What do I need to get started

[Rayc]

Hello All

I am about to undertake a project which will require the use of labview on a pda. Although I have been using labview for quite a long time, I am all at sea when it comes to porting over to PDA's.

Currently I use Labview 7.1 on a desktop PC, but am stunned by the amount of information regarding this topic, and don't know where to begin.

Could somebody explain to me what basic requirements are necessary such as.....type of PDA (not model, although anybody with recommendations, please do so)....O/S running on the PDA.....labview software. etc.

I realise the broadness of this query, but anybody with successful experience in getting a system running are welcome to respond.

BTW...the system will be used in remote machine monitoirng (digital i/o control, and analog data monitoring.

Thanks for any assistance and forebearance with my ignorance

Regards

Ray

[Yair]

You need to be prepared to change your mindset - LV PDA is not LV!

Well, it is LV in the sense that you use the same editor and can use a lot of the same code, but it's not LV in the sense that a lot of the functionality is missing, that there are *a lot* of bugs and that you might need to do code differently in order to get your program to run.

First off, the device - get a Windows device. NI removed support for PalmOS in 8.2, so I wouldn't get Palm (although I don't have any experience with it). There are many varieties, but depending on your LV version, CE.Net 4.2 and above or WM2003 and above should work for you.

Second, LV. The PDA module only started with version 7.0, so every version has seen some important additions. You should consider getting a newer version of LV for this (7.1, for instance, does not have the ability to display arrays). Also, be aware that there is no RTE for the PDA module - instead, LV translates the code into C and then compiles it. This is an opening for a lot of bugs, which do exist in the PDA module - working around them can make your development time a lot longer.

PDAs are significantly slower than PCs - be aware that there will be limits to how fast your program will run. You might need to do some optimizations contrary to normal LV style (like having less subVIs). PDAs also use batteries, especially when dealing with wireless communication. Be careful if you get an industrial PDA, because I have seen that the special power optimizations used by these can mess up your program.

You should also consider licensing issues, because if you want to distribute more than one copy of your program, it will cost you. NI should be able to give you the details.

After all this, I would suggest that you consider another alternative, like a thin Linux client which will run an LV application or a wireless connection to a Windows server which will be the one actually running your program. A solution of this sort will get you around all of the problems of the PDA module and might be a much better solution for a system where you have a computer anyway.

[Rayc]

You need to be prepared to change your mindset - LV PDA is not LV!

Well, it is LV in the sense that you use the same editor and can use a lot of the same code, but it's not LV in the sense that a lot of the functionality is missing, that there are *a lot* of bugs and that you might need to do code differently in order to get your program to run.

First off, the device - get a Windows device. NI removed support for PalmOS in 8.2, so I wouldn't get Palm (although I don't have any experience with it). There are many varieties, but depending on your LV version, CE.Net 4.2 and above or WM2003 and above should work for you.

Second, LV. The PDA module only started with version 7.0, so every version has seen some important additions. You should consider getting a newer version of LV for this (7.1, for instance, does not have the ability to display arrays). Also, be aware that there is no RTE for the PDA module - instead, LV translates the code into C and then compiles it. This is an opening for a lot of bugs, which do exist in the PDA module - working around them can make your development time a lot longer.

PDAs are significantly slower than PCs - be aware that there will be limits to how fast your program will run. You might need to do some optimizations contrary to normal LV style (like having less subVIs). PDAs also use batteries, especially when dealing with wireless communication. Be careful if you get an industrial PDA, because I have seen that the special power optimizations used by these can mess up your program.

You should also consider licensing issues, because if you want to distribute more than one copy of your program, it will cost you. NI should be able to give you the details.

After all this, I would suggest that you consider another alternative, like a thin Linux client which will run an LV application or a wireless connection to a Windows server which will be the one actually running your program. A solution of this sort will get you around all of the problems of the PDA module and might be a much better solution for a system where you have a computer anyway.

Thanks for your considerations Yen......food for thought

best regards

Ray