LINX 3.0 - LabVIEW for BeagleBone Black and Raspberry Pi 2/3

[Chase.E]

The runtime engines are free for use

[Kristoff2]

To be clear the LabVIEW Runtime is free, but the runtime that ships with LINX for BBB/RPI is licensed for non-commercial use only.

Let us know if you have any questions about this.

Thanks!

[Fhytaur]

Ok, I don't know what means "non-commercial use only" exactly. I mean, I want to use a BBB to assist me in a task at my job but it will not be sold or even it will be a part of a product. It will only assist in configuring some equipment and make some communication using SPI and/or I2C with some peripherals. We already have some LabVIEW professional licenses here and also some NI hardware (cRio and PXI), but for this specific application I don't need more than a BBB. I am aware about lack of NI official support in this issue, it is not the problem. I don't know if as far as I want to use it at the work, one can claim it is a commercial use and I am breaking the licensing rules, though. 

[Kristoff2]

The non-commercial license means you should not use it for any commercial / company purpose, whether it's internal or something that will ship customers.  If you have feedback on this we'd love to hear it here (I also encourage you to talk to your local NI sales engineer about it).

-Kristoff

[Riau]

I'm about to do a modular test jig with either Beaglebone or Raspberry Pi but the LINX 3.0 files seems corrupted and won't download. VIPM gives me an error about file corruption and with browser it gets stuck at around 500kb. I was able to download LINX 2 from same source so corporate internet is not blocking me.

Who can fix this?

I really need LINX 3.

Thanks,

Richard

[Hooovahh]

Did you say corporate network?  This wouldn't happen to be for anything other than personal use would it?  Because if it is the license agreement prohibits using LINX for anything other than personal use.  If you want an industrial real time controller that can run LabVIEW you should talk to NI sales.  That being said LINX 2.0 doesn't support Pi, or BeagleBone so that won't help you.  You can download the VIP file on a computer that works, and then copy it from the cache folder VIPM makes to another computer.

[Daikataro]

Hello there Sammy, and thanks for the continued support on the topic. I would very much like to know your official answer, to the idea of providing a paid commercial licence, for those interested in using LINX for paid projects, on the basis that the Hardware involved does not have the capabilities of official NI Hardware, and thus performance is not to be expected to be on par. Projects that would not require the firepower and build quality NI provides, but can make do with lower clock speeds and sample rates, such as weather stations, basic monitoring and the such? Would the team consider such a possibility?

[Riau]

From maker HUB:

There are three licenses you must consider when determining if you can use LINX for commercial use. First is the version of LabVIEW. Anything developed using LabVIEW Home or Student is licensed for non-commercial use only. LabVIEW Base/Full/Pro are all licensed for commercial use. Second the LINX VIs and LINX firmware are free to use for commercial purposes under this license. Finally the LabVIEW runtime for BeagleBone Black and Raspberry Pi provided in LINX 3.0 and newer is Licensed for non-commercial use only. 

In order to use LINX for commercial purposes you must have a commercial license for LabVIEW and must not use the LabVIEW Runtime for BBB / RPI.

Sooo if I understand having LabView Full developper suite, I can use the LINX firmware. And, this is for internal usage, not selling any of this commercially. I don't expect my test jig to be fast but I'm exploring solutions for simple test using I2C devices.

Other than that, my real problem is that I can't download version 3 (VIP file) because files are broken on the ftp repository but not for the older LINX 2. Corporate network or not this should be fixed on NI's ftp.

VIPM is pointing at the ni ftp: http://ftp.ni.com/evaluation/labview/lvtn/vipm/packages/lvh_linx/ 

and Error:

Main Package Name: lvh_linx v3.0.1.192
Package Name with Error: lvh_linx v3.0.1.192
Error Message: VIPM could not download the package lvh_linx-3.0.1.192 from the remote server.
Error Code: 7
Error Source: ZLIB Open Unzip Archive__ogtk.vi in FC5687F67FB170AB7D8434D6D4A4B33E->95B736AAF80F07680C886C440C672EB4->OGPM Class.lvlib:63E923C09144351DB82584E59ECDB901:4840001->OGPM Class.lvlib:B9A245BB1A849F067C18AF10C0EB2699->1EE16CEC66D3FF1A3E2DEDF68307020A->VIPM Main Window.vi

===============

Hope this get's fixed 

[Hooovahh]

Those files aren't broken, I suspect it has to do with your infrastructure or network.  I installed LINX on a machine for the first time using VIPM earlier last week, and was just able to download the 3.0.1.192 package.  I'd download that file, and the maker toolbox package (which is a dependency) on another computer, and transfer the packages over.

Also I'm not a lawyer I just wanted to point out that what you were describing sounded like a licensing violation.

[Riau]

Thanks for answering,

the license is not obvious. Been rereading and for commercial usage... well you can't use it for BBB or Raspberry PI because you can't use the Labview runtime on them. A bit annoying because it has so much potential for io controls and integration to Windows Labview applications. And also cheap for the hardware parts. Oh well, I'll have to resort on some other solutions.

The download must be recently broken. Someone else on labview maker hub reported same issue. I've been able to get LINX 2.0.. through VIPM but all LINX 3.0 just has errors in download.

I might try downloading at home. Never know, I could develop some kind of kid toy for my sons. Have a bit of fun with this.