What device drivers are compatible with Linux C platform?

[CAS]

I'm trying to identify a device or devices to give me 16 analogue outputs, 1 digital output and 3 digital inputs. Preferably this would use an Ethernet interface but USB would be acceptable. The software controlling the device(s) would be written in C running on Linux.

I've done lots of searching on the NI website and it's starting to look like there are just a handful of USB devices which are compatible with Linux if using the NI-DAQmx Base 3.6 drivers. Is that correct? I also read a page on the NI-DAQmx Base drivers which states 'Developers creating applications for Windows and Linux-based systems should consider using the latest in full-featured NI-DAQmx.' but I can't find any version of (full) NI-DAQmx that list Linux in their supported OS list.

I would appreciate any clarification anyone can offer.

Thanks.

CAS

[CAS]

I have managed to find some more information so I can answer some of my own questions here.

It would appear that there are some reasonably recent versions of full NI-DAQmx that are compatible with Linux. I found these by Selecting 'NI Drivers' from the 'Support & Services' option on the home page and selecting 'NI-DAQmx' from the 'Hardware Driver' list. There is then an option on the left-hand side to filter by OS. At the time of writing, the most recent version for RedHat and SUSE is 8.0.2.

The 'Readme' file on the download page includes a list of compatible devices. This includes some PCI, PCIe, PXI and SCXI devices so I guess I'm out of luck for the CompactDAQ Ethernet or USB devices I was after.

Another useful resource that I was not previously aware of is the Linux Users Community Group which has some useful information.

I hope this information is useful to others. I would still appreciate any suggestions others might have regarding my original requirement.

CAS

[JoeFriedchicken]

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CAS wrote:

I would still appreciate any suggestions others might have regarding my original requirement.

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NI provides Linux support for a subset of the USB DAQ devices via NI-DAQmx Base [1], where the "Base" means subset. The USB devices supported there are: USB-621x, USB-6008/9, USB-6501, and the NI cDAQ modules 9211, 9214, 9233, and 9234 in the USB-9162 single-slot sleeve.

[1] NI-DAQmx Base 14.0 for Linux

http://www.ni.com/download/ni-daqmx-base-14.0/5054/en/

[metux]

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CAS wrote:

It would appear that there are some reasonably recent versions of full NI-DAQmx that are compatible with Linux.

Not Linux in general, just a few handpicked kernel images and userlands from a few handpicked distros. Anything else is just Russian Roulette.

(kernel drivers have to built w/ or for the actual target kernel)

The 'Readme' file on the download page includes a list of compatible devices. This includes some PCI, PCIe, PXI and SCXI devices so I guess I'm out of luck for the CompactDAQ Ethernet or USB devices I was after.

Seems so, as long as nobody is having far too much spare time and reverse engineers the whole thing. NI keeps the necessary specs for writing drivers ultra-secret. And their proprietary kernel drivers cant ever work reliably. (the kernel never supported that). 

For USB side it will be even funnier: the USB subsystem enforces the GPL, therefore proprietary usb drivers are not tolerated anymore. Releasing the source as GPL would mean publishing the device details.

http://forums.ni.com/t5/Multifunction-DAQ/Linux-NIDAQmx-install-problem/m-p/3225670/highlight/false#...