The Case for an NI Linux Distribution

[swatts]

Hello LabVIEW, Linux Lovelies,

Just back from GDevCon#6 in Brighton, UK and it was exceptional! Kudos to everyone involved especially the devilishly handsome treasurer.

I've been going on about Linux here for over a year now and I ran into some sceptics whilst demoing my little Raxda X4. There were 3 common responses...

1. I didn't know LabVIEW could run on Linux.
2. Linux is too difficult, I'll stick to Windows.
3. I tried it, but it didn't work for me.

I can address number 1 - yes Linux can run LabVIEW, you just need an Intel x64 platform to run it on. that was easy.

2 & 3 need addressing by NI... Let's look at the first time Linux user's current experience...

First I need to pick a Distro, there's a choice of 3 main distro types and thousands of their forks... The average LabVIEW programmer will not have much of an opinion about Linux Distros at this point, they just want something to work.

Then you need to navigate the differing package management tools, and load drivers by name from the command line (if you can find the hidden document that tells your their names)

Next you will need to set permissions if you are talking to hardware.

For the CTI we solved this by taking Lubuntu, making it our own and distributing it as a virtual machine or image. We then linked any downloadables to shortcuts on the desktop.

This is very nearly good enough... But here's what I want from NI...

On the download LabVIEW for Linux page, have a download a NI certified distro (in ISO form). They can pick the flavour... but what I want is all the drivers for that version of LabVIEW installed (or links to a package manager to install them), VIPM installed, LabVIEW installed... they could even install common utilities and databases (Wireshark etc)

When I build my Linux system I'll have confidence it'll work and this will make support much easier..

Is this a massive amount of extra work? Well they have Linux expertise, far beyond my own, but I'm guessing you could fork Lubuntu and start from there. I like how light-weight Lubuntu is, no frills, just snappy performance with little overhead, ideal qualifications for a LabVIEW system I reckon.

They could even slip the team behind the distro a bit of cash, which would be nice.

NI could even go as far as testing, approving hardware platforms etc.

The last question is why would you want LabVIEW on Linux, I have to say I really enjoy it... My Windows 11 laptop is very powerful, and yet LabVIEW 2024 Q3 always has a bit of a think after loading (this started a few months back), and TBH Windows is not a great platform for engineering systems (ask all the people having to scrap their Windows 10 machines).

And is LabVIEW for Linux perfect, no, it needs some development and this comes from users. But you'll enjoy the license free freedom to distribute fully build systems and Virtual Machines. 

Hopefully that's a compelling conversation starter.

I've got it out of my brain, so that's the most important thing

Lots of Love