NI-RFSG 2023 Q1 for Linux/x86 64-bit Architecture Readme

January 2023

This file contains installation instructions and compatibility information for NI-RFSG 2023 Q1.

You can find more release information on ni.com.

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

System Requirements

Installation Instructions

Supported Hardware

Accessing the Documentation

Finding Examples

FAQ

Linux Limitations

System Requirements

NI-RFSG software for the Linux 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-RFSG requires a 64-bit distribution and does not support 32-bit applications.

For more information about supported Linux versions and distributions supported by NI, refer to ni.com/linux.

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 Operating System Compatibility page. For historic driver and OS support information, refer to the readme for the relevant driver version.

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. Refer to the Linux Installation Instructions for more information on how to install NI Driver Software on a Linux desktop.
2. Select and install the following NI-RFSG driver packages through your Linux distribution's package manager:
   • ni-rfsg
   • ni-rfsg-daqmx
   • ni-rfsg-labview-20xy-support

After the driver packages 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.

Loading a custom FPGA Bitfile for Linux and NI Linux® Real Time

The custom bitfile(s) should be added inside the device specific folders: $HOME/natinst/fpgaextensionsbitfiles

For example, for NI PXIe-5820, place the custom bitfile(s) inside $HOME/natinst/fpgaextensionsbitfiles/NI PXIe-5820

Note: For NI Linux® Real Time, if you are using LabVIEW environment, $HOME refers to /home/lvuser by default.

Updated LabVIEW Compatibility Policy

The ni-rfsg-labview-support supports applications using NI-RFSG ​with LabVIEW 2023 Q1 or later. When installing NI-RFSG, this package will be recommended if you have already installed LabVIEW 2023 Q1 or later and installs to the LVAddons directory.

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

Accessing the Documentation

Use a web browser to view the NI-RFSG documentation at ni.com/manuals.

Finding Examples

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

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

LabVIEW examples can be located using the LabVIEW Example Finder.

FAQ

Question: During installation, I get an error message - "Error downloading packages."

Answer: It is likely that you do not have an active internet connection. We request you to connect to the internet. If not, use Linux Distribution media to install the dependencies before installing the packages.

Linux Limitations

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

NI-RFSG 2023 Q1 for Linux does not support 32-bit versions of LabVIEW.

• NI-RFSG supports two application development environments:
  • LabVIEW: 2022 Q3 and 2021 SP1 f2 patch
  • C and C++ (gcc)
• NI-RFSG does not support other ADEs, such as Microsoft Visual C/C++, or Microsoft Visual Basic.
• While NI-RFSG includes LabVIEW VIs, it does not provide other graphical utilities that are available for other operating systems:
  • The NI 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-RFSG 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)
  • To change aliases in LabVIEW, run the ./local/natinst/LabVIEW-2021-64/examples/nisyscfg/Rename Aliases.vi example.
  • To read device aliases and general device properties directly from the command line, use the lsni -v or the lsni -u command.
  • Soft front panels
• External calibration functions are not supported. Refer to your hardware documentation for information about external calibration, and refer to ni.com/calibration. If your NI-RFSG requires external calibration, either perform the calibration on a Windows system, or hire NI or an independent calibration laboratory to perform the calibration.
• NI-RFSG does not support the following function:
  • niRFSG Create De-embedding S-parameter Table (S2P file)