PCI GPIB driver for Mac OS X

[HDS]

What is the status of the development of a fully functional PCI GPIB driver for OS X? Is there an estimated time of completion? Does it even exist? Does anyone at NI even know what a MacIntosh is? If I call sales they say there are no plans for development. If I speak to you 'applications engineers' they say its development is in progress. The driver developed at FSU is not fully functional and is apparently incompatible with my PCI card. I get the impression national instruments is trying to force its MacIntosh customer base to switch to the ENET interface, which is probably a more profitable product for them to manufacture.

For now I'm stuck using system 9 with random GPIB read errors which applications engineers have no clue
how to solve.

I find it rather disturbing how uninterested national instruments is in supporting its products for MacIntosh systems. The driver utilized for system 9 is almost identical to the one employed in system 7, which is obsurd. When I talk to support, I get referenced to GPIB utilities which only exist in windows versions of the driver (NI SPY for example), and they check the online knowledge base for answers. I don't need an 'applications engineer' to go through measures which the average customer would have already pursued in order to avoid contact with an incompetent and sub par customer service program.

[Geneva L.]

Hello, we cannot give you a timeframe for PCI-GPIB support on Mac OS X yet, but I can confirm that development is in progress for a driver that will support both GPIB-ENET/100 and PCI-GPIB. In fact, we did demo a preliminary version of this driver at the Apple pavillion in the NI Week Exhibition Hall. Also, please note that we had several NI Week sessions that related to Mac OS X, including "Mac OS X and NI LabVIEW" and "Technologies for Linux, Mac, and Pocket PC DAQ Solutions."

It is unfortunate you had some difficulties with support. If you are still having trouble with your application, I encourage you to reestablish contact with the applications engineers. Sometimes they may not know the answers immediately or they may momentarily get confused a
bout one of the many drivers we have available, but they are committed to resolving customer issues. They have access to many more resources, so if they know you are still having trouble, they can continue trying to help you.

Alternatively, if you are still having trouble with your application, you can post more details on the discussion forum to get assistance from a broader range of GPIB experts.

Thanks very much for your valuable feedback, and we will keep you posted for when the PCI-GPIB driver is available.

[HDS]

Thank you for your reply. I have been maintaining contact with one of your applications engineer, he is thoroughly aware of how I feel about this situation. Today, via phone, he apologized for the inconvience and said that he will be unable to help me resolve my problem. However, my paramount issue with national instruments is it's comparatively inferior product support for the MacIntosh platform. Why should a product's utilities and support services be any less robust than equivalent packages for other operating systems, especially when they are sold for similar prices?

[Geneva L.]

I will make sure all your feedback is passed to the support group. I would like to comment on your last question.

We try to support a number of operating systems across our major product lines (i.e.Current GPIB Driver Versions), and it is true that there are different features and utilities for many of these. For the most commonly used operating systems, we are working to provide customers a more cohesive user experience, but first and foremost we will work to get basic functionality in place. In the NI-488.2 for Mac OS X, version 2.0, we supported the GPIB-ENET/100 with GPIB Explorer, which is our analogy to Measurement & Automation Explorer in Windows. We provided the Ether
net Device Configuration utility and Firmware Update utility to allow the same abilities in configuration for the GPIB-ENET/100 on Mac as on Windows. We also added the Interactive Control (IBIC) utility which is also available on Windows to test communication with your instrument. The next driver will allow an additional utility for troubleshooting that should also appear similar to the Windows version. Please bear with us as we work toward improving the Mac support.

You did mention NI Spy earlier, which currently is only supported on Windows. If you have additional feedback regarding that or other utilities, we really would like to hear it. You can make sure your suggestions are logged into our Product Suggestion Center database, which is also found by clicking the Contact NI button. The developers and product managers use this database to understand customer needs for future development.
Thanks!

[ScottieB]

Hello,

I'd like to make sure that your service request is resolved to the fullest possible extent. Can you provide me with your service request number and/or whom you spoke with in Applications Engineering?

Thanks,
Scott W Brown
GPIB Product Support Engineer
National Instruments

[Geneva L.]

We recently entered our beta phase for NI-488.2 for Mac OS X, and I am pleased to invite you to sign up for the public beta if you are interested. To sign up, go to www.ni.com/beta and login with your profile. You will be notified if you are accepted into the beta (as of this writing, everyone who signs up is accepted).

[ds56]

I just registered to the beta programme, but I cannot find a PCI-GPIB entry. Could you provide more details?

[gpibtester]

The Mac OS X driver is no longer in Beta (which is why you couldn't find a listing for it on the Beta page) as it was released earlier this year. You can find the driver at http://digital.ni.com/softlib.nsf/websearch/8BE1DDBE5A512D2D86256FB60059177D?opendocument&node=132060_US .

[Paul Bower]

Hello, I was one of the Beta testers, and was VERY happy when I was able to run LabVIEW through my PCI-GPIB card (Rev. K) several months ago. Now I feel I should install the supported version offered by NI. Do I still need to delete all of the following files before I run the install program? I had recieved this email when the final version was released.

Uninstalling for Mac OS X:
The following files and directories should be removed, followed by a system restart:

/Applications/National Instruments/NI-488.2/Documentation
/Applications/National Instruments/NI-488.2/Documentation/Getting Started Guide.pdf
/Applications/National Instruments/NI-488.2/Documentation/License.rtf
/Applications/National Instruments/NI-488.2/Documentation/NI-488.2 API Quick Reference Card.pdf
/Applications/National Instruments/NI-488.2/Documentation/NI-488.2 User Manual.pdf
/Applications/National Instruments/NI-488.2/Documentation/OnlineHelp
/Applications/National Instruments/NI-488.2/Documentation/OnlineHelp/ConfHelp
/Applications/National Instruments/NI-488.2/Documentation/OnlineHelp/GpibHelp
/Applications/National Instruments/NI-488.2/Documentation/OnlineHelp/TSWHelp
/Applications/National Instruments/NI-488.2/Documentation/Patents.txt
/Applications/National Instruments/NI-488.2/Documentation/Readme.txt
/Applications/National Instruments/NI-488.2/EthernetConfig.app
/Applications/National Instruments/NI-488.2/Explore GPIB.app
/Applications/National Instruments/NI-488.2/FirmwareUpdate.app
/Applications/National Instruments/NI-488.2/Interactive Control.command
/Applications/National Instruments/NI-488.2/PCI-GPIB Firmware Update.pkg
/Applications/National Instruments/NI-488.2/Sample
/Applications/National Instruments/NI-488.2/Troubleshoot.app
/Library/Frameworks/NI488.framework
/Library/Frameworks/coldplugenum.framework
/Library/Frameworks/gpibconf.framework
/Library/Frameworks/lvgpibconf.framework
/Library/Receipts/ni4882.pkg
/System/Library/Extensions/gpibprtk.kext
/usr/lib/libEnetConfig.dylib
/usr/lib/libEnetConfig.jnilib

I just want to make sure I do this right, and would like to know if anything had changed. Thanks!
Paul Bower

[JohnM 64]

The email you received as part of the Beta program is correct. You will need to uninstall these files before installing the driver from the download page. If you should happen to encounter any problems, however, just let us know.

john m
Applications Engineer