive) KS software or with the bundled software included with spec.

Multiple copies of spec can be run on a single platform to control multiple diffractometers sharing a single CAMAC or GPIB controller. In general, though, individual CAMAC modules cannot be shared by multiple copies of spec.