It seems to me that the FPGA Module 1.0 software is necessary to access the digital IO of the compact vision module. Is this true? If not, can someone tell me how to use the dig. IO?
Take a look at the User Manual for the 1454: http://digital.ni.com/manuals.nsf/webAdvsearch/AF89EC93DFD41EA386256D3B006B819E?OpenDocument&vid=niwc&node=132100_US
Chapter 4 has information on how to use the digital IO and where to find examples to use it. You do need FPGA to access the FPGA personality on the CVS, as you will see in the example program. Everything you need should come with the CVS though.