Original Elvis - Hobby use setup

[hayasma6]

I picked up an original Elvis base unit and prototype board cheap on ebay (before I fully understood what was required to use the thing!), what would be the cheapest way of setting this up with labview for home/hobby use? I think I'd need a DAQ, either PCI but that way I'd need a desktop PC with suitable PCI slot or a USB DAQ which seem significantly more expensive.

[UliB]

Copied from reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/LabVIEW/comments/1otpc2v/original_elvis_hobby_use_setup/ 

[softball]

Hi

The original ELVIS was closely integrated against, and thus required, either the PCI-6251 or the USB-6251, interfacing to the ELVIS using a 68 pin connector, so you also need the suitable cable SH68F-68F-EPM.

The PCI version seems cheap and easy to get on ebay. The USB version is less common.

And then you probably need some ancient software ( from 2004 or so ) running on Windows XP ..

Regards

PS : Google the NI pdf manual numbers 373363B-01 and 373363F-01. They are for the ELVIS.

[softball]

Hi again

Adding a little to this nostalgic thread.

The last software released to use the features of the original ELVIS box and the supported DAQ boards supports LabVIEW 8.2 from 2006 :

NI ELVIS 3.0.1 Readme

September 2006

System Requirements

You must have LabVIEW 7.1 or later and NI-DAQ 8.1 or later installed to use NI ELVIS 3.0 or later. NI ELVIS 3.0.1 installs NI-DAQ 8.3 by default.

What's New

NI ELVIS 3.0.1 includes the following new features:

• Added support for LabVIEW 8.2.
• Improved calibration for the Function Generator gain.
• Bug fixes.

NI ELVIS 3.0 includes the following new features:

• Added LabVIEW Express VIs for each instrument.
• Added support for National Instruments SignalExpress interactive software.
• Added support for National Instruments USB-625x DAQ devices.

Enjoy

[softball]

Hi again - again

Ni ELVIS 3.0.1 was not the last version, Version 3.0.7 was.

Read this thread https://forums.ni.com/t5/NI-ELVIS/NI-ELVIS-Traditional-3-0-7/td-p/4176607

A name change to 'ELVIS Traditional' is mentioned in the Readme shown below but not argued for. NI likes to do such name changes, usually adding 'Legacy' without mentioning why the change. In this case it was probably to distinguish 'ELVIS' from 'ELVIS II' introduced in 2008.

NI ELVIS Traditional 3.0.7 Readme

December 2012

Caution NI ELVIS Traditional is an older driver with outdated application programming interfaces (APIs) for developing data acquisition and instrumentation for older Legacy NI ELVIS devices. You should use NI ELVIS Traditional only with the Legacy NI ELVIS workstation.

National Instruments will not release future versions of NI ELVIS Traditional. For information regarding compatibility of NI ELVIS Traditional and future API versions, go to ni.com/info and enter the Info Code elvistrad.

System Requirements

You must have LabVIEW 2009 or later and NI-DAQmx 9.5.5 or later installed to use NI ELVIS Traditional 3.0.7. NI ELVIS Traditional 3.0.7 installs NI-DAQmx 9.5.5 by default.

What's New

NI ELVIS Traditional 3.0.7 includes the following updates:

Added support for LabVIEW 2012.
Removed support for LabVIEW 8.6.

NI ELVIS Traditional 3.0.6 includes the following updates:

Added support for LabVIEW 2011.
Removed support for LabVIEW 8.5.

NI ELVIS Traditional 3.0.5 includes the following updates:

Added support for LabVIEW 2010.
Removed support for LabVIEW 8.2.

NI ELVIS Traditional 3.0.4 includes the following updates:

Added support for LabVIEW 2009.
Removed support for LabVIEW 7.1.

NI ELVIS Traditional 3.0.3 includes the following new features:

Added support for LabVIEW 8.6.
Fixed discontinuities in Bode gain plot.
Fixed X-Axis scaling when adjusting timebase on Oscilloscope.
Fixed frequency output coercing of Function Generator.
Name of software changed from NI ELVIS to NI ELVIS Traditional.

NI ELVIS 3.0.2 includes the following new features:

Added support for LabVIEW 8.5.

NI ELVIS 3.0.1 includes the following new features:

Added support for LabVIEW 8.2.
Improved calibration for the Function Generator DC Offset.
Bug Fixes.

NI ELVIS 3.0 includes the following new features:

Added LabVIEW Express VIs for each instrument.
Added support for National Instruments SignalExpress interactive software.
Added support for National Instruments USB-625x DAQ devices.

Regards