These boards use 2 or 4 industry standard 50 pin IDC-type shrouded headers with 24 lines per connector. Utility 5VDC is available on pin 49 of each connector with grounds on all even numbered pins to reduce crosstalk and maintain industry compatibility. A mini USB header connector is provided in parallel with the high retention type B connector for stacking and embedded applications. Available accessories include a wide variety of cables and screw terminal boards for quick and easy connectivity.
The USB-DIO-96 is designed to be used in rugged industrial environments but is small enough to fit nicely onto any desk or testing station. The board measures just 3.550 by 3.775 inches and ships inside a steel powder-coated enclosure with an anti-skid bottom. A DIN rail mounting provision is available for installation in industrial environments. What makes the OEM USB/104 option unique is that its PCB size and pre-drilled mounting holes match the PC/104 form factor (without the bus connections). This ensures easy installation using standard standoffs inside most enclosures or systems. The USB-DIO-96 can be integrated into any PCI-104 or PC/104 stack by connecting it to a simple USB port usually included on-board with embedded CPU form factors such as EBX, EPIC, and PC/104.
The USB-DIO-96 utilizes a high-speed custom function driver optimized for a maximum data throughput that is 50-100 times faster than the USB human interface device (HID) driver used by many competing products. This approach maximizes the full functionality of the hardware along with capitalizing the advantage of high-speed USB 2.0. The USB-DIO-96 is supported for use in most USB supported operating systems and includes a free Linux (including Mac OS X) and Windows 2000/XP/2003 compatible software package. This package contains sample programs and source code in Visual Basic, Delphi, and Visual C++ for Windows. Also incorporated is a graphical setup program in Windows as a jumper configuration aid. Third party support includes a Windows standard DLL interface usable from the most popular application programs, and includes LabVIEW VIs. Embedded OS support includes Windows Xpe.