Image Acquisition using an AMD computer system

[gidgetnasa]

I have been using an application that relies on NI-Imaq drivers in order acquire images from a pair of Kodak ES 1.0 cameras. The program has previously been used to acquire long image sequences, but with Intel processors. We recently switched to a multiprocessor AMD system, and now we find that the application does not permit image acquisitions greater than 400 images from both cameras. I have changed the max buffers within MAX, but while the computer system indicates that the RAM has been allocated to a program prior to image acquisition, the program gets an error saying that the memory cannot be allocated. I have discussed the problem with the manufacturer of the software, (ProVISION), and they seem to think that it is a p
roblem with the computer. I was wondering if perhaps there might be a simple inherent problem when using NI-Imaq on an AMD system?

[Kyle_V]

There should be no difference, from an NI-IMAQ perspective, between an Athlon and a Pentium. The most likely problem deals with system memory and Windows.

Windows 2000 has a limitation in the number of memory pages that can be locked in memory at the same time. This limit is rather low even in systems with a large amount of memory. Because of this limitation, you may find that you get an IMG_ERR_MLCK error when trying to configuring over 100 buffers with NI-IMAQ. Typically, on a Windows 2000 system with 256 MB of RAM, you may be able to only configure 40 Megabytes of buffers.

To prevent this limitation, you should install the latest Windows 2000 Service Pack. Windows 2000 Service Pack 1 improved the amount of memory that could be locked at the same time.

Add
itionally, Microsoft created a Knowledgebase that specifically deals with this limitation. Search the Microsoft KnowledgeBase for document ID# Q121965 for the complete workaround. However, this workaround involves changing a registry entry that may cause a degradation in system performance.

Kyle V
Applications Engineer
National Instruments
www.ni.com/ask

[cld]

I have checked our database here and I can not find anything that would point to the AMD system as having complications with IMAQ. As you mentioned, it sounds like an issue with the computer and how it is allocating memory. Does the amonut of RAM being allocated seem to be sufficient for the amount of images you are acquiring?
I would suggest contacting the manufacturer. If you are still having problems, please contact us and we will be glad to help.
Best Regards,
Chris D
NI Applications Eningeer