©
National Instruments Corporation
1-1
1
Introduction
This chapter describes the NI 660
x
devices, lists what yo
u
need to get
started, and describes optional eq
u
ipment. If yo
u
have not already installed
the TIO device, refer to the
DAQ Getting Started
g
u
ides.
About NI 660
x
Devices
The NI 660
x
devices are timing and digital I/O devices for
u
se with the
PCI b
u
s in PC-compatible comp
u
ters, PXI chassis, or CompactPCI chassis.
The NI 6601 offers fo
u
r 32-bit co
u
nter channels and
u
p to 32 lines of
individ
u
ally config
u
rable, TTL/CMOS-compatible digital I/O. The
NI 6602 offers this capability and fo
u
r additional 32-bit co
u
nter channels.
The NI 6608 is a f
u
nctional s
u
perset of the NI 6602 device with a
high-stability clock called an oven-controlled crystal oscillator (OCXO).
The co
u
nter/timer channels have many meas
u
rement and generation
modes, s
u
ch as event co
u
nting, time meas
u
rement, freq
u
ency
meas
u
rement, encoder position meas
u
rement, p
u
lse generation, and
sq
u
are-wave generation.
The NI 660
x
devices contain the National Instr
u
ments MITE PCI interface.
The MITE offers b
u
s-master operation, PCI b
u
rst transfers, and high-speed
DMA controller(s) for contin
u
o
u
s, scatter-gather DMA witho
u
t req
u
iring
DMA reso
u
rces from yo
u
r comp
u
ter. Refer to the
Using PXI with
CompactPCI
section for more information abo
u
t yo
u
r NI PXI-660
x
device.
Device specifications are available in the
NI 660x Specifications
doc
u
ment,
which is available for download from
ni.com/manual
s
.
Using PXI with CompactPCI
Using PXI-compatible prod
u
cts with CompactPCI prod
u
cts is an important
feat
u
re provided by
PXI Hardware Specification Revision 2.1
. If yo
u
u
se a
PXI-compatible pl
u
g-in mod
u
le in a CompactPCI chassis, yo
u
cannot
u
se
PXI-specific f
u
nctions, b
u
t yo
u
can still
u
se the basic pl
u
g-in device
f
u
nctions. For example, the RTSI b
u
s on a PXI TIO Series device is
available in a PXI chassis, b
u
t not in a CompactPCI chassis.
