---
title: "HPDisk - GPIB Disk Emulator"
description: "Popular on eBay are old test equipment like Spectrum Analyzers, Oscilloscopes, and Multimeters. (http://www.dalton.ax/hpdisk/) by Gustafsson Anders creates a virtual…"
canonical: "https://www.baldengineer.com/hpdisk-gpib-disk-emulator.html"
author: "James Lewis"
date: "2015-01-26T15:25:46Z"
lastmod: "2015-01-24T16:26:42Z"
categories: ["around-the-web","test-equipment"]
tags: []
---

# HPDisk - GPIB Disk Emulator


[![Images from http://www.dalton.ax/hpdisk/](/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/hpdiskbanner.png)](/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/hpdiskbanner.png)

Images from http://www.dalton.ax/hpdisk/


Popular on eBay are old test equipment like Spectrum Analyzers, Oscilloscopes, and Multimeters. [HPDisk](http://www.dalton.ax/hpdisk/) by Gustafsson Anders creates a virtual [GPIB](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE-488) interface that stores data to a SD-Card.This is done by emulating a special HP disk drive, that some HP instruments know how to write to when connected. (As Anders points out, this is not emulating a built-in floppy drive.)

[Keep reading if you aren't familiar with GPIB.](/hpdisk-gpib-disk-emulator.html)

## What's GPIB?

Long before USB became the standard I/O interface in the computing world, bench-top instruments used HPIB. This was the "HP Interface Bus" used by Hewlett-Packard in the early days of their test equipment. It enabled instruments to share data and be automated by "desktop computers".

Eventually HPIB evolved into GPIB and the IEEE-488 standard was created. Until about 2000, most instruments supported a true [GPIB/IEEE488](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE-488) hardware connector. Slowly that evolved into USB-based virtual connectors (like a virtual serial port).