October 2021
This file contains late breaking news about NI-VISA 21.0 for Linux and supersedes any information found in other documentation included in the distribution.
Refer to ni.com/linux for the most recent information about Linux support at National Instruments.
Refer to the NI-VISA release notes for known issues, bugs fixed since the last release, and other release details.
NI-VISA 21.0 for Linux has been tested on the following distributions:
NI-VISA 21.0 for Linux requires a 64-bit distribution and does not support 32-bit applications.
NI-VISA for Linux supports the following resource types and utilities:
NI-VISA 21.0 supports the 64-bit LabVIEW application development environment:
NI provides a repository add-on for all supported drivers that you can install using your Linux distribution's native package manager.
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.
This release includes examples showing the use of NI-VISA in C and LabVIEW.
C examples are located in /usr/share/niswitch-devel/examples. Make files are provided that link to the necessary libraries.
The LabVIEW examples are located in the LabVIEW examples directory.
NI-VISA 21.0 for Linux does not support 32-bit versions of LabVIEW.
The VISA user must have write access to the file that represents the USB device, which is typically somewhere in a subdirectory within /dev/bus/usb. If this is not the case, the USB device is not accessible by VISA (it will not be found using viFindRsrc and viOpen will fail). The default configuration on most systems is that the 'root' user has write access; however, no other user has this access.
There are a number of options that you can take to provide a non-root user access to a USB device.
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ni-visa/usb/AddUsbRawPermissions.shFor more information about udev, please visit: kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/udev/udev.html
This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storing in an information retrieval system, or translating, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of National Instruments Corporation.
NI respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. NI software is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Where NI software may be used to reproduce software or other materials belonging to others, you may use NI software only to reproduce materials that you may reproduce in accordance with the terms of any applicable license or other legal restriction.
Notices are located in the /usr/local/vxipnp/share/nivisa directory. EULAs are located in the /usr/share/ni/licenses directory
If you are an agency, department, or other entity of the United States Government ("Government"), the use, duplication, reproduction, release, modification, disclosure or transfer of the technical data included in this manual is governed by the Restricted Rights provisions under Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.227-14 for civilian agencies and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement Section 252.227-7014 and 252.227-7015 for military agencies.
Content from the IVI specifications reproduced with permission from the IVI Foundation.
The IVI Foundation and its member companies make no warranty of any kind with regard to this material, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The IVI Foundation and its member companies shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.
Refer to the NI Trademarks and Logo Guidelines at ni.com/trademarks for information on NI trademarks. Other product and company names mentioned herein are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.
For patents covering the NI products/technology, refer to the NI Patent Notice at ni.com/patents.
378691A-01