FlexRIO 21.8 for Linux Readme

April 2022


This file contains late breaking news about FlexRIO and supersedes any information found in other documentation included in the distribution.

Refer to NI Linux Technology for the most recent information about Linux support at NI.

Refer to NI Linux Device Drivers for compatibility information about NI Linux Device Drivers.

Refer to FlexRIO Release Notes for known issues, bugs fixed since the last release, and other release details.


System Requirements

FlexRIO software for the Linux has been tested on the following distributions:

  • openSUSE Leap 15.2
  • openSUSE Leap 15.1
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
  • CentOS 7
  • Ubuntu 20.04
  • Ubuntu 18.04

FlexRIO 21.8 for Linux requires a 64-bit distribution and does not support 32-bit applications.

Supported Hardware

Visit NI Hardware and 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

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 <> driver packages through your Linux distribution's package manager:
    • For support for all FlexRIO devices: ni-flexrio
    • For support for PXI-795x devices: ni-flexrio-795x
    • For support for PXI-796x devices: ni-flexrio-796x
    • For support for PXI-797x devices: ni-flexrio-797x
    • For support for FlexRIO Integrated IO devices: ni-flexrio-798x
    • For support for C: libniflexrioapi-devel
    • For support for Modular IO devices: ni-flexrio-modulario-libs-devel

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.

Using the FlexRIO Driver and FPGA Interface C API

You must begin development on a computer running Windows.

  1. Use LabVIEW FPGA to develop and build an FPGA VI that runs on a FlexRIO device.
  2. Use the FPGA Interface C API Generator to create the C source files for your application. Go to ni.com/info and enter the Info Code fpgainterfacecapi to get the latest version of the FPGA Interface C API Generator.
  3. Copy the generated files to the Linux machine to begin development of C/C++ code for your application. For information about using the FPGA Interface C API, go to ni.com/info and enter the Info Code fpgainterfacecapihelp.

To find the FlexRIO device you are using in your application, use the command 'lsni -v' to list information on all National Instruments devices in the system.

Linux Limitations

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

  • NI-FGEN for Linux supports two application development environments:
    • LabVIEW (64-bit): 2019, 2020, and 2021
    • C and C++ (gcc)
  • 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 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.
  • NI-FGEN driver when used with NI Linux® Real-Time will not support Onboard Signal Processing. This feature remains supported on Windows.

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