Installing FTC toolkit without impacting current LabVIEW installation

[Mark_Yedinak]

I apologize if this information has already been posted but is it possible to install the FTC toolkits without impacting the current LabVIEW installation? I have been adivsed against installing the toolkit on my laptop since I this is used for work since the installation changes the pallets and the skin for LabVIEW. I am a Certified LabVIEW Architect and am offering assistance to teams in the area. I am not associated with the a single team and therefore would like to have my own installation so I can look at code that is sent to me from teams seeking programming advice.

Thanks

[nathand]

Hi Mark - here are answers to two similar questions asked last year:

LabView Engineers need to download FRC LV

Re: How to install FRC VIs and Project templates if I already have Labview 8.5

I'm in a similar situation.  Last year I left my standard installation of LabVIEW untouched and never installed the FRC version on the laptop, and I could still help the team I was mentoring (although it involved a lot of clicking the "Ignore" button for VIs that couldn't be found).  If you have the option to install a virtual machine, though, it's probably worth it.

[Mark_Yedinak]

Thanks for the reply. I realize that I am getting back to you a little late but I am now in the process of working with some teams again. I think it would be a good idea for NI to make it easier for mentors to add the libraries to existing installations of LabVIEW. If a team e-mails some code to check I can't really do much with it since I don't have any of the First libraries installed. I also can't afford a decidated machine strictly for mentoring not to mention that I can't negativey impact my installation since it is also used to develop LabVIEW code professionally. I think this would make it much easier for us mentors.

[NI-Bob]

Hello Mark,

I completely understand your concerns here.  It is something that we deal with as supporters as well because of course we have other versions of LabVIEW installed on the machine.

The way that a lot of us have gotten around this issue is by using Virtual Machines (this is by no means an endorsement for this website it was just one of the first results after searching).  In my opinion it really works well to ensure that neither installations will effect each other.

I do understand why some people may not want to go the VM route.  If you have a major reason why a VM does not work for you please feel free to post it here.  I will talk with a few people on my end to see if there are any other recommendations for this.

I hope this helps!  Have a great day!

Thanks!

Bob H

NI FIRST Support

[Mark_Yedinak]

Well, I finally setup a VM environment to use for teh FRC environment. One question I had though is how do you configure the network settings. Do you simply use DHCP to get an address from the teams router and bridge the connection? If this is the case it would seem that I could use either the wired or wireless interface when I am working with a team. Also, will I need to get the install disks from the team (and activation codes) or is there a place I can download the installs?

[nathand]

Your best bet is to use a static address, whether wired or wireless, in the same subnet as the team (ie, 10.team.number.xx).  Then you should be able to plug into the router or connect wirelessly.  There is no download available; you will need to borrow discs from a team and use their activation code.  It's possible the activation code that NI provided just after kickoff as a temporary fix (L13R0000) will also work, but it could have been disabled now that the activation problem is fixed.