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IMAQ under LabView 2020 SP1 Linux (Ubuntu)

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Hi,

 

Hope all is well.

 

I got LabView working well under Linux (Ubuntu) via:

 

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1315375/how-to-install-labview-community-linux

 

However it seems to not support any vi files that use IMAQ.

 

I was under the assumption IMAQ is included in labviewprofull

 

Can you please advise?

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No. You have also two packages really.

 

NI-IMAQ and IMAQdx are the drivers for hardware frame grabber interfaces. The only platform they are available besides the standard Windows platform are the LabVIEW real time platforms. IMAQdx requires an additional license to be used.

 

IMAQ Vision is the image processing library. This is also a separate Toolkit and not included in the Professional Version of LabVIEW at all. It requires a separate license too, but most importantly it is only available for Windows and the LabVIEW real time platforms too.

 

But, but! LabVIEW real time is NI Linux RT, isn't it? Yes but making a software work on NI Linux RT is quite a different game than on a normal Linux distribution. And it requires licensing that you can't get from NI since NI does not support this platform.

Rolf Kalbermatter  My Blog
DEMO, Electronic and Mechanical Support department, room 36.LB00.390
Message 2 of 12
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Thanks Rolfk.

 

Happy to use any OS, but Linux is always the preferred option for me.

 

RT not a major requirement right now.

 

Few questions (assuming Windows):

 

1) Is NI-IMAQ for IMAQ software-only, which is free?

2) Is IMAQdx for IMAQ hardware, which costs about $1k?

3) Where do I download the free IMAQ software?

 

Thank you.

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NI-IMAQ is the driver for the old, mostly analog and obsolete NI frame grabber hardware. It is free but only useful with NI hardware. IMAQdx is the “new” frame grabber API supporting NI’s digital frame grabbers and DirectX and Genicam (Firewire and Ethernet) cameras. It’s licensed and not free, but you do get a license together with the NI hardware. But if you want to use it for non-NI hardware like DirectX or Genicam cameras, you have to buy a runtime license.

 

IMAQ Vision is the vision analysis library. There is no free version of it beyond the trial period. 

Rolf Kalbermatter  My Blog
DEMO, Electronic and Mechanical Support department, room 36.LB00.390
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Thanks Rolfk.

 

I just need to work with saved images at this stage. No camera hardware required.

 

Where can I download "IMAQ Vision" the vision analysis library for LabView?

 

Cheers

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https://www.ni.com/en/support/downloads/software-products/download.vision-development-module.html

 

But the link is currently not working as they do some site maintenance.

Rolf Kalbermatter  My Blog
DEMO, Electronic and Mechanical Support department, room 36.LB00.390
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Thanks Rolf.

 

After a number of issues installing LabView (seems to use over 50GB, but only 10GB or so in "C:\Program FIles (x86)\National Instruments", perhaps the rest went into other Window system folders). I can now use the vision software.

 

For others, the Windows LabView install had an option to install the vision software, so the link provided by Rolf is not required.

 

It's very unfortunately LabView is only partly supported under Linux.

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@coletek wrote:

 

I got LabView working well under Linux (Ubuntu) via:

 

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1315375/how-to-install-labview-community-linux

 


 https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LabVIEW 

is a better (and still valid)  resource IMHO

 

those forum posts

 

are a remix of this ubuntu wiki, but adding nothing new

 

 

i just installed Linux LabView 2021 64 bit on Ubuntu 20.4 LTS and Xubuntu 20.4 - according to the wiki

 

it is worth mentioning:

1# in both OS, the .rpm packages can be extracted directly by double-clicking - but the labview executable will not run....

2# only when converting to .deb (including the switch scripts in  2.1# fakeroot alien '...' '...' ....  --scripts 2.2# sudo dpkg -i '...' '...' ) the labview executable can be run via double click.

3# yes, those .rpm packages can be converted  and installed in a batch, but on a 64 bit os be carefull not to use one of the 32 bit .rpm files

4# who ever was annoyed in windows having to use "run as admin", will love to use ubuntu's "sudo -s"

 


@coletek wrote:

 

I was under the assumption IMAQ is included in labviewprofull

 

Can you please advise?


no, IMAQ it is not included in labview pro.

 

alexderjuengere_0-1629445274925.png

 

 

 

I guess, it will still take sometime until the vision drivers will be available for linux

https://www.ni.com/de/support/downloads/drivers/download.vision-acquisition-software.html#409847

 

I am not so interested in  the Vision Development Module

https://www.ni.com/de/support/downloads/software-products/download.vision-development-module.html#40...

 

 

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Accepted by coletek

Thanks Alex.

 

I perhaps I should have revised the title - I was only interested in running LabView with the vision module under Linux. My goal was to review some existing LabView work, so I can port it to a production grade solution using C or Python with a small footprint and low unit cost.

 

Please close this thread.

 

I'm very much not a fan of LabView. It's outdated - even WinBlows is free nowdays. OpenCV has been open-source and free for years. Everything that LabView can do, one can do in Linux with actual code for free and it's open for review/improvement. 

 

Once I installed LabView under windows and seen it was about 10GB and I think about 40GB in the system files, I felt like laughing.

 

From my 30 years or so of experience in software and hardware development - I would NOT recommend LabView to anyone.

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@coletek wrote:

After a number of issues installing LabView (seems to use over 50GB, but only 10GB or so in "C:\Program FIles (x86)\National Instruments", perhaps the rest went into other Window system folders). I can now use the vision software.

That 50G is only if you install the entire LabVIEW Development Suite with all the drivers, documentation, external compiler support and whatever. There are different downloads available although NI doesn't really make it very clear. One only includes the actual LabVIEW software, another is the entire Development Suite (and then you have the Runtime Only installer too).

 

The Development Suite installs everything by default including DAQmx, GPIB, VISA, IMAQdx and IMAQ Vision and a few dozen other Toolkits that you are most likely never going to use.

 

For others, the Windows LabView install had an option to install the vision software, so the link provided by Rolf is not required.

If you happen to download the LabVIEW only installer (but I think the NI download site nowadays defaults to the full thing), you'll have to install everything else seperately.

 

It's very unfortunately LabView is only partly supported under Linux.


It is unfortunate, but not unlogical. NI is a commercial entity. Developing, supporting and maintaining software costs quite a bit of money, and doing that for a multiplatform software even more so. You can't blame them to concentrate the effort where the revenues come from. LabVIEW for Linux is mainly an educational market with much lower license revenues, and fairly limited additional revenue possibilities for other things like hardware. Supporting hardware on Linux is a nightmare if you do not want to completely make your hardware design public. So that makes it harder to decide to support your hardware on Linux, which makes that you can't sell much, which makes that there is not much revenue, which prompts the bean counters that every company must employ to keep the books in check to cut spendings in further development.

 

In a purely socialist environment everyone would use Linux, and everything would be free, but we all know that that doesn't quite work as well either.

Rolf Kalbermatter  My Blog
DEMO, Electronic and Mechanical Support department, room 36.LB00.390
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