NIWeek 2003 Blog - Viewing Archives: August 2003

Summary of NIWeek 2003 Mac gathering

Dear platform independent LVers,

Michael Aivaliotis requested a report about the out coming of the informal Mac gathering at NIweek 2003 so here is some information:

Generally I think all interested LabVIEW programmers working on the Macintosh who attended this years NIWeek were present. The meeting was publically announced and was open for everyone, therefore I assume that all those who really cared were there and I am not going into any details.

However, I would like to thank all those who took their time to participate, LabVIEW users and NI developers alike. I would like to specially thank Jeff Kodosky from NI and Lori Jennings-Emery from Apple for being there with us.

The gathering was in my opinion successful in the sense that it was a unique chance for an open discussion between a number LabVIEW programmers who still appreciate the Mac as a comfortable platform to develop wireworks at the same time honoring the heritage platform from which it all started to grow with the spreading of the PC.

We were reassured of NI's commitment allowing LabVIEW to run on Apple's future versions of hard- and software. Essentially the Mac is not expected to be a platform with an immediate commercial benefit but more as a digital biotope for cultivating new ideas and things which may become relevant in the future. It always has been that way and there is no reason why it won't in the years to come. Sticking to the Mac also means to stay flexible, generally open for new ideas and ways to do things differently. In some instances this means for a user to make sacrifices and say an early goodbye to certain well established technologies.

In a nutshell the users said:
Besides the already existing LabVIEW, LabVIEW-RT and VISA for MacOS-X we want at least a convenient subset of NI-DAQ, GPIB and IMAQ-Vision ported to MacOS-X as well. We also want LabVIEW itself to be better optimized to run on MacOS-X.

The developers responded:
Compile us a list of hard- and software needs to be able to narrow things down to a slim but still useful and therefore easier to handle subset of hardware and driver needs.

The principle results of the discussions were:
In a collective effort we users will gather information and will let NI know what we need. Because testing a product prior to its release remains a big problem, we decided to come up with some coordinated efforts to make this less of an issue. On the other hand it is a known fact that the results of testing the same piece of software on different platforms makes it overall more stable too.

The most interesting project however is the MHDDK Measurement Hardware Driver Development Kit which Tim Ousley of NI is also working on. Tim presented his work by introducing the first components of his MDK toolkit during his very interesting ''Register-Level-Programming in LabVIEW for Linux, PocketPC and MacOS-X''-session on Thursday at NI-Week. Some of you may have noticed parts of it running on a G5 at the Apple booth. It is the idea to create a set of efficient and extremely fast routines which allow to perform register level DAQ programming with a large variety of DAQ-boards directly from LabVIEW, essentially stripping any redundant overhead caused by some monumental piece of blackbox driver between LabVIEW and the hardware.

This is a platform independent project and will also hopefully trigger growing ''G''-programmer activities. More information about this is available from:

http://sine.ni.com/apps/we/nioc.vp?cid=11737&lang=US

The examples of Tim Ousley's work for MacOS-X can be downloaded HERE.

Note that this is semi-official work in the development stage and there is no official support form NI for this at the moment.

I hope that this will be enough information for all those who are interested and who don't already know about the fresh wind in the sails of LabVIEW everywhere.

Urs

Urs Lauterburg
Physics demonstrator
LabVIEW wireworker
Physics Institute
University of Bern
Switzerland

Posted by Urs Lauterburg at 05:53 PM Permalink

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Is this thing rigged? - SF Bay Area LAVA wins big at NI Week

LAVA folks from the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter got a lot of attention this year at NI Week. Mark Naley and Richard Jennings won VIP awards and Mike Simoneau won a Home Entertainment Center. Keep reading for photos and other info...

continue reading "Is this thing rigged? - SF Bay Area LAVA wins big at NI Week"»»
Posted by Jim Kring at 08:56 PM Permalink

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NI's Most Wanted - Impersonating a Developer

Certain member's of LAVA and OpenG are wanted by NI officials for allegedly impersonating members of the LabVIEW development team during a photo taken for the 8/15 NI Week Show Daily newsletter. These individuals are extremely nerdy and you are therefore urged to contact authorities rather than approach them yourself. See the evidence and eye witness reports...

continue reading "NI's Most Wanted - Impersonating a Developer"»»
Posted by Jim Kring at 04:43 PM Permalink

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The Salt Lick (Pictures & Hilights)

Our trip to The Salt Lick was great! We all met at the LAVA/OpenG Booth and then headed out on the road. We had about 30 people make it, which made for quite a lively dinner party. We didn't get seated right away, but 1 beer later we were seated and enjoying the BBQ. We had a great mix of LAVA, OpenG, and LabVIEW R&D team-members, so you can imagine that the fun conversations had over dinner.

Preparing to depart:
* View image
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* View image - Jack tries to expedite the release of LabVIEW scripting tools, but to no avail.
Waiting to be seated:
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Dinner is served:
* View image

Posted by Jim Kring at 06:22 AM Permalink

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Brad comes through (this time)

After the "technical difficulties" at the Copper Tank Tuesday night that landed us with no beer and no food, Brad comes through with a cooler full of Shiner Bock for our dinner at The Salt Lick.

I think Greg may have had a bit to do with it, but at least we didn't go dry tonight. (btw, the food was pretty good too)

The cooler arrives

Thanks to Jim for making the phone call to set this dinner up.

Posted by Ed Dickens at 11:30 PM Permalink

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Thursday Keynote

Mostly new hardware shown (losta T&M stuff) but the new CompactFieldPoint IMAQ module looks very cool. My old partner at Advanced Measurments finally gets his 15 minutes of fame!

Breakfast of Champions
LabView [sic] Rocksw [sic] !!!
Advanced Measurements keynote presentation

Posted by BradHedstrom at 12:23 PM Permalink | Comments (2)

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Wednesday Dinner

Greg McCaskell joined me and a few former colleages from Advanced Measurements for a nice dinner at the restaraunt formerly known as Gilligan's. Good food and lotsa nerd talk.

Good food, okay company
Eat! Eat! You're so skinny!
"Close those curtains!" the girls shrieked

As soon as the girls sat down at the table across from us the demanded that the waiter close the curtain as fast as possible. Guess we were pretty scary.

Posted by BradHedstrom at 12:18 PM Permalink

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Wednesday Keynote

The Wednesday keynote focused on the wiz-bang features of LabVIEW and the future evolution of the language. We heard - again - the mention of scripting in LabVIEW. We saw the state diagram toolkit and a preview of some technology that tries to make LabVIEW a tool for the entire manufacturing process. From the design floor right on up to the deployment and testing stage. Basically they figured that control design and simulation tools use graphics and icons so why not have LabVIEW do the control design? All you need to do is add arrows to the ends of your wires right?...

Dr. T
Mike Santori
Norma Dorst
State diagram editor 1
State diagram editor 2
State diagram editor 3
A future target for LV, microcontroller, and "LabVIEW sensor"
Small LabVIEW targets
Demo that showed control design in LabVIEW - 2 rotor blades
Other Demo's

Posted by Michael Aivaliotis at 10:00 AM Permalink

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Alliance Party

Well, after the Copper Tank Dirk and I decided to head-on over to the Alliance Day appreaciation party. Well, there was a band but of course nobody was dancing. My wife (Merlyn) and our friend Denise decided to get the party started. A room full of engineers is a tuff crowd. In any case, after a few shiner's the whole room was dancing. It's too bad that the band had to wrap-up by 10:30 since that's when the party got really hot... I wonder where Dirk went...

The band
Merlyn and Denise get the party started
Requests
James getting jiggy with my wife?
Stupid bar tricks
Hmmm...
Onlookers
Drummer
"I don't know if I should dance"
"Oh well, if you insist"
Crowds on the dance floor
More dancing
And even more...
Now we're talking a party
The NI bouncer\equipment guy
Happy people
Beer lady
You're never going to get me to dance!
Virtual Instruments
Hey! that's my job!
More dancing
"It's 10:30, do we play another half hour?" "Ya, sure"
Nice Smile
Merlyn and I
"Sorry ladies, we gotta go, party's over"
I wonder why everything's so blurry?

Posted by Michael Aivaliotis at 09:00 AM Permalink

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Copper Tank Gathering

Well the gathering at the Copper Tank was off to a bad start. I show up there and find out that the taps don't work and they don't serve food. Thanks a lot Brad! Anyway, we all decided to stay in case more people were coming. In the end we drank a few beers, got to know each other and then we ordered pizza from a delivery place. Yes, they delivered to the restaurant! Funny.

Copper Tank gang
Jim Kring
Brad Hedstrom looking for food in the Yellow Pages
Don Roth
Dirk De Mol making a pass at the waitress
Waitress
Dirk, pizza delivery girl and Chuck Kincade
Chuck and his wife
Brad enjoying his pizza
Dig in!
Brad cashing-in on the whole deal

In the end I had to part ways since I wanted to go over to the Alliance day festivities. But that's another posting...

Posted by Michael Aivaliotis at 08:19 AM Permalink | Comments (1)

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Setting Up The LAVA\OpenG Booth

Well, I dropped by the Exhibition Hall to take a look at the LAVA\OpenG booth. We spent a little time setting things up. I had to do all the work! The booth is right next to the LabVIEW history booth so hopefully many LabVIEW geeks will be dropping by to pay homage to the LAVA lamp...

That's me!
Me and the LAVA lamp had a special bond
Mark Naley with his sign
Jim Kring focussing on the important issues...
The issue of the day, and where to get more of it
The full booth
Some visitors
More visitors
Yet even more visitors
Michael Aivaliotis, Jim Kring and Mark Naley at "the booth"
Last but not least, the LAVA lamp

Posted by Michael Aivaliotis at 06:10 PM Permalink

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Tuesday Part 1

Today I came to the show hoping for some kick-ass presentations. I was dissapointed. There was however an exception to this. The presentation by Brian Powell (creating LV add-ons) was interesting. He actually revealed a lot about the future features of LabVIEW without actually saying anything. Every time we would ask him a question he would say: "That's a great idea, now wouldn't that be great if LabVIEW could do that" with a smile on his face. He seemed like a nice guy. The meat of the presentation was pretty much stuff that I have heard before but the questions and feature requests from the audience was pretty good.

The Seminar on using LabVIEW's application builder and the Wise installation application was a big dissapointment. Presented by someone at VI Technology. I was hoping that it would be presented by an NI Engineer. I wanted to find out more about the undocumented merge modules. It seems like the presenter just went through the same exercise that I did a few weeks back with Installshield.

continue reading "Tuesday Part 1"»»
Posted by Michael Aivaliotis at 06:07 PM Permalink

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My NI Week Schedule (Michael Aivaliotis)

As you can see Jim has started off the show by letting us know what his schedule will be for the week. This is a great idea. If others want to do the same, go ahead. This is a great way of letting people know where you'll be so they can connect with you.

Well here's mine:

continue reading "My NI Week Schedule (Michael Aivaliotis)"»»
Posted by Michael Aivaliotis at 07:58 AM Permalink

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My NI Week Schedule (Jim Kring)

I'm really hoping to get a chance to meet a lot of people at this NI Week. And what better way, than by letting people know what I'm up to? I am going to be keeping this page updated with the schedule of events and sessions that I am planning on attending. When I'm not busy or attending a session/event, I'm going to be hanging out at the LAVA/OpenG booth (booth 181). I really love hanging out and talking shop with other LabVIEW geeks like myself, so stop by and say hi! Also, take special note of the Wednesday sessions at 11:30 AM and 12:30 PM. I will be presenting these two back-to-back sessions on OpenG related topics.

continue reading "My NI Week Schedule (Jim Kring)"»»
Posted by Jim Kring at 10:38 PM Permalink

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Touchdown

Well, we arrived in Austin today. It was only 29C (85F). Someone told me that yesterday it was 102! Looking at the forecast shows that it will be pretty hot next week. As long as we have lot's of Shiner Bock on hand, it should be ok. Our flight was ok from Toronto to Chicago. O'hare had some interesting sights. I'm not sure about this one though.

The flight from Chicago to Austin was bumpy. I got air sick. It's usually these small jets that do it for me. Plus, the "meal" wasn't the greatest...

Arriving in the Austin Airport, I figured I would take the supershuttle. Seing that it would be a 30min. wait I decided to take a cab instead, $16 later we're at the Radisson. Well, good news, they have high-speed internet in the rooms and it's only $9.95 per day! What a steal... ya right. I think it's wireless at TGI Fridays at no charge. I saw this in the lobby. Gotta love Texas eh? This is the view from our room.

Here are some images from our day:

Can someone explain this to me?
Walked over to see the bats: bat1 bat2 bat3.
Looking up Congress Ave.
Ate at Jazz (one of my favorite restaraunts). You can't miss it. It's the one with this guy at the door.
6th Street characters and interesting window displays.
Moon over Austin.

Posted by Michael Aivaliotis at 11:59 PM Permalink

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WiFi at the convention center

For those of you that are bringing laptops, PDA's, tablets etc. There is a rumor going around that the convention center will be setup to handle wireless access. I hope this is true. Does anyone have any other information on this?

It would be even better to have internet access via this wireless link as well. This way when you're in a session and the presenter says: "you can find the vi's for this presentation at so and so link"... you can quickly show them that the link is broken ;) Oh, but of course, they are available after the show...

Posted by Michael Aivaliotis at 11:09 AM Permalink | Comments (4)

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State Diagram Toolkit

I was looking at the NIWeek Expo Map on my Palm. I noticed that in the NI booth they have a table for the State Diagram Editor. Doing a search on NI.com gave me links to the catalog page and manual. I remember them talking about it last NIWeek, but I didn't know it was shipping. Did I miss it somehow or is it being introduced next week? Will it be included in the Prof. Developer Suites? Hope so.

Posted by lavezza at 10:15 AM Permalink | Comments (5)

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OpenG Sessions at NI Week

OpenG will be presenting two back-to-back sessions on Wednesday from 11:30 AM to 12:15 PM and from 12:30 PM to 1:20 PM in Mezzanine Room 6. The first presentation is titled OpenG Development System Tools and will be a high-level presentation showing a user's experience with the OpenG Tools in the LabVIEW Development Environment. There will be a demonstration of OpenG Package Manager's integration with the online package repository and directory service (think Window's update, but better). The second presentation is titled OpenG LabVIEW Development Process Model and will go into specific details about the process used in the ongoing develop and reuse of OpenG Tools and libraries. We've left a short 15 minute break in between the two sessions so that folks can run to the Expo floor and grab some food, before coming back to the second session.

Posted by Jim Kring at 04:53 PM Permalink

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OpenG Presentation II - OpenG LabVIEW Development Process Model

Title: OpenG LabVIEW Development Process Model
Description: Developing LabVIEW reuse tools and libraries is a critical step in the maturation of a LabVIEW developer or development group. However, because LabVIEW bundles VI source code with a VI's executable code, it is easy to improperly manage project files. Also, managing project source files, libraries, and other dependencies across several projects can be a tough problem to tackle. Find out which tools, strategies, and methodologies OpenG developers are using to address these problems and how you can use them, today, in your development work.

Date & Time: Wednesday 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Track: OpenG
Speaker(s): Jim Kring
Location: Mezzanine Room 6
The Mezzanine level is hard to find. This is not on the top floor. Take stairs to the second floor. If you need to, ask a conference attendant for directions.

Posted by Jim Kring at 04:06 PM Permalink

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OpenG Presentation I - OpenG Development System Tools

Title: OpenG Development System Tools
Description: Have you struggled integrating your development tools into LabVIEW. Do you spend time replicating development systems or changing library configurations? Have you created custom palette views to enable easy access to your libraries? Come learn how the developers at OpenG have solved all of these problems. Learn about the OpenG Package Manager, the online package directory service and repository, the Development Environment Application Builder, the VI Library Manager, the Dynamic Palette View, the Menu-Launch Manager, and many other key components that together make up the collection of OpenG Development System Tools.

Date & Time: Wednesday 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM
(after this session ends, go grab some food and come right back for the OpenG LabVIEW Development Process Model session at 12:30 PM, in the same location)
Track: OpenG
Speaker(s): Jim Kring
Location: Mezzanine Room 6
The Mezzanine level is hard to find. This is not on the top floor. Take stairs to the second floor. If you need to, ask a conference attendant for directions.

Posted by Jim Kring at 04:05 PM Permalink

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LAVA\OpenG Booth

This year, just like last, we will have a booth in the exhibition hall. Last year you could locate it by the LAVA lamp on the table. Don't worry the LAVA lamp will be back :) We will be in booth 181 next to the LabVIEW history booth. Come over to participate in heated discussions and see how much of a geek you really are! If you want to organize a LAVA group in your own area then come find out what it's all about.

View Map With Booth Location

Posted by Michael Aivaliotis at 01:07 PM Permalink

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Unofficial Schedule

Here is a list of all the unnoficial events going on at NIWeek this year. Each entry is linked to the actual post. More information can be found at that posting. Check back here often since this will be updated as soon as a new event is announced.

Tuesday

7pm - Beer at the Copper Tank

Wednesday

11:30 AM - 12:15 PM OpenG Development System Tools
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM OpenG LabVIEW Development Process Model
5pm - 6pm LabVIEW advanced user group meeting

Thursday

5pm - Informal LabVIEWers on the Mac gathering
7pm - BBQ Dinner at the Salt Lick

If you want to post a comment, please go to the specific post and enter it there.

Posted by Michael Aivaliotis at 10:59 AM Permalink

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NI Week Schedule for your PDA

Just noticed this on the NI Week homepage:

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Download NIWeek Conference Schedule to Your PDA Device! This application, built using LabVIEW 7 Express and the LabVIEW PDA Module, displays all of the NIWeek sessions in an easy to view manner.

Posted by Jim Kring at 11:09 AM Permalink | Comments (1)

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LabVIEW Advanced User Group Meeting

There will be a LabVIEW user group meeting taking place this year at NIWeek. This meeting will be modeled after the successful LAVA meetings that have been taking place within the LAVA communities of California and Ontario, Canada.

continue reading "LabVIEW Advanced User Group Meeting"»»
Posted by Michael Aivaliotis at 11:12 AM Permalink

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BBQ Dinner at The Salt Lick

Last year several the OpenG and LAVA members got together for some BBQ, and think that its a tradition worth keeping. This year we will be going to Salt Lick BBQ, where they pile heaps of BBQ'd meat on your plate until you say stop -- literally, since it's all you can eat! So here's the plan...

continue reading "BBQ Dinner at The Salt Lick"»»
Posted by Jim Kring at 01:11 AM Permalink | Comments (6)

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