usefulness of HP 82169A IL to HP-IB

[KeithB]

I have used it to connect to an HPIB printer.

There is a "built in diagnostic test"

set the mode/address switches to "011111"
The following should happen:
The T/R turns on at half intensity
The HPIB SRQ line is set to '0"
All other HPIB lines toggle between "0" and "1" at about 5 kHz
Data Byte 85 messages are sourced on HPIL continuously

ETA:
I *love* GPIB for instrument control. They have yet to come up with a way to perform a simultaneous trigger on all connected instruments via Ethernet or USB - or HPIL 8^).