A long time ago, I learned a lot about UNIX — first, as a programmer at a well-run BSD shop, and later after joining NI, by becoming NI's system administrator for our lone Sun 3/160 workstation. (That was in addition to my real job of being a LabVIEW programmer.)
I've also been heavily involved in the UNIX/Linux flavors of LabVIEW... initially LabVIEW for Sun, and later, LabVIEW for HP-UX, LabVIEW for Concurrent PowerMAX, and LabVIEW for Linux.
So with great interest, I've noticed several new Application Notes from Agilent about Linux, the most recent of which is Using Linux to Control LXI Instruments Through TCP.
While these app notes provide some useful information, they typically show you how to do things the hard way. With NI software, things are much easier...
For example, in the above-mentioned application note, you get to learn about socket calls, network byte ordering, and Nagle's algorithm for packet consolidation. In another application note, Using Linux to Control LXI Instruments Through VXI-11, you get to learn how to program remote procedure calls and the XDR format for data representation.
NI and Linux
One of the benefits of National Instruments' software is that we actually have Linux versions of LabVIEW, the LabWindows/CVI Run-Time Module, our I/O Libraries such as NI-VISA and NI-488.2, and some of our other device drivers such as NI-DAQmx.
So instead of having to learn how to write your own I/O libraries, and how to use the GNU Compiler Collection and debugging tools, you can work at a much higher level in a graphical system design language.
Instrument Drivers
LabVIEW is a portable language, which means that the functions (VIs) that you write can be moved from one flavor of LabVIEW (e.g., LabVIEW for Windows) to another (e.g., LabVIEW for Linux, or Macintosh, or Real-Time) and function correctly. There are a few caveats to this... Not all real-time targets have hard disks, so the File I/O functions don't work there. Another example: VIs that use OS-dependent technology, such as IVI-COM drivers that depend on Microsoft's ActiveX technology, are not portable.
So what to do about instrument drivers? Agilent, in their application note Using Linux in Your Test Systems: Linux Basics suggests "in most situations you do not need an instrument driver." While true, it sidesteps the issue that instrument drivers are really valuable, since someone else has developed and debugged the code that deals with the nuances of specific instrument models.
Fortunately, the National Instruments Instrument Driver Network contains thousands of LabVIEW Plug and Play instrument drivers. These instrument drivers will work on Windows, Linux, MacOS X, and LabVIEW Real-time — anywhere you have both LabVIEW and VISA.
What about IVI? All IVI drivers are Windows only, but there's a way to get IVI-C drivers working on Linux. They're no longer officially "IVI", but it can be done. NI has an article entitled Porting IVI-C Specific Drivers and Applications to Linux that describes the steps.
So to summarize, if you like doing things the hard way, the Agilent application notes lay out a nice roadmap. The rest of you might want to consider NI's Linux products. To learn more, see ni.com/linux.
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