george seifert Posted October 20, 2009 Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 I'm getting a new PC at work and in some ways am dreading it. I'm going to have to reload LV and I think it's going to take days. I will probably need to reload at least a couple of old versions 8.6 and 7.1 and am wondering what order to do this. Can I load 2009 and then load old versions as needed or is it better to bite the bullet and start with the old versions and work my way up? George Quote Link to comment
PaulG. Posted October 20, 2009 Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 Bite the bullet. Start from the earliest version and work your way up. I've done it both ways a few times and going from most recent to older had some problems. I don't remember any trouble at all installing oldest to newest. Quote Link to comment
george seifert Posted October 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 Bite the bullet. Start from the earliest version and work your way up. I've done it both ways a few times and going from most recent to older had some problems. I don't remember any trouble at all installing oldest to newest. Thanks. I was afraid of that. Oh well, lots of coffee breaks. Quote Link to comment
Shaun Hayward Posted October 20, 2009 Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 If your new PC is coming with Vista, bear in mind that the NI only supports LabVIEW 8.5+ on Vista. Quote Link to comment
PaulG. Posted October 20, 2009 Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 If your new PC is coming with Vista, bear in mind that the NI only supports LabVIEW 8.5+ on Vista. Indeed. The last time I did this I loaded 7.11, 8.0, 8.20 and 8.5 on an XP machine. Never thought of the compatibility issues with Vista - or Windows 7 for that matter. Quote Link to comment
george seifert Posted October 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 If your new PC is coming with Vista, bear in mind that the NI only supports LabVIEW 8.5+ on Vista. We're still on XP, but Vista is coming soon (it's takes forever for IT to approve a new system). But it's good to know about the limitations. I never really paid attention to that before. George Quote Link to comment
PaulG. Posted October 20, 2009 Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 We're still on XP, but Vista is coming soon (it's takes forever for IT to approve a new system). But it's good to know about the limitations. I never really paid attention to that before. George Slightly off topic, but why would IT want to move to Vista and not Windows 7? I keep hearing nothing but good things about 7 and we all know what Vista was like. Quote Link to comment
george seifert Posted October 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 Slightly off topic, but why would IT want to move to Vista and not Windows 7? I keep hearing nothing but good things about 7 and we all know what Vista was like. Because they spent 4 years approving Vista and they don't want to waste all that work I suppose. By the time they knew Vista was no good too much work had been done. They'll probably get started on 7 soon and it'll take another several years before they're ready to bless that. From what I've heard of Vista we're probably better off just scraping it and stick with XP until they've blessed 7. Ah the joys of a big company and FDA requirements. Quote Link to comment
Darren Posted October 20, 2009 Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 If your new PC is coming with Vista, bear in mind that the NI only supports LabVIEW 8.5+ on Vista. Even though you can't get official support from NI for the older versions, I'm running LabVIEW 7.0, 7.1, 8.0, 8.2, 8.5, 8.6 and 2009 on my Windows 7 64-bit machine and haven't seen any problems with any of them, installation or otherwise. -D Quote Link to comment
Shaun Hayward Posted October 20, 2009 Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 Even though you can't get official support from NI for the older versions, I'm running LabVIEW 7.0, 7.1, 8.0, 8.2, 8.5, 8.6 and 2009 on my Windows 7 64-bit machine and haven't seen any problems with any of them, installation or otherwise. -D Thats very good to know... Quote Link to comment
Michael Aivaliotis Posted October 20, 2009 Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 I've done the multiple LV versions and various OSs. Currently running Vista with 8.2, 8.5 and 2009. You should have no problems installing this stuff in any order. The clincher is the drivers. So basically, in the installer of each version un-select the choice to install drivers, you don't want to do that at all. One of the problems is that the driver install searches through your system to see which version of LV you have installed and installs driver support for those versions. So what you want to do is install all your LV versions without driver support and then download the latest platform driver file from the NI site and do a final driver install. Keep in mind that this will get all your LV versions using the latest drivers. This is unavoidable. So if you have a 7.1 project that requires year 2008 drivers then you are screwed. So what do you do if you need 7.1 to use older drivers? Virtual machines! They are a godsend and the only real way to support old projects that must use old drivers. Anything else is just an exercise in futility with lots of hair pulling. Quote Link to comment
Yair Posted October 20, 2009 Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 I'm guessing this isn't an option, but if you can get them to approve having a virtual machine, it will probably simplify your life considerably, because then you can install one version on each VM and not have to deal with all the cross installation issues. Pros: Simplifies things (only one version on each machine, and that includes things like MAX and drivers. This is great when you need to support an existing project). You can back up the VM after you installed what you want, so if you ever screw it up, you can immediately get it back to a safe state. Similar to the last, you can start with a base machine configured with all the stuff you need (SCC, etc.), then make copies of it and install the specific stuff. Sun's xVM is free and works great. Cons:IT probably won't approve it. License issues (OS, LV). Takes up hard drive space. Might have issues with hardware (USB, PCI, etc.). Quote Link to comment
george seifert Posted October 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 I'm guessing this isn't an option, but if you can get them to approve having a virtual machine, it will probably simplify your life considerably, because then you can install one version on each VM and not have to deal with all the cross installation issues. Pros: Simplifies things (only one version on each machine, and that includes things like MAX and drivers. This is great when you need to support an existing project). You can back up the VM after you installed what you want, so if you ever screw it up, you can immediately get it back to a safe state. Similar to the last, you can start with a base machine configured with all the stuff you need (SCC, etc.), then make copies of it and install the specific stuff. Sun's xVM is free and works great. Cons:IT probably won't approve it. License issues (OS, LV). Takes up hard drive space. Might have issues with hardware (USB, PCI, etc.). Interesting. I never knew that about VMs. That would sure be nice for support of old projects. What are the license issues? George Quote Link to comment
asbo Posted October 20, 2009 Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 What are the license issues? Basically, you're going to need to have a volume license for LabVIEW - I don't really know how limited-use NI licenses work, but maybe you can sort that out. As for the OSes, you'll need at least one for each version of Windows you plan to use. Your IT department probably has a VLK you can use. VirtualPC is what we use for our VMs - also free, but for Windows only. Quote Link to comment
ShaunR Posted October 20, 2009 Report Share Posted October 20, 2009 Basically, you're going to need to have a volume license for LabVIEW - I don't really know how limited-use NI licenses work, but maybe you can sort that out. As for the OSes, you'll need at least one for each version of Windows you plan to use. Your IT department probably has a VLK you can use. VirtualPC is what we use for our VMs - also free, but for Windows only. A named user licence allows intallation on up to 3 business computers (hardware) and one home computer. There's no limit on installtion and activation on any one computer (and therefore "technically" you could have a million virtual machines on the one PC) but I imagine the activation would be problematic since the hardware is probably identified as different and manual activation it is done by secretaries looking at a checklist. Quote Link to comment
shoneill Posted October 21, 2009 Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 A named user licence allows intallation on up to 3 business computers (hardware) and one home computer. There's no limit on installtion and activation on any one computer (and therefore "technically" you could have a million virtual machines on the one PC) but I imagine the activation would be problematic since the hardware is probably identified as different and manual activation it is done by secretaries looking at a checklist. I asked about this on the dark side a while ago and apparently the official NI line is that each and every VM counts as one of your 3 installations. Totally weak but it's important to know what NI thinks. That means that one "normal" installation (with 5 or 6 LV versions) counts as ONE installation apparently, allowing only two VMs to be used (officially ). Shane. Quote Link to comment
ShaunR Posted October 21, 2009 Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 I asked about this on the dark side a while ago and apparently the official NI line is that each and every VM counts as one of your 3 installations. Totally weak but it's important to know what NI thinks. That means that one "normal" installation (with 5 or 6 LV versions) counts as ONE installation apparently, allowing only two VMs to be used (officially ). Shane. Well. The terminology is clear. The licence says "computer" ( NI Licences ). I haven't read the full licence recently but based on that, I would be prepared to argue the case. Quote Link to comment
shoneill Posted October 21, 2009 Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 Well. The terminology is clear. The licence says "computer" ( NI Licences ). I haven't read the full licence recently but based on that, I would be prepared to argue the case. I think NIs argument is that a VM IS a computer (an emulated one, but a computer nonetheless). Their problem may stem from a fear that a LV-populated VM is PORTABLE meaning it can be run on anyone's PC (actually a fantastic thing) and can be dupilcated really easily. I wish they would re-think but they seem to not want people installing on lots of VMs. I know I'd have dozens of them if I was allowed. Shane. Quote Link to comment
Daklu Posted October 21, 2009 Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 VirtualPC is what we use for our VMs - also free, but for Windows only. The knock against VirtualPC is that it doesn't have good usb support. From what I understand usb mice and keyboards usually work fine but other usb stuff may or may not work. What's your experience been? Sun's xVM is free and works great. Any USB issues? Quote Link to comment
shoneill Posted October 21, 2009 Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 The knock against VirtualPC is that it doesn't have good usb support. From what I understand usb mice and keyboards usually work fine but other usb stuff may or may not work. What's your experience been? Any USB issues? I've had trouble getting USB to work (on windows hosts) but having said that I haven't tried any of the recent versions. Shane. Quote Link to comment
bmoyer Posted October 21, 2009 Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 I've had trouble getting USB to work (on windows hosts) but having said that I haven't tried any of the recent versions. Shane. On Sun VirtualBox I've been successful at getting USB printers, scanners, and external drives to work. I haven't tried any USB DAQ devices however. Bruce Quote Link to comment
hooovahh Posted October 21, 2009 Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 As asbo said we use VirtualPC for our VMs, but I prefer VMWare. It's not free but has good USB support. I haven't tested it with that many USB devices, but everyone I tried works fine. Mostly just USB mice, and mass storage devices. You just run your VMWare, then I think Tools and connect USB device. It lists the devices in your host PC that you want to share to your guest VM PC. VMWare does have alot of extra services that bogs down Windows, while Virtual PC in comparison has alot less overhead. Quote Link to comment
asbo Posted October 21, 2009 Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 The knock against VirtualPC is that it doesn't have good usb support. From what I understand usb mice and keyboards usually work fine but other usb stuff may or may not work. What's your experience been? Personally, I've never had any issues - anything in particular, though? If I have it lying around I could give it a go. Whewps - turns out, I never really tried before My keyboard and mouse work fine, but it won't see my flash drive or external hard drive. On a side note, the version of VPC with W7 is awesome Maybe I was mixing in my experience with that. Quote Link to comment
Yair Posted October 21, 2009 Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 Any USB issues? Can't remember off hand. We may or may not have used it with NI USB DAQ hardware. I could try asking tomorrow. xVM itself has a pretty decent way of interacting with the PC's hardware, if memory serves, so hopefully it should work. Quote Link to comment
Daklu Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 On a side note, the version of VPC with W7 is awesome I just upgraded to W7 and would have loved to use it, but my laptop processor doesn't have the hardware support. Quote Link to comment
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