NI-VISA 2023 Q3 for macOS Readme

July 2023

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

You can find more release information on ni.com.


Overview

System Requirements

NI Application Software Support

Installation Instructions

Product Security and Critical Updates

New Features


Overview

NI-VISA is the NI implementation of the Virtual Instrument Software Architecture (VISA), a standard for configuring, programming, and troubleshooting instrumentation systems comprising VXI, Serial, Ethernet, and/or USB interfaces.

System Requirements

NI-VISA 2023 Q3 for macOS supports the following platforms:

  • macOS 12

Note  The online version of this readme supersedes the readme provided with the installation media to contain an updated list of supported macOS platforms.

NI-VISA for macOS currently supports the following resource types and utilities:

  • Serial
  • TCPIP
  • Remote Client
  • Remote Server
  • ENET Serial
  • USB
  • VISA Interactive Control
  • NI I/O Trace

Note  NI-VISA for macOS supports only 64-bit applications.

Note  NI-VISA for macOS no longer supports GPIB and PCI/PXI passports.

NI Application Software Support

The following table lists the NI application software versions supported by NI-VISA:

NI Application SoftwareVersions Supported by NI-VISA
NI LabVIEW 2020 SP1 and later

Installation Instructions

You must perform a clean install (uninstall any previous installed versions of NI-VISA) on systems using macOS 12 and later before installing NI-VISA 2023 Q3. Upgrading from previous versions of NI-VISA on systems using macOS 12 and later to the latest version of NI-VISA may result in a system crash.

Updated LabVIEW Compatibility Policy

The "NI-VISA Support for LabVIEW" package supports applications using NI-VISA ​with LabVIEW 2022 or later. When installing NI-VISA, this package will be recommended if you have already installed LabVIEW 2022 or later and installs to the LVAddons directory.

LVAddons directory location: /Library/Application Support/National Instruments/LVAddons

Installed Files and Paths

There are three main locations where NI-VISA installs files.

  • The local /Library/Frameworks folder contains the VISA.framework folder. This folder contains all needed headers and supporting Passport libraries that NI-VISA uses.
  • In the local /Applications/National Instruments folder, there is an NI-VISA folder. This folder includes the NI-VISA Help, as well as several groups of C examples using NI-VISA. This NI-VISA folder also includes a graphical utility called NI-VISA Configuration to configure VISA options and the VISA Interactive Control (VISAIC).
  • Finally, the /Library/Preferences folder contains an NIvisa folder with .ini files. These files are used for NI-VISA settings and status codes.

Product Security and Critical Updates

Visit ni.com/security to view and subscribe to receive security notifications about NI products. For information about critical updates from NI, refer to Available Critical and Security Updates for NI Software.

New Features

NI-VISA 2023 Q3

Added native Apple silicon support for the NI-VISA libraries.

NI-VISA 2022 Q4

Added support for M1 processors (using Rosetta Translation Environment).

NI-VISA 15.0

Added support for NI MAX.

NI-VISA 14.0

Added support for 64-bit versions of LabVIEW.

Added support for the System Configuration API.

Added support for viGpibControlREN on TCPIP resources that use the VXI-11 protocol.

NI-VISA 5.3

Improved performance of viRead for a HiSLIP resource.