This file contains brief installation, compilation and usage instructions for SampLin version 1.5.0. This is the only documentation at the moment. Features marked as (*) are still under development.

SampLin Home Page is located at sites:

http://www.iaee.tuwien.ac.at/sensor/samplin
http://www.troja.mff.cuni.cz/~kvasnica/samplin.html  (not updated regulary)

For comments, bug reports and questions contact me at e-mail address: kvasnica@iaee.tuwien.ac.at. Please read this file as well as BUGS, FAQ and TODO files (and try to find out the problem yourself in source code) before contacting me. In case of segfault, configure with debug option (--enable-debug), compile again and try to debug core dump after crash. Use `ulimit -c unlimited' to get core dump in bash.

All new features/changes/improvements are logged in file NEWS.

0. Introduction
1. Compilation
2. Installation
3.  Usage

3.0 Compatibility
3.1 Running SampLin
3.2 Configuring devices
3.3 Remote devices, network support
3.4 Script programming
3.5 Script commands

4 Device drivers
5 Acknowledgments

SampLin is Scientific Data Acquisition, Visualization and Process Control software for Linux and other unix platforms.

History of  SampLin began in september'97. There has been a mass spectrometer, optical multichannel spectograph and few other devices for plasma diagnostics in our plasma lab at TU-WIEN. Each device has had it's own 286, it's own (and mostly very ugly) software with it's own mysterios data formats. There has been a big demand on centralization of device control and data acquisition on single computer using the same software and common data format. Usage of stable software running stable OS was also a very important requirement. I didn't find anything really suitable and usable - well, except GNU C compiler and Linux.

We needed software to control variety of devices connected via serial, GPIB ports or Lab cards; to process, display and load/save/print acquired data. This software had to be really universal to enable to connect devices with very different control algorithms, data formats and data processing. It was desired to control more devices simultaneously using one computer. Remote control over TCP/IP was also desired.

SampLin has been build around script language originally based on YABASIC and Qt tool kit. The script language implements default BASIC commands, commands for creating and maintaining dialog windows with widgets and commands for easy data transfer and visualization. SampLin's script language is not directly interpreted but precompiled before execution. So it's fast enough for most tasks. Currently the script language started to evolve into a kind of C-like language
but it is still possible (with minor changes) to use old BASIC syntax so that everybody should be able to write a script even without having much praxis in programming.

I don't claim SampLin currently flawlessly solves all problems mentioned above. But it tries to. It has been proved to be very useful and reliable in our lab. There are many new features to add and many old features to tune up. To write versatile and reliable software it's important to test it in variety of environments and with variety of devices. That's why I need your feedback and help.

SampLin is distributed under the terms of GPL. For copyright details see file COPYING. I'd appreciate a short E-mail message or acknowledgement in case you found SampLin really useful.

To compile SampLin you'll need Linux >=2.0, libc6, gcc > 2.8.x or egcs, X11R6 >=3.3 (multithreaded !), Qt > 1.40 (www.troll.no), KDE >= 1.0 libs (www.kde.org) and drivers from Linux gpib library package (www.llp.fu-berlin.de).
SampLin is MULTITHREADED (well, at least SampLinExec), so be sure you use libc6 and libraries compiled as multithreaded with -DREENTRANT (especially X11 and Qt libraries). RedHat >=5.2 should be o.k. Enclosed PCL card drivers (directory src/drivers) will compile only with 2.0.x kernels. SampLin should run also other unix systems but has been tested only on Linux so far. The essential porting problem would be the drivers from gpib library which support only linux.

Since version 1.2 SampLin doesn't use the gpib library, it communicates directly with gpib drivers. That means, you have just to install the gpib drivers if you need GPIB support. If you don't need GPIB support, you don't need anything from gpib library package.

If you'd like to play around with script language grammar you'll also need flex++ and bison++ (flex and bison won't work). Flex++ and Bison++ generated .cpp files are included so normally you won't need flex++ and bison++.

Download the SampLin package SampLin-x.y.z.tar.gz/ (x.y.z stands for version number). Unpack the package using `tar -zxf' or `gunzip; tar -xf' commands.

`cd SampLin'

Read the `INSTALL' file for installation instructions. Start the configure script (use --help to see
possible options):

`./configure'

or

`./configure --enable-debug' to compile with debug info

or

`./configure --enable-drivers' to compile drivers in src/drivers directory
(WARNING: works only woth 2.0.x kernels)
 

And build SampLin:

`make'

To install SampLin you need just to type:

`make install'

SampLin will be installed by default under $KDEDIR. SampLin item will be added into KPanel start menu. Use --with-install-root= option to specify different root directory at configure time.

Following executables will be installed:

SampLin - User interface (UI). Use this to edit/run/trace your scripts
SampLinExec - Script executor. Use this to run scripts
SampLinDevices -  Device configurator
SampLin Graph - Standalone graph widget to view/edit your graphs

If you'd like to look at sample scripts and sample graph data, copy the directories $KDEDIR/share/apps/SampLin/examples/Data and $KDEDIR/share/apps/SampLin/examples/Scripts to $HOME/SampLin. Script file `widgets.Script' demonstrates usage of various widgets, `flow.Script' is script to control MKS flow controllers using Advantech PCL818 and PCL727 cards, `qms.Script' controls BALZERS QMG420 quadrupole mass spectrometer over serial port.

Driver modules for PCL Lab cards can be found under $KDEDIR/share/apps/SampLin/modules. Remote server executables are in $KDEDIR/share/apps/SampLin/remote.

 

3.0 Compatibility

 

SampLin graph and device configuration files are only forward compatible. It means SampLin 1.3.1 files are not readable by SampLin version < 1.3 However you can use SampLin 1.3.1 to open old files, they'll be automatically converted to new format during save operation. Version 1.3 has a bit different script syntax, so you'll have to change your 1.2 script files a bit. Version 1.5 has got also a new grammar, see below.

SampLin [script file]

After invoking SampLin, user interface (UI) appears. User interface consists of Menu bar, Toobox, Editor window, Message window and a Status bar. If running the first time SampLin creates the directories $HOME/SampLin/Data, $HOME/SampLin/Scripts and config file $HOME/kde/share/config/SampLinrc.

Use menu items File/New,Open,Save,SaveAs to create new, open existing, or save script. (By default in directory $HOME/SampLin/Scripts.)  Use Script/Run, Stop,Step,Goto,Reset to run, stop, step one line, go to line at cursor or reset (stop and initialize) current script.

SampLin UI forks separate process SampLinExec to run/trace the scripts.

Samplin may be invoked with script name as parameter. This file will be opened in editor window. If the full path doesn't exit, it will look for it in your $HOME/SampLin/Data directory.

Configuration/SampLin... opens dialog with program and script language options.

Section PATHS contains edit fields for SampLin root directory name and it's subdirectory names where SampLin looks for scripts and data by default. Edit field `Devices file' contains the name of the file where SampLin stores device configuration. `Interpreter' contains name of the interpreter to be used, SampLinExec is the default.
Section Interpreter contains following options:

Infolevels sets the level of interpreter messages

Error    - report only severe errors that disable to continue the execution

Warning    - report also warnings such as `Unable to open device' etc.

Note    - report more details about program parsing and execution, i/o operations

Diagnostic    - report everything: parsing/compilation details, useful for interpreter diagnostics

Output/Messages selects output destination for interpreter messages and print output. `Window' sends messages to SampLin UI message window, `stdout/stderr' prints messages to the terminal from which was SampLin invoked.

Option 'include timestamp' reports actual time along with interpreter messages. Options 'autosave' saves automatically any script changes before compilation.

Menu item Configuration/Devices... forks SampLinDevices device configurator. See section 3.2 for details.

For all frequently used menu commands there are appropriate buttons located on toolbar.

It is possible to run scripts using 'SampLinExec scriptname' directly, without starting user interface.

Menu item Configuration/Devices... has the same effect as invoking device configurator 'SampLinDevices' from shell.  New,Copy, Rename and Delete buttons located at bottom are used to create new, copy, rename or delete device selected in the list box.The name of the device entered when creating new, copying or renaming device will be used later to control it from within the script language.It's necessary to define device parameters for new device in Path, Common options, Serial options and GPIB options section of the dialog.

Path section

Field `Path' contains device path - e.g. /dev/ttyS0 for first serial port, /dev/gpib0/master for first linux-gpib card etc. DON'T PUT GPIB-LIB DEVICE NAME IN THIS FIELD ANYMORE, SAMPLIN USES GPIB DRIVERS DIRECTLY. YOU EITHER DON'T NEED TO CONFIGURE GPIB DEVICES IN /etc/gpib.conf. In case of remote device place the host name into the `Host' edit field. Type in some description of the device into the `Title' field (optional).

Common options

Three type of devices can be defined: GPIB, Serial or Void (e.g. Lab cards). Select appropriate type from combo box `type'. In case of serial/GPIB device fill out also the Serial options / GPIB options section of dialog. Select big or little endian option from `Endian' combo. (Usually little for Intel based devices and big for Motorola based devices). Click `Read enable' `Write enable' to enable reading or/and writing from/to the device. Fill in default delay in microseconds after device write in `Delay' field. Put default timeout for remote devices in seconds into the `Net timeout' field. (*) Type in hexadecimal code of the `end of string' character into the `EOS' field. This will be used to terminate all strings written in ASCII mode (e.g. DEVWRITE device, A$) as well as EOS stop character when reading ASCII data. Typical settings are 0x0d for \r (CR, carriage return), 0x0a for \n (LF, linefeed) or 0x0d0a for \r\n (CRLF dos-like combination). 2 byte setting (e.g. 0x0d0a) works should work with serial and void devices, support in GPIB mode depends on used device driver.

Serial options

Select `Baud rate', `Data bits', `Stop bits' and `Parity' for serial device.

GPIB options

Type in GPIB bus address of the device into the `GPIB address' fields.
Check `Bus master device' for bus controllers ( ! you won't do this normally !  ).
Device configuration is stored in file Samplin.devices located in $HOME/.kde/share/apps/SampLin

For remote devices fill in the host name where device is connected into the `Host' field as mentioned in section 3.2 Path. Nothing else is needed to configure on client side. Since SampLin remote features use the RPC to communicate with server, you need the RPC portmapper running on both client and server side. For GPIB devices you'll need to run rgpib_svc executable ($KDEDIR/share/apps/SampLin/remote/rgpib_svc) on your server. For serial or void devices you need to run the rdevice_svc executable found also in `remote' subdirectory. They must be run as root in order to register RPC service. rdevice_svc allocates service number 0x20004321, rgpib_svc number 0x20004322. Invoking rdevice_svc or rgpib_svc with `--debug' option will cause them to print all requests and device operations on console. Device permissions file /etc/rdevice.conf is needed in order to enable access to serial and void devices from remote host. Sample rdevice.conf file is included in this `Doc' directory. It contains one line per device, each line contains device path, `:' colon separator and comma separated host list (addresses or IP numbers). File /tmp/rdevice.status shows opened devices along with hosts name, uid, gid, fd and flags. Note that rdevice server is limited by maximum opened files per process which is usually 255. There's NO rgpib_svc authentication by now, sorry. DON'T use rgpib_svc from linux-gpib library package with SampLin, it won't work (not only because it uses different service number).

SampLin script language was originally based on YABASIC which uses a superset of standard BASIC commands.
(All Win95 features as well as graphics features have been removed.) Script language is currently evolving into a
C-like syntax, but it is still possible to programm in a BASIC-way with some minor changes to make script programming
easy for newbies. Some description of YABASIC syntax can be found file yabasic.txt, any BASIC handbook should help as well. All commands, operators and keywords of script language are listed in section 3.5.

Script grammar has been upgraded towards C-syntax in version 1.5.0. You will have to make these changes to run your older scripts in version 1.5.0:

• Conditional expression after IF _must_ be closed between parenthesis.  e.g. IF (a<0) THEN ...
• Operator '=' means always an assignment, use operator '==' for comparison, e.g. IF (a==b) THEN ...
• There must be a separator behind last command on the last line of file - a newline or ';', not an EOF
• Use ',' instead of ';' to supress newline printing, ';' works as separator now ! e.g. print A$,v,B$,
• INPUT works with stdin, use INPUTDLG for windowed input
• Since version 1.3 all array operations use [] brackets instead of (). It means DIM A[10], not DIM A(10).  Similary A[1]=A[2]+3. If passing array as argument square brackets are also required: DEVREAD QMS, A[], 10,1

Using '=' in conditional expression will produce a warning
It's also recommended to follow following rules when writing new scripts:

• Use rather '// comment' and '/* comment */' than '#' or REM for comments
• Use rather ';' than ':' or newline as statement separator (well, newline is still accepted as separator but it is not very smart)

Since version 1.5.0, following C-like syntax can be used:

• if (expression) {statement_list} else {statement_list}
• while (expression) {statement_list}
• do {statement_list} while(expression)
• for (assignment; expression; assignment) {statement_list}
• chained assignments: a=b=1;
• new operators: ++,--,//,**,^^,||,&&,<<,>>,&&,||,~~,!,&=,|=,~=, e.g.: ++a; a++; a-=1;
• conditional expression return a value, e.g. a=b>2 sets a to 1 if b>2 or 0 if b<=2

Next section contains list of all script language commands. However only SampLin specific commands are described particularly.

To communicate with devices, device names defined in device configuration dialog (section 3.2) are used.

/* comment */, // comment - use these for comments
if (expression) {statement_list} else {statement_list} - if condition
while (expression) {statement_list} - while loop
do {statement_list} while(expression) - do/while loop
for (assignment; expression; assignment) {statement_list} - for cycle
';' - command separator, should be used instead of ':' which is obsolete
REM, `#' - comment; obsolete, don't use these anymore
FOR, TO, STEP, NEXT - cycle FOR i = 1 to 10 STEP 2: ... : NEXT i GOTO label - jump to label
GOSUB - call subroutine label
ON num GOSUB label1, label2... - call subroutine depending on value of num
LABEL label - label of subroutine
RETURN - return from subroutine
END - end of program
IF,THEN,ELSE,ENDIF (or just FI) - condition
OPEN,CLOSE - open, close file
PRINT - print string, value, place extra ',' at end to suppress printing of new line character
DIM - dim an array, e.g. DIM A[10] or DIM A$[100]
DATA - define data
READ - read from data
RESTORE [label] - restore to pointer to beginning of data at label
WAIT num, PAUSE num - make pause of num seconds, use for long delays SLEEP num - sleep for num milliseconds, use for short delays only !
BELL, BEEP - make sound
AND, OR, NOT or &&, ||, !, ~~, - logical binary operators
&=,|=,~= - logical unary operators
&, |, ~ - binary operators AND, OR, XOR
<<,>> - shift binary left or right (bitwise)
++,--,//,**,+=,-=,/=,*=,^=,<<=,>>= - unary operators
<,>,!=,<>,<=,>=,== - comparisons (<> and != is the same)
SIN(), ASIN(), COS(), ACOS(), TAN(), ATAN(), EXP(), LOG(), SQRT(), ABS(), SGN() - math functions
INT() - return integer part of value
FRAC() - return fraction part of value
RAN() - random generator function
LEFT$(),RIGHT$(), MID$() - string operators
LEN() - return lenght of string
VAL() - return string value
STR$() - convert value to string
CHR$() - convert ASCII value to string
ASC() - convert string character to ASCII value

DATE$ - contains current date
TIME$ - contains current time

TIMER ON|OFF - start or stop time; variable timer_sec will be incremented every second, timer_msec every millisecond. Note that with timer enabled program execution will become slower. That's because gettimeofday() is called after every program step. I have no idea how to make it better now.

MESSAGE [type,] mesg$

Shows a message dialog containing text mesg$ and Ok button. `Type' can be empty, INFO, WARNING or ERROR.

INPUT [title] variable - Input string or value into `variable'. `Title' is string to be displayed as prompt.

INPUTDLG [title] variable - the same as INPUT, but using an input dialog window. Current values of 'variable' will be displayed in input field

CURSOR type - Change cursor icon for all active dialogs. 'Type' is DEFAULT for normal arrow icon or WAIT for clock icon

DEVOPEN name - open device `name'

DEVCLOSE name - close device `name'

DEVREAD name, string$ [,len]

Read ascii string$ from device `name', len is maximum lenght, EOS setting from device configuration will be used to find end of input

DEVREAD name, array[], lenght, size

Read binary data from device `name' to array[]. Array must be dimmed before as 1-dimensional array of values. `Lenght' is number of items to read. `Size' is size of items in bytes. If `size' is equal 0 then item size in 1 bit. Order of read bytes when composing an item depends on little/big endian setting in device configuration dialog. Use negative value of size (with absolute value of item size) for signed conversion.

DEVWRITE name, string$ [,len]

Write ascii string$ to device `name', len is maximum lenght, EOS setting from device configuration will be used to
terminate the string.

DEVWRITE name, array[], lenght, bytes

Write binary data to device `name' from array[]. Array must be dimmed before as 1-dimensional array of values. `Lenght' is the number of array items to write. `Bytes' is the number of bytes each array value is separated into before writing to device. Order of bytes written to device depends on little/big endian setting in device configuration dialog. Zero and negative value of `bytes' have similar meaning as DEVREAD parameter `size'.

DEVCTL name, service, param

Performs IOCTL call to device `name', integer number of service `service', integer parameter `param'
Use &variable instead of 'param' to read back value returned from ioctl to variable

DEVREADY(name)

This function returns 1 if there are data available to read from device `name', otherwise returns 0. Useful when waiting for data on serial port.

DEVSPOLL(name)

Serial poll GPIB device `name'

ADDGRAPH name$

Open new graph window called name$

DELGRAPH name$

Close graph window called name$

LOADGRAPH name$ [, file$]

Load data into graph `name$' from file `file$'. If called without specifying `file$', file open dialog will be opened.

SAVEGRAPH name$ [, file$]

Save graph data, look LOADGRAPH

EXPORTGRAPH name$ [, file$]

Export graph data, look LOADGRAPH

PRINTGRAPH name$

Print graph name$

SETGRAPHTITLE name$, title$

Change graph name$'s title to title$

SETGRAPHCOMMENT name$, position [, comment$]]

Change graph name$'s comment to comment$, position in None, Bottom or Right; comment$ is optional

SETGRAPHLEGEND name$, position

Display graph name$'s legend, position in None, Bottom or Right

SETGRAPHCOLORS name$, pcolor$, bcolor$

Change graph name$'s plot area color to pcolor$ and background color to bcolor$

ADDPLOT name$, plotname$

Adds new empty plot series plotname$ to graph name$

SETPLOTDATA name$, plotname$, arrayX[], arrayY[], [len]

Sets plot series plotname$ data in the graph name$. X data are taken from 1-dim array `arrayX'. Y data are taken from 1-dim array `arrayY'. You can restrict data lenght using `len'

SETPLOTDATA name$, plotname$, begin, step, arrayY[], [len]

Sets plot series plotname$ data in the graph name$. X data begin at `begin', X axis step has a value of `step'. Y data are taken from 1-dim array `arrayY'. You can restrict data lenght using `len'

SETPLOTDATA name$, plotname$, arrayX[], begin, step, [len]

Sets plot series plotname$ data in the graph name$. Y data begin at `begin', Y axis step has a value of `step'. X data are taken from 1-dim array `arrayX'. You can restrict data lenght using `len'

GETPLOTDATA name$, plotname$, arrayX[], arraY[]

Get X and Y data from graph name$, series plotname$ to 1-dim arrays arrayX, arrayY

SETPLOTSTYLE name$, plotname$, style

Change plot style, style = None, Line, Sticks, Dots or Spline

SETPLOTPEN name$, plotname$, style, width, color$

Change plot pen, style = None, Solid, Dash, Dot, Dash-dot or Dash-dot-dot; width is line width and color$ is pen color

SETPLOTSYMBOL name$, plotname$, style, width, size, fcolor$, lcolor$

Change plot pen, style = None, Circle, Rectangle, Diamond, Triangle, DTriangle, UTriangle, LTriangle, RTriangle, Cross or XCross; width is symbol outline width, size is symbol size, fcolor$ is fillcolor and lcolor is outline color

SETPLOTAXES name$, plotname$, axis1, axis2

Assigns plot series plotname$ in graph name$ to X,Y axes axis1, axis2. Possible values for axis1 & axis2: Left, Right, Bottom, Top. Default setting is Bottom, Left.

SETAXISTITLE name$, axis, title$

Changes axis title for `axis' in graph name$ to title$. For `axis' values see SETPLOTAXES.

SETAXISSTYLE name$, axis, style [,prec]

Changes axis label style for `axis' in graph name$. Style is None, Scientific,General or Fixed. prec is optional precision.

SETAXISSCALE AUTO [,ref [,minor]]

Sets axis autoscaling feature on, ref is reference point, minor is max. number of minor tics (optional)

SETAXISSCALE min,max,step [,ref [,minor]]

Sets axis manual scale, min is minimum value, max maximum and step is major tic step (0 mean automatic); ref is reference point, minor is max. number of minor tics (optional)

SETAXISFLAGS name$, axis, flag1 [,flag2 [,flag2 ...]]

Sets axis flags, specify as many as desired of these: LOG (logaritmic), SYM (symmetric), INV (inverted), REF (include reference), FLT (floating)

DELPLOT name$, plotname$

Removes plot plotname$ from graph name$

MULTI ON|OFF

MULTI OFF disables receiving signals from dialog widgets. MULTI ON enables receiving signals again. Useful if communication with device may not be disturbed.

PROGRESSDLG [text$ ,] step

Call this with both parameters to initialize progress dialog. `Step' is total number of steps, text$ message to be displayed. Subsequent calls with one paramater `step' will update progress bar. Variable `progress_cancel' will be equal 1 is dialog was canceled, otherwise 0. Note that dialog will appear only if estimated total time (estimated during first step) is >3 sec.

ADDDLG name, title$

Creates new dialog called `name' with caption title$

DELDLG name

Deletes dialog called `name'

SHOWDLG name

Show dialog called `name'

HIDEDLG name

Hides dialog called `name'

DLGACTIVE(dlg)

Returns 1 if dialog `dlg' is active, otherwise 0

ADDWIDGET name, type, x,y,w,h, ...

Add widget into the dialog called `name'. Type may be one of: FRAME, TEXT, BUTTON, SWITCH, LCD, LED, SELECT. x,y,w,h are left top coordinates and width and height of widget. Widget specific parameters follow:
FRAME ..., flags, width

Draws a frame. `flags' specify frame type (0 no frame, 1 box, 2 panel, 3 winpanel, 4 horiz. line, 5 vert. line + 0x10 plain, 0x20 raised, 0x30 sunken ), `width' is width of frame in pixels

INPUT ..., variable$

Puts input field into dialog. Entered data will be stored into variable$

TEXT ..., text$

Puts text into dialog. text$ contains string to be displayed

BUTTON ..., text$, label

Places a push button into the dialog. text$ contains button title, `label' is the subroutine label to be called upon button press

SWITCH ..., text$, label, variable

Places a switch (check box) into the dialog. text$ contains switch title, `label' is the subroutine label to be called when switch changes its state, switch state is stored into `variable' On = 1, Off = 0

LED ..., variable, text$, color$

Places a led diode into the panel. `variable' determines led state (0 light Off, <> 0 light On), text$ is led title, color$ led light color.

LCD ..., prec, format , variable, color$

Places an lcd display into the dialog. `prec' is the display precision (number of decimal places to be displayed), `format' selects format (0 decimal, 1 scientific, 2 octal, 3 binary, 4 hexadecimal), `variable' is the variable to be displayed, color$ determines the color of lcd segments

SELECT ..., array$[], variable

Places an select widget (combo box) into the dialog. array$[] is a string array containing the labels to fill the select widget with. `Variable' is set to index of selected string from array$.

GRAPH ..., name$

Places graph widget into the dialog. name$ is name of the graph. Behavior is the same of the graph window.

KNOB ..., from, to, step, variable

Places potentiometer knob into the dialog. Range of the knob is defined by `from' and `to' values, step by `step' value. `variable' will contain current position (setting) of the knob.

SLIDER ..., from, to, step, variable, scale

Places slider control into the dialog. Similar as KNOB. For `scale' = 0, no scale will be displayed, for `scale' 1 resp. 2 scale will be displayed in the top resp. left or bottom resp. right position depending on widht/height ratio.

LEVEL ..., scalewidth, from, to, color$, variable, scale

Places level indicator into the dialog. `scalewidth' is width of scale in pixels to be drawn. For `scale' = 0, no scale will be displayed, for `scale' 1 resp. 2 scale will be displayed in the top resp. left or bottom resp. right position depending on widht/height ratio. color$ is indicator color.

There are 2 drivers for Advantech PCL-818 and PCL-727 cards included in $KDEDIR/share/apps/SampLin/modules directory. These drivers are experimental only. PCL-818 driver supports only autodetect configuration and A/D, D/A input/output by now. PCL-727 supports only D/A output. Run `insmod devname.o' as root to insert driver to kernel. pcl818dev.tgz and pcl727dev.tgz contain device files to be created in /dev directory. Use `forceirq=IRQ' argument when running insmod pcl818.o to force driver to use interrupt IRQ. Use `base=ADDRESS' argument when running insmod pcl727.o to tell driver card base ADDRESS. I don't know why, but PCL818 card doesn't work with IRQ 6 in my computer. Driver for PCL812 card has been contributed by Dani Pardo and included in src/drivers/pcl812 directory. I didn't test it by now since I don't have PCL812 card, but looks to be similar to PCL818.
 

I'd like to thank especially following people for their work:

• Richard Stallman for the wonderful idea of GNU GPL
• Linus Torvalds for starting Linux project (Without Linux I'd be probably still one of the slaves of Micro$oft)
• Troll Tech team (www.troll.no) for writing Qt tookit and releasing free edition.
• ? (ihm@kph.uni-mainz.de) for writing YABASIC which has become predecessor of SampLin's script language
• People around the KDE project for creating 1st consistent and free desktop for linux
• Claus Schroeter (www.llp.fu-berlin.de) for writing the Linux GPIB package
• Josef Wilgen (jwlg@mail.desy.de) for writing Qwt - The Qt Widget Library for Technical Applications
• Jochen Wilhelmy for writing the kwrite editor

... and everybody else who helped me with SampLin development.