Oldest DAQmx Supported by LabVIEW 8.0?

[np@vicontrols.com]

I haven't upgraded my main development computer to LabVIEW 8.0 because of the following problem: I have an application that I regularly rebuild and distribute to multiple customers (~100 right now). Many of these customers have DAQmx 7.3 installed. LabVIEW 8.0 installs DAQmx 8.0 so when I build my application on a computer that has DAQmx 8.0 the application is incompatible with computers that have DAQmx 7.3. Officially, LabVIEW 8.0 only supports DAQmx 8.0 and unofficially I have heard that earlier versions of DAQmx will work with LabVIEW 8.0. Here are my questions:

1. What is the oldest version of DAQmx that will work with LabVIEW 8.0?

2. Are there any tricks to installing and older version of DAQmx on a computer with LabVIEW 8.0 (and a several older versions of LabVIEW too)?

3. Is DAQmx 7.4.1 forward and backward compatible with DAQmx 7.3? In other words, if I compile with DAQmx 7.4.1 can I run that application on a computer with DAQmx 7.3?

I've asked these questions to NI but they haven't gotten back to me with the answers yet.

[Louis Manfredi]

I haven't upgraded my main development computer to LabVIEW 8.0 because of ...

Hi np:

Hate to sound negative, but I'm coming out of a rather unpleasant adventure with LV 8.0/8.0.1. (At least I think I'm coming out of the adventure, I've had lots of help from both this forum and from NI support itself, and I'm optimistic that-- with that help-- by Monday I'll be securely home in the world of 7.1.)

So I think perhaps you're asking the wrong questions. To me, the right questions are:

1. "What problems in general am I likely to encounter making the transition to 8.0?"

(My answer would be: "more than you want."-- see the LV8 buglist, and also my post on the 7.1.1 bug list for problems I'm having with 7.1.1 since I managed to screw it up by using 8.0.1 on the same machine.)

2. "Why do I need to leave the relatively reliable world of 7.1.1 for the somewhat untested world of 8?" (That's for you to answer. From my point of view, there's lots of neat stuff in 8.x-- I'm looking forward to going back to 8.x eventualy, but in terms of being able to do all my current projects, 7.1.1 has more than I need and is reliable.)

Be curious to hear how others feel. Am I just having a bad case of sour grapes, or am I giving np good advice?

Best Regards, Louis

[np@vicontrols.com]

I need to clear one thing up:

I am actually using LabVIEW 7.0 to compile the application I discussed but I want to add LabVIEW 8.0 to my development computer to support some of the new programs I am working on. Because I am a developer, I have every version of LabVIEW from 3.1 to 7.1.1 on this computer and wish to add 8.0. The problem has to do with the version of DAQmx compatibility with LabVIEW 8.0 and the older computers I am trying to support.

[Chris Davis]

I need to clear one thing up:

I am actually using LabVIEW 7.0 to compile the application I discussed but I want to add LabVIEW 8.0 to my development computer to support some of the new programs I am working on. Because I am a developer, I have every version of LabVIEW from 3.1 to 7.1.1 on this computer and wish to add 8.0. The problem has to do with the version of DAQmx compatibility with LabVIEW 8.0 and the older computers I am trying to support.

You might consider using Virtual PC (from Microsoft) which would allow you to install LV 8 (or your exact LV 7.1.1 environment) in a Virtual PC and have it there whenever needed to recompile your code. Virtual PC can be bought for ~$125, and has saved me lots of headaches when dealing with situations just like this.

[Louis Manfredi]

Chris Davis' suggestion sounds like a good one to me-- I've never used virtual PC, so I can't second the suggestion for sure, but given my recent experiences it does sound like a good idea, assuming that the product is well implemented.

I got myself into all kinds of trouble with 7.1.1 because (either through my own error, or due to a flaw in 8.0, or perhaps both) 8.0 had recompiled some 7.1.1 library vis so that when I ran into some show-stopper bugs with 8.0.1 and tried to go back to 7.1.1 the application builder no longer worked. (see http://forums.lavag.org/index.php?showtopic=3128 for all the gory details.) If virtual PC works well & the way Chris suggests, the $125 investment would have paid off for me severalfold in terms of the time I've spent going back to 7.1.1 that I can't justify billing to any of my clients.

But, at the risk of showing a bad case of sour grapes, let me reiterate: Unless there's some feature in 8 that is absolutely essential to your needs, I would stick with 7.1.1 for now. I decided to make the transition to 8.0 because I was starting new projects for a couple of clients & it seemed like a good idea to start those projects using the latest version. Those projects are now being completed in version 7.1.1.

Best Regards, Louis

[Yair]

Another thing, since you're working with multiple LV versions -

I don't know about DAQmx, but at least for FieldPoint, the FP Driver installed on your development machine with 8.0 (FP 5.0) takes the place of the older FP driver and can not work with LV 6.1 and below. So, if you have LV 6.1 and you install 8.0, you will find that you can't use FP with your old LV version anymore. Just something you might want to watch out for, in case there is a DAQ equivalent or if you're using FP.

[Chris Davis]

Chris Davis' suggestion sounds like a good one to me-- I've never used virtual PC, so I can't second the suggestion for sure, but given my recent experiences it does sound like a good idea, assuming that the product is well implemented.

...

Louis,

I've been using Virtual PC now for about a year. In fact I've got three virtual PC's implimented on my PC. I keep one install of Windows XP in what is called "undo disk" mode. Undo Disk mode allows me to decide if I want to keep the changes I've made to the system when I shut down the virtual PC, this makes it great for testing out install packages and downloaded software that I'm not sure I'll want to keep. I do have a virtual PC with LabView 6.0 installed on it, which I did for a project that never materialized, now I also have Compaq Fortran installed to do some work with a group that uses FORTRAN as thier primary language. I won't say my results have been perfect, but overall the software has paid for itself and more in the time it saves me.

[np@vicontrols.com]

Just a quick note on what I ended up doing: I already had LV 8 installed on my secondary computer so I am simply using Windows remote desktop from my primary computer to program on my secondary computer. At some point I want to try installing DAQmx 7.4 on a computer that has LabVIEW 8 to see if it will work.