universal method for serial identification

[lavalava]

Hi,

Is there a universal method for obtaining instrument identification string for any type of serial instrument?   Most national instrument serial device follow "ASRL?*instr" command but not everyone does.  I just wondering if there is a real unversal method that will get IDs for any serial device attached that is very similiar to other data bus like GPIB/USB/Firewire/etc.  I've also tried "*IDN?" command too but no avail.

Thanks

[RavensFan]

No.  While some devices support that standard, there are many that do not.  All you can do is read the manual for whatever device you are working with and see what its communication protocol is.  They may not expose that information through the serial port.  It's even possible that the only thing that identifies the serial number for a particular device is its label stuck to it.

[Dennis_Knutson]

And fyi, NI does not have any serial instruments and the ASRL refers only to a serial port - not what, if anything, is connected to it.

[lavalava]

Darn, they don't have it then.  Okay.  Thanks guys.

[smercurio_fc]

Not to beat a dead horse, but there's a simple practical reason for this: consider that for RS-232 there are many different baud rates, stop bits, parity settings, termination characters, XON/XOFF, etc., that it would require sending an *IDN? command over all the possible combinations for these settings until you get a "hit". That's simply not practical.