Legacy Device Support in LV 8.x

[Phil Duncan]

Hi all,

I have a client that requires support for a DAQCard-700 PCMCIA device. We are running LV 7.x and 8.x. I have read the forums and guides on ni.com regarding retro installation of traditional DAQ drivers for devices that are not supported in LV 7 onwards. This card requires NI DAQ 6.9.3 !! The good guides recommend uninstalling my current drivers and installing the older ones (6.9.3). I am a little reluctant to do this because I still have to support other clients with modern drivers. I am considering this roll back option for development of the application but I am concerned that in the future if the client wishes to modify their application or add features that I will have to go through the whole roll back mess again. They are very reluctant to update to a 6024E because the interfacing hardware is equally old but reliable.

My question:

Is there a "neat" way to support legacy devices requireing NI DAQ 6.9.3 (for example) and still maintain a current (up to date) installation of LV 8.x with associated drivers?

Cheers & Beers

Phil

[crelf]

Is there a "neat" way to support legacy devices requireing NI DAQ 6.9.3 (for example) and still maintain a current (up to date) installation of LV 8.x with associated drivers?

Not that I know of - in fact, I once had a client with exactly the same problem, and it turned out to be much cheaper for them to ditch the 700 and go for a DAQCard-6024E - the amount of time it was going to take us to screw around with what they were doing would have well and truly eclipsed the 6024E's price. I'm not sure if I remember correctly, but I think that we didn't even have to change any of the wiring - I think the pinouts of the 700 (or was it a 1200?) mapped the same as the 6024E (with respect to the lines we were using - a handful of AI, DIO and some sync). We also won as we let the customer know that the 700 was no longer supported by NI, so therefore very difficult for us to support too...

[peteski]

Not that I know of -

I have to agree. I recently had an issue where someone else had installed NI-DAQmx 8 over a LabView 7.1, and when I attempted to upgrade the 7.1 to 7.1.1, it would NOT take. I tried to "gracefully" roll back the NI-DAQmx, but I could find a good way to do it. I ended up completely deleting and reinstalling LabView and NI-DAQmx 7.5, which was not in the least bit "elegant"

-Pete Liiva

[Chris Davis]

My question:

Is there a "neat" way to support legacy devices requireing NI DAQ 6.9.3 (for example) and still maintain a current (up to date) installation of LV 8.x with associated drivers?

If you can't get the client into the 6024 card, you might want to invest in a cheap computer to do this development. With 6.9.3 you aren't able to simulate a device, so you won't have any way to check out your code without the daqcard 700 in the computer... I know its not the most elegant solution, but it is a solution where you don't have to mess up your current work pc. You should be able to get a laptop with a PCMCIA slot pretty cheap, after all it doesn't have to be a speed demon right?

[Phil Duncan]

I'm not sure if I remember correctly, but I think that we didn't even have to change any of the wiring - I think the pinouts of the 700 (or was it a 1200?) mapped the same as the 6024E (with respect to the lines we were using - a handful of AI, DIO and some sync).

Thanks for all your replies.

The DAQCard-700 has 50 pin outs, the 6024E has 68 pinouts. Unfortunately the client has some existing hardware interfacing the 700. I am afraid that all time savings achieved by using the new card will be lost in re-designing the interface. I guess I have to wait and see if the client will go the updated hardware option as we suggested. Long term support will be a nightmare if I have to roll back the DAQ drivers every time the client wants to add features etc. I think the separate development PC is a good idea but I am not sure how this will pan out.

Cheers & Beers

:thumbup: :beer:

Phil Duncan

[crelf]

The DAQCard-700 has 50 pin outs, the 6024E has 68 pinouts.

Sure, but there are relatively inexpensive 50 <-> 68 pin interfaces, and I'm pretty sure they map between devices - check out the documentation...

[Phil Duncan]

Sure, but there are relatively inexpensive 50 <-> 68 pin interfaces, and I'm pretty sure they map between devices - check out the documentation...

Thanks Chris. I checked this out and I think I have convinced the client to update the card. It looks like we can use the afformentioned adaptors, provided the pin maping is as you suggest.

Cheers & Beers

:thumbup: & :beer:

[Neville D]

I have to agree. I recently had an issue where someone else had installed NI-DAQmx 8 over a LabView 7.1, and when I attempted to upgrade the 7.1 to 7.1.1, it would NOT take. I tried to "gracefully" roll back the NI-DAQmx, but I could find a good way to do it. I ended up completely deleting and reinstalling LabView and NI-DAQmx 7.5, which was not in the least bit "elegant"

-Pete Liiva

I had this problem as well... I got around it by unzipping the LV 7.1.1 update but NOT automatically running setup.exe immediately on unzipping.

Once unzipped I double-clicked on LV711.msi (instead of setup.exe) and that quietly installed it without further complaints or argument..

Neville.

[thomas2609]

i recently had the problem that i wanted to run a DAQcard 1200 under labview 8.0. i had a lot of problems bringing it to work. so i called the ni helpdesk and got a very helpful reply.

the link they sent tells what to do, step by step.

maby it helps someone else too.

How Do I Use Older Versions of NI-DAQ (6.9.3) with LabVIEW 7.0, 7.1, or 8.0?

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/websearch...B2?OpenDocument