> The biggest take-away is that they’re expensive (>$100 second hand) and hard to configure when using Linux.
The original (or fake, who knows) from Agilent cost that much, yes, but there is AR488 [1], which can be had for pocket money. I have limited experience myself with it (I got the Agilent one), but it seemed to work just fine.
The Agilent one is a bit tricky as its firmware is uploaded when it powers up (is connected to USB) and changes then its ID. That however is well documented and with recent versions of linux-gpib should just work (it does for me).
Then there are GPIB host adaptors for ISA, PCI and PCIe busses. The latter might be expensive and working PC MB with ISA hard to find, but those with PCI are readily available on the secondary market for reasonable prices. I made good experience with one from CEC.