Chris Davis

Is there a question here? I wish you all the best with this project, but I don't see a question...

QUOTE(Aristos Queue @ Feb 15 2007, 01:18 AM) To a mechanical engineer this might be akin to machining a bridge out of a single piece of metal. Sure, it could be done, but what if one of the bridge supports breaks, you'd have to start all over.

This could be an interesting discussion... I am a computer scientist by degree, not who you usually find using labview in the field. I also work for an engineering firm, that has me doing, computer software for engineers / scientists to use. I've worked with engineer groups who do nothing but code, and I work with several CS majors who do mostly DAQ coding. In general the engineering groups who program think of thier code as a means to an end, and they get caught up in feature creep issues, and lack the knowledge and desire to impliment ideas that are typically taught as part of a CS curriculum. I must admit that I don't impliment all the CS ideas they taught me in college, but over the last 7 years I have at least learned why they taught them.

Another suggestion might be to use the caption property of your control as a method to display where the call was made from. Not easy either, but it might be the quick fix you are looking for.

QUOTE(Michael_Aivaliotis @ Feb 12 2007, 07:08 PM) And why aren't you using you Mac to do this, I'm sure it would work fine in Safari!

QUOTE(martin@aerodynamics @ Feb 12 2007, 05:00 AM) I'm guessing he doesn't want to invest the $4000 (US) to buy LabVIEW for Linux...

BTW, these VIs are located in the OpenG package called oglib_variantconfig, which can be downloaded and installed with VIPM.

You could use a DLL. DLLs do not suffer from the need for a different version of each version of LabView. Even NI has (for the most part) removed CIN's from its libraries and replaced them with DLLs. Remember to develop LabView code that will work across multiple versions of LabView, you have to work with the lowest version number of LabView possible. Another option, which may not apply in this case, is to rewrite the code using LabView. Its not always the best or easiest idea, but it is usually an option.

For completeness, you can use something like this converter which would allow you to convert an xls to csv, then back again, all without using excel's activeX control.

Isn't getting a Mac the definition of ambitious? Just kidding, I've got two at work (Mac Mini G4 1.4 and PowerMac G5 2.5) and two at home (iBook G3 800 and iMac G4 800). Welcome to the club!

You may want to check out this post, since it has some step by step explanations of how to do this. BTW, I don't think NI made a LabView 6.0.3 (but it has been awhile since I worked with that version)

I feel so inadaquate with just 2560x1024 at work and (gasp) 1024x768 at home. Anybody spare some change to upgrade me?

Just for clarity, could you provide a simple way to do this. i.e. can you just plug in the mouse into a serial port, after the computer is booted? I haven't messed with serial mice in a long time, (can you still buy one?) so my knowledge here is limited. But an example of how to do this important stipulation of your code would be in order so people can make use of it.

To create libraries that are useful in multiple versions of LabView you have to develop in the lowest possible level of LabView you want to support. Otherwise it sounds like you want to explore packaging your reuse libraries as OpenG packages and use VIPM to install them. There are a ton of options when creating your OpenG package such as a liscense display option, pre and post install VIs and many more. We've been using OpenG packages and LV 7 to keep our reuse library compatable across several versions of LabView for a couple of years now. VIPM lets you install packages from disk in its menu, and will recognize upgrades and will also let you fall back versions (if bugs are found).

A different take on Chris' idea is to write the data to another graph (off-screen) and grab the image of that graph. The advantage is your detail will be resolvable. If I read Chris' idea right, you would take an image of your small (display) graph and resize it to be bigger, which would always result in reduced information on the image that would go in the HTML report. The technique I mentioned is one we used to provide a graph you could print. We basically setup a graph that was black and white (designed to use the least amount of ink) for printing purposes, we would feed the data to it in a seperate front panel and print that front panel.

Are your signals differential or (referenced) single ended, from what you describe, it sounds like your ground is not present and the card is going into its default noisy sine wave mode

Is the computer plugged in? Do you know what a plug is? Do you know what a paperweight is?

I'm seeing this problem too, also with a network drive copy. I can't replicate, but at least now I know that I should change the program to keep trying the copy when it gets an error 6. I had chalked it up to a problem with the network, but it may be a problem with LV. For what its worth I also ran across this oh so descriptive error here.

Chris, maybe my acronyms were off before, but, IEEE 1394a/Firewire400 specs are 400 megabit (~50 megabytes per second) per second, not 400 megabytes per second. There are three offical "flavors" of camera link, and a fourth unoffical version, which I call full++. The 504 uses full++, and is now supported by most, if not all, framegrabber companies (including NI and Matrox). Right now, the fastest standard off the shelf link between a camera and framegrabber is cameralink full++. NI has a good application note on what the advantages of cameralink vs gigabit vs firewire vs analog are, you should check it out if you are interested. <opinion>I personally believe the next camera connection step we will see will be a copper / fiberoptic version of PCIe.</opinion> As far as I know, there is no support for NI's framegrabbers on the mac platform (intel or powerpc). So my solution is PC based. The other thing that always comes up is how much $ does this cost. 8-10k for the 504k, ~5k for the computer, and ~5k for the fiberoptic extension for the camera, since most people need to position thier camera more than 5 meters (504k's cameralink cable limit) from the computer. BTW, I know that you can buy 10 meter cameralink cables, but you can't use them with the 504k, that was probably one reason why they didn't accept basler's modifications to the camera link spec. According to my math you'll be streaming 512 megabytes per second, which means you'll have to use a full cameralink camera to do it. Check to see if your camera is supported by NI before you start, and go ahead and invest in IMAQ, but otherwise you should be fine.

I'll assume you are using the 150 GB WD Raptor drives. I've never used the Intel RAID controller you mention though, it looks like it is an onboard RAID controller. These are usually fine to serve 2 to 4 drives, but they don't work beyond that. The RAID drive limits my performance, this article provide instructions on how to get upto 1 GB to disk, with enough disks of course! To get the best RAID performance you will have to spend $ on the RAID card, and I've found Highpoint to be a good vendor. I've also found www.barefeats.com to have good reviews on RAID cards / hard drive combinations. The 504k can run at 500 fps, producing a data rate of 650Mb/s.

Your RAID 0, how many hard drives are you using, what size are they, and what kind are they? I'm using 8 drives setup in a RAID 0 with the Basler 504k (1024x1280x8 bits) and can get over 400 Mbs/sec to disk. I haven't tested this system in the 10 minute range, but I have tested a 150 Mb/sec camera to the same raid system in the 5, 10, and 20 minute range with no problems. Currently using Tyan S2895 Motherboard Highpoint 2224 PCI-X Raid card 8 x Segate 7200.10 400 Gb Baracuda SATA II hard drives 1 x NI 1429 1 x Basler 504k

I'm going down the exe with plugin llbs path as well and would appriciate some more fleshing out from Chris, if he doesn't mind! But another question has come up, can your plugin llbs be created in different LV versions? I.e. could I develop a main EXE in LV 8.2 and write a plugin LLB in LV 7, 7.1, or 8.0.1? Provided I had the RTE that is needed for each specific LV version installed.

Although lavezza beat me to it, Boot Camp can run windows on a mac in a dual boot capability. I've also have many Shuttle PCs and they are of good quality, small size, and hold up to fairly harsh environments. Of course, if you want Mac Mini size you can look here and get a pc a little cheaper with the same form factor. I really just wanted to point out that if the original poster had a drill and some hole saws and access to "shop air" he could make an lower cost enclosure fairly easily. BTW, I have been using the 1808 and 1804 fieldpoint backplanes and have been happy with thier use.

I meant a mac mini running windows. Just to get the small size and powerful computer.

You should look at fiber optic USB repeaters, I believe NI has a list of ones that will work with the CompactDAQ. What about one of these Hush PCs. No fans, all passively cooled. Not 10k each either... Or, a Mac Mini (after all, it can run Windows, if you are so inclined) in a sealed fiberglass enclosure and some "shop air" exchange capabilities. If you have some construction capabilities you can mod these fiberglass enclosures up quite nicely. I've used them to house, computers, fieldpoint systems, and SCXI chassis for use in "harsh" environments.