How to ramp the output voltage of a parallel DC controlling its input via labview?

[tobi1989]

I would like to ramp the output voltage of a parallel 8-bit DAC linearly in time using LabView controlling 8 of the digital output pins of a NI USB-6501 which feed into the parallel DAC.

I would like to be able to set the ramp rate (slope) and the final voltage in my program (starting from 0V) and then let the program transform those numbers into binary and feed it to the NI USB-6501.

This will be my first LabView program.

What should I  read in order to learn how to set this specific task up with LabView?

[Dennis_Knutson]

Have you taken any of the numerous free LabVIEW tutorials or the DAQmx getting started?

Your 6501 is strictly software timed so the rate that you can write is going to be subject to jitter. What sort of rate do you need? You will be using the timing functions such as Wait(ms) to set the time between updates. There is the built-in Ramp Pattern function that will also prove useful.

[tobi1989]

I think roughly every 10 seconds by one bit, that should not a problem. There are so many tutorials that's why I ask, which of them would you recommend? I started with those for now: http://www.ni.com/academic/students/learn-labview/

[Dennis_Knutson]

That's probably fine to start. Also look at http://www.ni.com/product-documentation/5434/en/