I'm aware that NI Elvis isn't supported by Linux and thus I'm not using it under linux. I have recently solved my own problem. I am now using NI Elvis on my linux workstation. How did I do it you ask? Well as my subject line describes I installed a package on my linux workstation called vmplayer. It's free from:
http://www.vmware.com/download/player/player_reg.html
This package allows you to install windows as a virtual machine under linux. The nice thing is you can setup the drive, install all the applications and then turn the drive into a non-persistant mode. Thus the local C: drive is read only. You can make changes to the drive while your using it but when you shut down the vmplayer and restart the application all changes are lost. This is GREAT for keeping your drive in a golden state. I use network shares and mount a home directory that I keep persistant files in.
vmplayer will give you access to all the external ports on the computer. My problem was that I loaded the linux kernel module ehci_hcd which supports USB 2.0. Yet for whatever reason NI Elvis crashes when this is loaded. So I simply issued the command:
#/sbin/rmmod ehci_hcd
Now when I connect the NI USB DAQ vmplayer connects to it through the kernel module uhci_hcd which is for the USB 1.1 standard. Everything now works and NI Elvis doesn't crash. I'm now using the NI Elvis under Windows XP under VMPlayer on a Linux workstation and it works great!!!
This should debunk the "NI Elvis doesn't work under Linux" comments now. It's all in how you setup your workstation.