multipile physical inputs to laptop

[dannnyds2]

i am using labview 8.5 pro and its my first time using labview. i have to make a monitoring system that takes inputs from a number of sensors (mainly strain beams). the problem i am having is this:

1. i have 8 pins on a pcb that are outputting waveforms

2. i want to take those 8 pins and connect them to my laptop(macbook pro) which has no serial ports and get labview to see 8 possible inputs

3. would a serial to usb converter help here?

4. how would i go about getting labview to see these 8 different inputs

i am running windows xp sp2 and any help would be greatly appreciated as this is for my final year project

Thanks in advance

Daniel

[Dennis_Knutson]

I don't see how a RS232 input would do any good at all unless this pcb is digitizing the sensors and transmitting the information over a serial port that it has. Have you any understanding of RS232 communication?

If you pcb is outputing 8 analog signals, then you need a DAQ device to capture them.  The least expensive DAQ device from NI is the USB-6008 which has 8 single ended inputs. 

[dannnyds2]

comms aint my specialty and i could do some digitizing but i'm trying to avoid that as it would require more components on the pcb side, and most of my limited budget is in the mechanics of my system. Also is there another way apart from a DAQ to get this input happening?

Message Edited by huh8798658508 on 04-04-2009 10:20 PM

[Dennis_Knutson]

No. A pc has nothing to digitize 8 signals.