First PCMCIA Instrumentation Products for Macintosh PowerBooks

Cross-Platform Compatibility Means Engineers and Scientists Can Switch
Cards Among Industry-Standard Platforms

Austin, Texas - Oct. 6, 1995 - National Instruments - the Virtual
Instrumentation Company announced today seven low-cost, high-quality
PCMCIA data acquisition (DAQ) and IEEE 488 (GPIB) instrument control
products for Macintosh PowerBook computers. Engineers and scientists can
use the DAQCard-1200, DAQCard-700, DAQCard-500, DAQCard-DIO-24,
DAQCard-AO-2DC, DAQCard-ER-8 kit, or PCMCIA-GPIB interface with the
just-announced PowerBook 5300 series and PowerBook 190 series computers,
to develop low-cost, portable test and measurement and industrial
automation applications. PowerBook 5300 series users can use LabVIEW
graphical instrumentation software and HiQ numerical analysis and data
visualization software, both native-mode Power Macintosh applications, to
develop high-performance, portable instrumentation systems. University
students can use the Student Editions of LabVIEW and HiQ for
instrumentation applications on the PowerBook 190 machines. 

"Customers in technical professions are a key focus for Apple Computer,"
said Steve Andler, Director of Product Marketing for Apple Computer. "By
teaming the power of PowerPC processors with the National Instruments
PCMCIA data acquisition and instrument control products, our technical
customers can create high-performance, portable instrumentation systems.
They can take their PowerBook computers anywhere their research takes them
- in the lab or into the field." 

The DAQCard-1200, priced at $695, is the only full multifunction PCMCIA DAQ
interface available on the market- it features analog, digital, and timing
I/O. Until now, developers had to purchase several cards to achieve this
I/O functionality, which is made possible through the company's custom
50-pin connector. With more capabilities of the company's popular Lab-NB
plug-in board for Macintosh computers, the DAQCard-1200 features a 12-bit
ADC with eight single-ended or four differential analog input channels, a
100 kS/s sampling rate, and gains of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100. The
DAQCard-1200 has two 12-bit analog output channels, three user-available
counter/timers, and 24 lines of digital I/O. The card is fully calibrated
in software, and all functions of the card are software configurable. 

The DAQCard-700, priced at $595, is a low-power analog input, digital I/O,
and timing I/O DAQ PCMCIA card. It has a 12-bit ADC with 16 single-ended
or eight differential analog inputs, a 100 kS/s sustained sampling rate, a
512-sample FIFO ADC buffer, multichannel scanning, and +45 V overvoltage
protection with power on or off. The card also features 16 lines of
digital I/O and two user-available, 16-bit counter/timer channels. The
card is fully calibrated in software; all functions of the card are
software configurable. 

The DAQCard-500, priced at $395, is a low-power, analog input, digital I/O,
and timing I/O PCMCIA card. It features a 12-bit, 50 kS/s ADC with eight
single-ended analog input channels, two user-available counter/timers, and
eight lines of digital I/O. The card is fully calibrated in software; all
functions of the card are software configurable. 

The DAQCard-DIO-24, priced at $195, is low-power, low-cost parallel digital
I/O PCMCIA card that can connect Macintosh PowerBooks to: 

* Peripherals with parallel digital I/O 
* BCD-compatible panel meters and test equipment 
* ER-8 and ER-16 electromechanical relay accessories 
* SC-206X Series optically isolated digital I/O and electromechanical
  relay boards 
* SSR Series solid-state relay boards

The DAQCard-DIO-24 uses the 8255, a 24-bit PPI, which can be further
divided into three 8-bit ports. It features transfer rates up to 250
kbytes/s. Users can generate periodic interrupts for pattern generation.
It can operate in either a unidirectional or bidirectional mode. All
functions of the card are software configurable. The PCMCIA bus interface
has 16-bit data paths with interrupt-generation circuitry. 

The DAQCard-AO-2DC, priced at $325, is a two-channel voltage and current
output and digital I/O card. It is the only PCMCIA card capable of the
0-20 and 4-20 mA current outputs commonly necessary for process monitoring
and control applications. It features two channels of 12-bit analog
output, software-selectable voltage output range of 0-10 or +5 V, 0-20 and
4-20 mA current output range, and 16 lines of digital I/O. All 

functions of the card are software configurable. 

The DAQCard-ER-8 kit, priced at $495, is an eight-channel electromechanical
relay kit for switching signals up to 3A at 30 VDC or 250 Vrms. The kit
contains the ER-8, an eight-channel electromechanical relay accessory; the
DAQCard-DIO-24 digital I/O card; and a cable. 

The PCMCIA-GPIB, priced at $595, turns a PowerBook into a completely
portable, high-performance IEEE 488 Controller for numerous applications
in laboratory automation and automated testing. It uses the TNT4882C ASIC
for low power operation (only 65 mA typical), which is increasingly
important in battery-powered systems. It can sustain programmed I/O data
transfer rates exceeding 1 Mbytes/s. 

LabVIEW and HiQ Software for Mac OS

PowerBook 5300 series users can take advantage of performance benefits
offered by the native versions of LabVIEW and HiQ. LabVIEW is a
general-purpose programming tool with extensive libraries for data
acquisition, instrument control, data analysis, and data presentation.
With LabVIEW, engineers and scientists build software modules called
virtual instruments (VIs) instead of writing text-based programs. HiQ is
an object-based numerical analysis software package that gives scientists
and engineers more than 600 mathematical functions; publication-quality
output; interactive three-dimensional graphics; a scripting language; a
compiler; and a set of application-specific "Problem Solvers_." HiQ
follows a worksheet metaphor for exploring numerical integration,
expression evaluation, optimization, differential equations, nonlinear
systems, and other applications. University students can use the Student
Editions of LabVIEW and HiQ on the PowerBook 190 series to build
instrumentation applications with the PCMCIA cards. 

Driver Software for Mac OS

All DAQCards include NI-DAQ software Version 4.8 for Mac OS. NI-DAQ is a
library of functions that controls DAQ hardware for analog input, analog
output, waveform generation, digital I/O, and timing I/O. NI488.2
software, which is shipped with the PCMCIA-GPIB, is a library of
instrument control functions. Both packages eliminate low-level
programming tasks and integrate the hardware capabilities with high-level
programming environments. Because the NI-DAQ and NI-488.2 function calls
are independent of the platform or operating system, users can easily
migrate their PCMCIA applications among platforms. 

About National Instruments

National Instruments, headquartered in Austin, Texas, manufactures software
and hardware products for PCs and workstations that scientists and
engineers worldwide use to build virtual instrumentation systems. These
systems are used for research and industrial applications such as
automated testing, laboratory automation, advanced research, industrial
control, factory automation, physiological monitoring, numerical analysis,
and data visualization. 

National Instruments stock is traded on the NASDAQ National Market System
under the symbol NATI. Further information on National Instruments may be
obtained from the company's SEC filings or by directly contacting the
company's Investor Relations Department at (512) 349-5090. 

Pricing, Availability, and For More Information

The DAQCards and PCMCIA-GPIB will be available for Macintosh PowerBooks in
Q4 1995. Pricing is as follows: 

DAQCard-1200   $695    DAQCard-DIO-24   $195    PCMCIA-GPIB   $595
DAQCard-700    $595    DAQCard-AO-2DC   $325
DAQCard-500   $395     DAQCard-ER-8 kit $495

Users who already have DAQCards or PCMCIA-GPIB running under DOS or Windows
can purchase NI-DAQ or NI-488.2 software for Mac OS for $95, and can then
use their PCMCIA cards with Macintosh computers. Conversely, users who
want to run their PCMCIA cards on Intel PCs can purchase NI-DAQ or
NI-488.2 software for DOS or Windows. For more information, contact
National Instruments, 6504 Bridge Point Parkway, Austin, Texas 78730-5039,
(512) 794-0100. Or call toll free in the U.S. and Canada at (800)
433-3488, fax (512) 794-8411, e-mail info@natinst.com. Readers can also
access information through the National Instruments InstrumentationWeb at
http://www.natinst.com/ 
 
 =========================================================
 From the 'New Product News' Electronic News Service on...
 AOL (Keyword = New Products) and Delphi (GO COMP PROD)
 =========================================================
 This information was processed from data provided by the
 company/author mentioned. For additional details, please
 contact them directly at the address/phone# indicated.
 Trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
 =========================================================
 All submissions for this service should be addressed to:
 BAKER ENTERPRISES,  20 Ferro Dr,  Sewell, NJ  08080  USA
 Email: rbakerpc@delphi.com  -or- RBakerPC (on AOL/Delphi)
 =========================================================
