usefulness of HP 82169A IL to HP-IB

[rprosperi]

You can easily check if it fundamentally works by connecting the HP-IL side and seeing if it responds on the loop (passes frames to other devices on the loop) or responds to queries for it's Accessory ID, etc. If the unit was dead, it will interrupt loop communications.

That won't check the HP-IB side, but if the HP-IL side is working it's highly likely it works OK, it's a pretty resilient device; I don't believe I've ever seen a report of one of these failing.

But if you have no HP-IB devices, why do you want to use it?