How to program DAQPad 6015 at the register level.

[gregson]

Could you please tell me where to get register-level programming information for the DAQPad 6015? I am developing a new product that incorporates these units and have purchased five units for developing the prototypes.

I must program the DAQPad in a Linux environment using gcc and with static, not shared libraries in part for configuration management and in part because we develop the libraries to guarantee deterministic real-time performance.

My company does not use Microsoft Windows operating systems because of reliability issues, previous applications developed in Windows have been unreliable in mission-critical applications, and they are not deterministic real time. We exclusively use Linux with a deterministic real-time kernel. In this environment we find applications are robust and reliable.

How can I program the DAQPad 6015 in this environment? I am extremely familiar with register-level programming, having done it for more than 30 years for a wide variety of embedded systems. I just need the documentation on the protocol and the usage of registers and bits.

Regards,
Peter Gregson

[Ed W]

Hi Peter,

I noticed that you have already discovered the Driver Development Kit (DDK) forums – you’ll typically get a much better response there for issues regarding registry level programming.

It sounds like you’re probably already past this point, but just to address your initial questions, there is a NI Measurement Hardware DDK (Driver Development Kit) that offers register level programming - for Linux too.  From here, you can download the toolkit, and view the documentation.

I hope this helps!

Ed W.

Applications Engineer

National Instruments

[gregson]

Ed,

No USB data acquisition products are supported for Linux according to the Readme.txt file in the MHDDK. Why is this? I thought that USB was arguably the most standard and simplest bus.

It appears that NI doesn't allow me to program USB in Linux. This renders my five DAQPad 6015 units useless to me, and at great expense.

Is there any way that I can develop applications in Linux that can work with my DAQPad-6015 units?

Regards,

Peter

[Ed W]

Hi Peter,

I am sorry that you’re having trouble with these development kits, but unfortunately, driver development is outside the scope of the DAQ forums.  Please post again in the Driver Development forums, and you should see a better response.

Best regards,

Ed W.

Applications Engineer

National Instruments

[gregson]

Ed,

That is not a satisfactory answer. I purchased NI products to perform a particular task and was prepared to develop the software required to make it work. The problem is that NI refuses to provide the documentation for its product. This, to me, is entirely unreasonable.

To send me to the Driver Developers' forum is a cop-out, because that forum does not appear to have participation by NI staff. Thus, I cannot get an answer.

The required documentation exists. It must, for your developers.

I am a professor of electrical engineering at Dalhousie University, I get asked very frequently to recommend data acquisition systems to researchers, companies and others. I now find it very hard to recommend the use of NI products to anyone.

Sincerely,

Peter Gregson

[Jeremy_C]

Below is a link to the related discussion on the DDK forum

http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=90&message.id=220