I got a CompactRIO chassis and wanted to comment on the setup process I went through so you can improve it for new users.
After reading the manuals that came in the box (as well as most people do anyway), and seeing there was a console mode, I got the chassis put together and booted straight to console, which is always the ace in the hole for diagonistics. It tells me the IP address is 0.0.0.0.
Seeing that all is well with the world, I try to figure out what to do next, and that is the comment of this post: There is a rather large gap in the documentation.
There is apparently no way to set the IP from the console, or to set it to DHCP and reboot. That isn't a problem since there is another method, but that could certainly be noted explicitly for those who try the console out first as opposed to last resort (I realize perhaps my sequence of attempted setup steps is atypical)
Next came the references to using the MAX help to figure out what to do when setting the IP address. There were (at least) two references to this in the manual, so I figure I need to use MAX. Starting MAX up while the controller is still in console mode yields: nothing (under remote systems). Going to MAX help (F1) and typing CompactRIO yields: Nothing. That's where I dead-ended. There is nothing under CompactRIO.
What I eventually found is a tutorial under:
MAX Remote Systems Help > LabVIEW Real-Time Target Configuration Tutorial
...but that was after much needless fooling around. I think there should be a specific link in the manuals that ship with the product pointing to the tutorial on setting up the IP address and getting started in MAX. Anything you can do to streamline the installation process for new users is going to be an improvement.
Thanks
