Question about installing NI-DAQmx 9.4

[JeffinCA]

  I have LV 2010 & 2011 on my system.  NI-DAQmx 9.3.0 was installed a few months ago with 2010.

  I downloaded and started to install NI-DAQmx 9.4 and it notified me that some features would not be supported with the version of LabVIEW installed on my system.  At this point, I cancelled the installation.

  Based on a conversation I had earlier in the day, I was expecting to be presented with a choice of LV version to make the install.

  I want to keep V9.3 on my 2010 installation.  How can I make sure that 9.4 is only applied to LV 2011?

Jeff

[Luke_B]

Hi Jeff,

This article explains that you can not have more than one version of DAQ-mx on you computer at the same time.

DAQ-mx 9.3 does not support LabVIEW 2011, but versions 9.3.5 or 9.4 will support both LabVIEW 2010, and 2011. You can find a compatibility chart  for LabVIEW and DAQ-mx here.

I hope this helps,

Regards,

Luke B.

[JeffinCA]

  Okay (not happy, but I can live with it)

  But that does not explain why would I get a notification that some features will not be supported.  Why would that happen if I have the latest version of the Developer Suite?

Jeff

[Luke_B]

Hi Jeff,

Does the notification list what features won't be supported? It might be popping up if you don't have some of the toolkits or modules installed. The drivers won't install support for features that you don't have installed.

Regards,

Luke B.

[JeffinCA]

No, it did not list which modules would not be supported, but a possible answer is that I also have LabVIEW 8.2 Educational on my computer (according to the Activation summary, it was upgraded to Professional when I installed 2010 and entered the password).  So that gives me 3 versions (8.2, 10.0 & 11.0).

Would that explain it?

Jeff

[Luke_B]

Hi Jeff,

Yes, that makes sense. DAQmx 9.4 does not support LabVIEW 8.2, it only supports back to 8.6.

Regards,

Luke B.

[JeffinCA]

  As I cannot apply specific versions of NI-DAQmx to specific LabVIEW releases (which I think is a poor design choice as anyone can have several versions of LabVIEW on their systems simultaneously), I wonder if there would be any problems with installing different NI-DAQmx versions as needed.

  For instance, I just received an assignment today to add some functionality to an application created back in 2007 with LV 8.2.  One of the requirements is replacing the mini-tower computer and its internal PCI-6221 DAQ with a laptop using a USB DAQ.  The USB version of the 6221 is available as a legacy device, but I don't know if I could talk to it using NI-DAQmx 9.4.

  It would be simpler to use the LV 8.2 I have on my computer with the NI-DAQmx disk that came with the 6221 DAQ card but I would, of course, have to re-install V9.4 to use LV 2011.

  The question is, what sort of problems would I be buying for myself if I were to repeatedly install different NI-DAQmx versions?

Jeff

[Luke_B]

Hi Jeff,

DAQ-mx 9.4 does support the USB-6221. The readme lists the supported devices.

I would recommend against uninstalling/reinstalling drivers repeatedly. LabVIEW 2010 will open VI's saved with 6.0 and newer, and can save for previous versions back to 8.0

If you do want to have 8.2 and 2011, I'd recommend using second partition with just Windows and LabVIEW 8.2 with the appropriate copy of DAQ-mx, etc. You could also use a completely separate computer if you'd prefer.

The more times you uninstall and reinstall drivers, the more likely you are to run into registry errors and corrupted installations.

Regards,

Luke B.