GPIBUtils-NG

Next-generation, consolidated GPIB/VISA instrument-control suite.

This repository is the migration target for the collection of individual instrument-control projects scattered across @TGoodhew's repos. Each existing instrument driver, application, and utility that manipulates a GPIB / HP-IB / VISA test instrument is tracked here as its own migration issue (one issue per instrument/driver). The goal is a single solution with reusable drivers, a shared VISA transport, a common app/CLI shell, and an MCP server surface — replacing ~18 one-off repos.

Status: migration complete; bench verification is what remains. Every driver found in the surveyed repos — and every programmable instrument turned up by the manuals triage — has been ported: 68 drivers across 20 instrument categories, plus the HP-GL/PCL renderers, the MCP server, the SRQ completion engine, the attenuation-measurement application and the cross-instrument verification harness. main builds and passes 781 tests hardware-free.

Because development happens away from the bench, drivers merge on simulator/unit-test green and then wait for real-hardware confirmation. See CHANGE_LOG.md for what's landed and docs/HARDWARE_VERIFICATION.md for the verification board.

Why consolidate

The surveyed repos share a very consistent stack (C# / .NET Framework 4.7.2–4.8.1, Spectre.Console or WinForms/WPF, NI-VISA) but each re-implements the same plumbing: VISA session management, SRQ / serial-poll completion, engineering-notation formatting, and — in four separate places — a driver for the HP 8673B, and in four places a driver for the HP 8902A. Consolidation removes that duplication and standardizes on one clean, testable, vendor-neutral core.

Quick start

Build the solution and run the Spectre.Console front-end (gpibutils). The Simulated provider needs no hardware, so this works anywhere:

dotnet build GPIBUtils-NG.sln

The built executable is gpibutils.exe (the assembly is named gpibutils, not GpibUtils.Console). It is not placed on PATH, so invoke it by path — from the repo root:

& "src\GpibUtils.Console\bin\Release\net472\gpibutils.exe" providers

# Talk to a simulated instrument (no hardware)
& "src\GpibUtils.Console\bin\Release\net472\gpibutils.exe" idn GPIB0::5::INSTR --provider Simulated
& "src\GpibUtils.Console\bin\Release\net472\gpibutils.exe" query GPIB0::14::INSTR "MEAS:VOLT?" --provider Simulated --engineering V

# Interactive TUI (menu- and dashboard-driven; also the default with no verb on a terminal)
& "src\GpibUtils.Console\bin\Release\net472\gpibutils.exe" tui --provider Simulated

# Against real hardware (NI-VISA is the default provider)
& "src\GpibUtils.Console\bin\Release\net472\gpibutils.exe" idn GPIB0::14::INSTR

Don't use discover to find instruments on a bench behind HP-IB bus extenders. An extender ACKs the address handshake for its whole remote segment, so a VISA scan reports every address 0–30 as present — all phantom. Drive by explicit resource string (--address), or persist the real addresses once with config address set <device> <resource>. Both front-ends warn when a scan returns ≥ 15 resources.

Bench scripts

Repeatable, hardware test runs that drive the built CLI live in scripts/ (PowerShell; bench tools, not part of the build or CI). Every script resolves paths relative to the repo root (no absolute paths baked in) and confirms each instrument's address from the address DB before use — press ENTER to keep it or paste a new VISA resource string. See scripts/README.md for the shared conventions and the I/Q waveform file format.

# Full command-surface test run for the E4406A VSA, stimulated by an E4438C:
./scripts/E4406A-Full-Test-Run.ps1

Target architecture

Layer	Project	Responsibility
Transport (core)	`GpibUtils.Visa`	Vendor-neutral pluggable transport: `IGpibProvider` / `IInstrumentSession`, capability reporting, SRQ/serial-poll, the provider registry, extension stubs (Keysight/Prologix/AR488), and an in-memory simulator. No vendor dependency — builds anywhere.
Transport (NI)	`GpibUtils.Visa.Ni`	NI-VISA (default) + native NI-488.2 providers, built against the official NI/IVI VISA.NET assemblies from the local NI-VISA install (resolved by simple name — GAC, then an unversioned disk glob, then an explicit override; never vendored, never version-pinned; auto-registered by reflection). Where NI-VISA isn't installed it builds an "NI-VISA unavailable" stub, so the whole solution still compiles with zero NI setup (and on CI). Pass `-p:RequireNi=true` to hard-fail instead of stubbing.
Shared	`GpibUtils.Common`	Cross-cutting helpers — `ToEngineeringFormat`, and `InstrumentAddressStore` (per-instrument addresses persisted to JSON; precedence `--address` > configured > driver default)
Drivers	`GpibUtils.Instruments.*`	One driver class per instrument model, grouped by category: SignalSources, Meters, Counters, Analyzers, Scopes, PowerSupplies, Switches, Plotters, Printers, Calibrators, Audio, LcrMeters, ElectronicLoads, ModulationDomain, NetworkAnalyzers, NoiseFigureMeters, SourceMeasure
Rendering	`GpibUtils.Hpgl` · `GpibUtils.Pcl`	HP-GL/2 parser + renderer (plotters, analyzer screen-capture) and the ThinkJet-subset PCL parser + raster renderer
Output routing	`GpibUtils.Hardcopy`	Routes one document (HP-GL / PCL / image) to a GPIB plotter, the GPIB ThinkJet, or a Windows printer
Measurement app	`GpibUtils.Measurement`	Attenuation-vs-frequency orchestration — `MeasurementEngine` + the 11793A LO/IF planner; drives source + LO + step attenuators + receiver
Automation	`GpibUtils.Verification`	Cross-instrument verification harness: verify a DUT with a selectable reference instrument (e.g. an 8902A or a power meter to check a signal generator). Plan-driven runners + `verify harness` / `verify source`, drivable hardware-free via the simulated bench. See `docs/VERIFICATION_HARNESS.md`
Integration	`GpibUtils.Mcp`	MCP server exposing the suite to LLM clients + a 55-model instrument DB
Front-end (console)	`GpibUtils.Console`	Spectre.Console — both a one-shot CLI (`Spectre.Console.Cli`) and an interactive TUI (`gpibutils tui`)
Front-end (Windows)	`GpibUtils.Wpf`	WPF MVVM desktop shell on the shared core — browse providers, run a command, DMM panel, hardcopy preview/send (works hardware-free via the Simulated provider)

The core/driver libraries carry no UI dependencies — the console (Spectre.Console CLI + TUI) and Windows (WPF) front-ends are the only UI projects, and all call the same drivers/services. WinForms sources (ESG-SignalCreator, SALink) migrate to WPF.

UI parity is a hard rule. Nothing may exist in one front-end that isn't available in all three (CLI · WPF · TUI). The only accepted asymmetry is invocation: the CLI is one-shot, so an interactive/live screen maps to a verb (a live dashboard ↔ a streaming monitor/watch; a transcript ↔ scrollback plus --log). The underlying capability must exist everywhere.

Reference implementation: the HP-Attenuator repo already follows the intended pattern (vendor-neutral Ivi.Visa, a Core library, a hardware simulator, and CI) and is the model the rest should converge on.

Language & target framework (decided): C# on .NET Framework 4.7.2 (net472) for all projects, including the WPF front-end — matching the bulk of the existing source and the HP-Attenuator reference for zero VISA.NET churn. See #1.

Development workflow (build-forward, verify-on-hardware)

Much of this work is done without access to the physical instruments, so building and hardware verification are deliberately decoupled:

main is the always-green integration line — it must build and pass the Simulated-provider unit tests. Everything stacks on it.
Work each issue on a feat/<issue#>-<slug> branch (e.g. feat/6-hp11713a): port the driver onto the shared transport, add a simulator/mock and tests, and wire its CLI branch (#45).
A PR merges to main on simulator/unit-test green — hardware verification is not a merge gate. This lets the next driver build on it immediately while away from the bench.
On merge the issue is closed (policy changed 2026-07-17), so the open issue list only shows work still to build. It gets the Needs Verification label and a bench checklist, a row on the board, and the merge commit is tagged verify/<issue#>-<instrument> so its exact state can be checked out at the bench later. The full board is docs/HARDWARE_VERIFICATION.md (mirrored by the pinned tracking issue #46, which stays open).
Back at the bench, run the checklist against real hardware and record the result on the board. On a ✅ pass mark it verified; on a ⚠️ discrepancy reopen the issue or file a follow-up.
Software-only work has no bench gate — pure infrastructure (the SRQ engine, the renderers, the MCP server, address config) is fully verified by its unit tests and is simply closed on merge.

Changes are logged in CHANGE_LOG.md.

Migration issue format

Every migration issue follows the same template so the work is uniform:

Source — link to the origin repo, the item type (driver / application / utility / mcp-server), and the key source files.
What the code does — the instrument-facing behavior being preserved.
Current stack — language/framework, bus (GPIB / HP-IB / SCPI / VISA), and VISA/IO layer.
Migration notes — hardcoded addresses, legacy COM, HintPath issues, quirks to fix.
Related implementations — cross-links to duplicate drivers of the same instrument to be consolidated.
Target in GPIBUtils-NG — the destination module.
Migration checklist — port logic, move to shared transport, de-hardcode addressing, reconcile duplicates, add simulator/tests, wire into CLI/MCP, docs.

Labels: migration (all), plus driver / application / utility / mcp-server, bus:gpib / bus:scpi, stack:dotnet / stack:python / stack:vbnet, legacy, needs-triage.

Migration backlog

42 instrument/driver items were found across the surveyed repos (plus the #1 foundation issue). The table below is the original survey, kept for provenance — every item in it has since been migrated.

A second discovery pass (#70) then triaged all 571 PDFs in the manuals library and migrated a driver for every programmable instrument that wasn't already backlogged, taking the total to 68 drivers. That auditable triage is committed at docs/manuals-triage.md; the live status of every driver is on docs/HARDWARE_VERIFICATION.md.

Meters (DMM / power / measuring receiver)

#	Instrument / component	Source repo	Type	Target module
#2	HP 8902A Measuring Receiver	HP8902Measurements	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Meters (HP8902A) + app shell`
#9	HP 8902A Measuring Receiver	HP-Attenuator	driver	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Meters (HP8902A — canonical)`
#17	HP 34401A Digital Multimeter	HP435B-Test	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Meters (HP34401A) + report generator`
#24	HP 8902A Measuring Receiver	GPIBUtils	driver	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Meters (HP8902A)`
#25	HP/Agilent E4418B Power Meter	GPIBUtils	driver	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Meters (E4418B)`
#26	Rigol DM3058 Digital Multimeter (current version)	GPIBUtils	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Meters (RigolDM3058) + logging`
#30	Rigol DM3058 Digital Multimeter (original)	GPIBUtils-Old (legacy)	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Meters (RigolDM3058 — use GPIBUtils version)`
#31	HP 3458A 8.5-digit DMM (capture/logging)	GPIBUtils-Old (legacy)	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Meters (HP3458A) + logging`
#33	HP 438A Power Meter	GPIBUtils-Old (legacy)	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Meters (HP438A)`
#36	HP/Agilent/Keysight 34401A DMM (calibrator verification)	5440Controller	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Meters (HP34401A — canonical)`

RF / signal sources

#	Instrument / component	Source repo	Type	Target module
#3	HP 8673B Synthesized Signal Generator (as LO)	HP8902Measurements	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.SignalSources (HP8673B)`
#7	HP 8340B Synthesized Sweeper	HP-Attenuator	driver	`GpibUtils.Instruments.SignalSources (HP8340B)`
#8	HP 8673B Synthesized Signal Generator	HP-Attenuator	driver	`GpibUtils.Instruments.SignalSources (HP8673B)`
#11	Keysight/Agilent E4438C ESG (RF vector signal generator)	ESG-SignalCreator	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.SignalSources (E4438C) + Arb encoder in Core`
#16	HP 8340A / 8340B Synthesized Sweep Generator	HP8340ACalVerification	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.SignalSources (HP8340) + cal/verify app`
#18	HP 8673B Synthesized Signal Generator (repo mislabeled '8273B')	HP8273BLLMTest	driver	`GpibUtils.Instruments.SignalSources (HP8673B)`
#22	HP 8350B Sweep Oscillator	GPIBUtils	driver	`GpibUtils.Instruments.SignalSources (HP8350B)`
#23	HP 8673B Synthesized Signal Generator	GPIBUtils	driver	`GpibUtils.Instruments.SignalSources (HP8673B)`
#28	HP 3325B Synthesizer — 100 Hz Harmonic/THD test	GPIBUtils-Old (legacy)	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.SignalSources (HP3325B) + THD test app`
#29	HP 3325B Synthesizer — DC Offset test	GPIBUtils-Old (legacy)	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.SignalSources (HP3325B) + DC-offset test`

Frequency counters

#	Instrument / component	Source repo	Type	Target module
#5	HP 53131A Universal Frequency Counter	HP3499Demo	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Counters (HP53131A)`
#20	HP 5351A Microwave Frequency Counter	GPIBUtils	driver	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Counters (HP5351A)`
#21	HP 53131A Universal Counter	GPIBUtils	driver	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Counters (HP53131A — canonical)`
#32	HP 5342A Microwave Frequency Counter	GPIBUtils-Old (legacy)	driver	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Counters (HP5342A)`

Spectrum analyzers & memory modules

#	Instrument / component	Source repo	Type	Target module
#10	HP/Agilent 8563E Spectrum Analyzer + 85620A Mass Memory Module (FRAM card)	MemCardTest	utility	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Analyzers (HP8560series + MassMemory)`
#12	Agilent E4406A VSA Transmitter Tester	ESG-SignalCreator	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Analyzers (E4406A) + Verify harness`
#13	HP/Agilent 8560E Spectrum Analyzer	DLPBits	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Analyzers (HP8560series)`
#14	HP 85620A Mass Memory Module (DLP loader / SRAM image decode)	DLPBits	utility	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Analyzers (MassMemory + image decode)`

Power supplies

#	Instrument / component	Source repo	Type	Target module
#15	Rigol DP832 Programmable DC Power Supply	DP832	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.PowerSupplies (RigolDP832)`
#19	HP/Agilent E3633A DC Power Supply	E3633A-Demo	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.PowerSupplies (E3633A)`

Switch / attenuator control

#	Instrument / component	Source repo	Type	Target module
#4	HP 3499A Switch/Control System	HP3499Demo	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Switches (HP3499A)`
#6	HP/Agilent 11713A Attenuator/Switch Driver	HP-Attenuator	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Switches (HP11713A)`

Plotters (HP-GL)

#	Instrument / component	Source repo	Type	Target module
#38	HP 7090A Measurement Plotting System	7090ATest	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Plotters (HP7090A) + GpibUtils.Hpgl`
#39	HP 7550A Graphics Plotter	7550ATest	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Plotters (HP7550A) + GpibUtils.Hpgl`
#40	HP 7090A / 7475A / 7550A plotter (HPGL streamer prototype)	HPGLTest	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Plotters (shared HPGL send) + GpibUtils.Hpgl`
#42	HP-GL / PCL screen-capture rendering (Hpgl.Rendering)	GPIB-MCP	mcp-server	`GpibUtils.Hpgl (parser/renderer/PCL) — shared with Plotters`

Oscilloscopes

#	Instrument / component	Source repo	Type	Target module
#27	Rigol DS1054Z Oscilloscope	GPIBUtils	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Scopes (RigolDS1054Z)`

Calibrators & metrology

#	Instrument / component	Source repo	Type	Target module
#35	Fluke 5440A / 5440B DC Voltage Calibrator	5440Controller	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments.Calibrators (Fluke5440)`
#37	Fluke 5440 + HP 34401A verification runner (5440Verify)	5440Controller	utility	`GpibUtils.Verification (plan-driven runner)`

Integration & shared infrastructure

#	Instrument / component	Source repo	Type	Target module
#41	GPIB-MCP server (generic multi-instrument MCP surface)	GPIB-MCP	mcp-server	`GpibUtils.Mcp (server) + shared instrument model DB`
#42	HP-GL / PCL screen-capture rendering (Hpgl.Rendering)	GPIB-MCP	mcp-server	`GpibUtils.Hpgl` + `GpibUtils.Pcl` — shared with Plotters
#43	SRQ / serial-poll completion engine (Srq.Completion)	GPIB-MCP	mcp-server	`GpibUtils.Visa/Srq` (shared by all drivers)

_{The plotter items #38/#39/#40 are listed once, under Plotters (HP-GL) above.}

Other

#	Instrument / component	Source repo	Type	Target module
#34	HP 8340B Output Test (drives HP 8902A)	GPIBUtils-Old (legacy)	application	`GpibUtils.Instruments (HP8340B source + HP8902A meter)`

Considered but excluded (not GPIB device-manipulation)

These were reviewed at the code level and deliberately left out of the backlog — documented here so nothing was silently dropped:

Item	Repo	Reason
`SALink`	SALink	Empty WinForms stub — no instrument code exists yet
`HPBasic`	HPBasic	README + LICENSE only; no source on any branch
HP 11793A Microwave Converter	HP-Attenuator	Passive converter, no bus interface — only LO/IF planning in software
HP 435B Power Meter	HP435B-Test	Analog/manual DUT — operator sets switches; not bus-controlled
HP 11683A Range Calibrator	HP435B-Test	Manual reference source — no programmable interface
`HP3458AHFLKeys`	GPIBUtils-Old	Empty `Main()` stub — no VISA references
MB1040 serial demo	GPIBUtils-Old	RS-232 / `System.IO.Ports` rangefinder — not GPIB/VISA
`ToEngineeringFormat` rework	GPIBUtils-Old	Pure number-formatting helper (folded into #1 as shared code)

Forked repos (Multimeter_Controller, gpib_playground, FreeCal) were out of scope by request.

License

_{Backlog generated from a code-level survey of the source repositories. See the pinned tracking issue for the epic view.}

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
.claude		.claude
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
docs		docs
scripts		scripts
src		src
tests		tests
.gitattributes		.gitattributes
.gitignore		.gitignore
CHANGE_LOG.md		CHANGE_LOG.md
Directory.Build.props		Directory.Build.props
GPIBUtils-NG.NoWpf.slnf		GPIBUtils-NG.NoWpf.slnf
GPIBUtils-NG.sln		GPIBUtils-NG.sln
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
SharedMemory.md		SharedMemory.md

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GPIBUtils-NG

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Quick start

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Migration issue format

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Meters (DMM / power / measuring receiver)

RF / signal sources

Frequency counters

Spectrum analyzers & memory modules

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GPIBUtils-NG

Why consolidate

Quick start

Bench scripts

Target architecture

Development workflow (build-forward, verify-on-hardware)

Migration issue format

Migration backlog

Meters (DMM / power / measuring receiver)

RF / signal sources

Frequency counters

Spectrum analyzers & memory modules

Power supplies

Switch / attenuator control

Plotters (HP-GL)

Oscilloscopes

Calibrators & metrology

Integration & shared infrastructure

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Considered but excluded (not GPIB device-manipulation)

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