Minutes -- Working Group for Higher Performance IEEE Std. 488.1
Austin, Texas
22 February 1996
(unapproved)

Call to order

The meeting started at 9:00 AM. Robert Canik passed out copies of the agenda.

Attending:
Don Bryan, University of Missouri
Allen Tracht, IOtech
Paul Skar, Capital Equipment Corp. (CEC)
Robert Canik (Chair), National Instruments (NI)
Ron Wolfe, National Instruments
Laura Golla, National Instruments
Andrew Thomson, National Instruments

Old Business

Patent Issue: CEC/NI agreement
Robert Canik distributed copies of a joint statement from CEC and NI (see attachment). The working group discussed the statement briefly.

Chair neutrality
At previous meetings a member raised a concern about the working group being chaired by one of the parties presenting a proposal. At the meeting, Robert Canik offered to step down as chair. In light of the CEC and NI joint statement, the group agreed that Robert Canik would remain as chair.

Two competing standards issue
Everyone seemed satisfied that the joint statement from CEC and NI resolved the issue of two competing standards. The working group will base the draft proposal on the NI proposal.

Working Group Membership
A member raised a concern that the working group should try harder to contact several companies to see if they are interestd in joining the working group. The group agreed that they should try to contact all companies that produce IEEE Std. 488.1 interface chips. The following companies produce IEEE 488.1 interface chips, but are not members of the working group: ines, Texas Instruments, Motorola, Intel, NEC.

Allen Tracht offered to forward a contact from ines to Robert Canik. Robert Canik agreed to contact the other companies.

The working group has contacted Keithley MetraByte. No one from Keithley MetraByte has shown an interest in joining the working group.

Other proposals
The working group has received no new proposals since the last meeting.

New Business

Procedural Issues

What constitues membership
The working group decided that anyone expressing interest may be a member of the working group.

Voting rights and quorum
The working group decided that any person attending two of the last three working group meetings is eligible to vote.

To establish a quorum, at least two-thirds of eligible voters of the working group must be present.

Consensus
For an issue to be approved, a majority of the present eligible voters must vote for the issue.

Developing a Draft

How: merge or append
The working group agreed to develop a draft proposal that describes how to merge the new higher speed extensions into the current IEEE 488.1 specification.

Title of the document
Robert Canik will contact Bob Cram to determine the proper title and format of the draft proposal.

Who to coordinate the work
Robert Canik will coordinate creating and making revisions to the draft proposal. He will also coordinate distributing information to other working group members via mail, e-mail, web sites, and other means.

Time frame
The working group set a goal of having a draft proposal ready to present to the TC-8 committee by the AUTOTESTCON convention in Dayton, Ohio in September 1996.

Comments on the NI proposal

The working group discussed creating a draft proposal. The group will base the 1.1 revision of the draft proposal on the document titled "HS488: Proposed IEEE 488.1 Modification - Revision 1.0." The working group discussed many changes to the document. The Revision 1.1 draft standard will show these changes.

Next Meeting

The working group did not schedule another meeting. The working group will conduct business via mail and other means. Robert Canik will schedule the next meeting when working group members decide that such a meeting is desirable.

Robert Canik will ditribute the 1.1 Revision of the draft proposal in three weeks.

Adjournment

The meeting ended at 4:50 PM.

These minutes are submitted by Andrew Thomson.