NI-FGEN 2023 Q3 for Linux/x86 64-bit Architecture Readme

July 2023

This file contains installation instructions and compatibility information for NI-FGEN 2023 Q3.

You can find more release information on ni.com.

• NI-FGEN Release Notes: Known issues, bugs fixed since the last release, and other notes about this release
• NI-FGEN Documentation: New features, behavior changes, and other documentation

System Requirements

Installation Instructions

Supported Hardware

Finding Examples

Linux Limitations

System Requirements

NI-FGEN software for the Linux/x86 64-bit architecture has been tested on the following distributions:

• openSUSE Leap 15.4
• openSUSE Leap 15.3
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
• Ubuntu 22.04
• Ubuntu 20.04

NI-FGEN requires a 64-bit distribution and does not support 32-bit applications.

Installation Instructions

NI provides a repository add-on for all supported drivers that you can install using your Linux distribution's native package manager.

1. Visit ni.com/info and enter the Info Code LinuxRepository.
2. Download the installer for the repository add-on for your Linux distribution.
3. Install the repository add-on using the rpm command.
4. Select and install the following NI-FGEN driver packages through your Linux distribution's package manager:
   • ni-fgen
   • ni-fgen-daqmx
   • ni-fgen-devel (for C/C++ development support)
   • ni-fgen-labview-20xy-support (for development support and examples on LabVIEW 2021 and earlier)
   • ni-fgen-labview-support (for development support and examples on LabVIEW 2022 and later)

After the driver package(s) are installed, you must rebuild the new packages for the system kernel. NI recommends that you run the command 'dkms autoinstall' after installation, and before rebooting the system, to install the latest revision of all modules that have been installed for other kernel revisions. After doing so, the installed device drivers will function immediately on the next system start.

Updated LabVIEW Compatibility Policy

The ni-fgen-labview-support supports applications using NI-FGEN ​with LabVIEW 2022 or later. When installing NI-FGEN, this package will be recommended if you have already installed LabVIEW 2022 or later and installs to the LVAddons directory.

LVAddons directory location: /usr/local/natinst/share/lvaddons

Supported Hardware

Visit NI Hardware and Software Operating System Compatibility to view driver, desktop operating system, and real-time operating system support for individual hardware devices.

To view information for your device:

• Select your hardware model in the dropdown list on the page to view compatibility information for your device.
• Type your hardware model number in the dropdown list on the web page to filter the list of available devices.

Note: Some compatibility information may only be available in the archive attached to the NI Hardware and Software Operating System Compatibility page. For historic driver and OS support information, refer to the readme for the relevant driver version.

Finding Examples

This release includes examples showing the use of NI-FGEN in C and LabVIEW.

C examples are located in /usr/share/nifgen-devel/examples. Make files are provided that link to the necessary libraries.

The LabVIEW examples are located in the LabVIEW examples directory.

Be sure to run the device configuration utility (described in the Installation section) before running examples.

Linux Limitations

Some features discussed in the NI-FGEN documentation are unavailable on Linux.

• NI-FGEN for Linux offers API bindings for C/C++, LabVIEW 2020 and later, and Python.
  • For more information on installing and using Python, refer to the nifgen module.
• NI-FGEN for Linux does not support other ADEs, such as the LabVIEW Real-Time Module, LabWindows/CVI, Microsoft Visual C/C++, or Microsoft Visual Basic.
• NI-FGEN for Linux does not provide the following graphical configurations or debug utilities that are available for other operating systems:
  • Test Panels
  • NI I/O Trace
  • Measurement and Automation Explorer (MAX) graphical configuration utility
    • The NI Hardware Configuration Utility (22.0 or later) is an alternative to discover and rename devices and is available with the ni-hwcfg-utility package.
    • Additionally, all supported NI-FGEN hardware can be discovered and renamed through the NI System Configuration (NI-SysCfg) API.
    • Install the following:
    • ni-syscfg-runtime
    • ni-syscfg-devel (for C/C++ development)
    • ni-syscfg-labview-2021-support (for LabVIEW development)
    • Run the ./local/natinst/LabVIEW-2021-64/examples/nisyscfg/Rename Aliases.vi example to change aliases in LabVIEW
    • To read device aliases and general device properties directly from the command line, use the lsni -v or the lsni -u command.
• The Onboard Signal Processing (OSP) functionality of the PXI-5441, PXIe-5442, PXIe-5450, and PXIe-5451 is not supported on Linux.
• NI-FGEN for Linux does not support external calibration of devices.
• NI-FGEN for Linux does not support remote debugging of applications.
• NI-FGEN for Linux does not support Japanese localization for driver, LabVIEW application programming interface (API), and documentation.
• NI-FGEN for Linux does not support Firmware Updater application.