Thank you for using NI-FGEN for Windows Vista/XP/2000.
This file contains important information regarding NI-FGEN and is organized into the following sections:
New Features in Version 2.4.5
Supported Hardware
System Requirements
Installed File Names and Locations
Software
Documentation
The FGEN Soft Front Panel
Uninstalling/Modifying NI-FGEN
Obsolete VIs and Functions
Changes by Release
New Features in Version 2.4.5
Support for Windows Vista. For more information about Microsoft Windows Vista and NI products, refer to ni.com/vista.
New Features in Version 2.4.1
Added LabVIEW 8.2 support
New Features in Version 2.4
Support for the NI PXI/PCI-5402 Function Generator
Support for the NI PXI/PCI-5406 Function Generator
Streaming
Direct DMA
Script mode
Frequency List mode support for the NI 5402/5406/5441
New trigger and event routing features: new VIs, functions, trigger types, and event types
Data marker events
Marker support added to arbitrary waveform mode
For information on transitioning an application currently using an NI 5401 to one using an NI 5402 or NI 5406, refer to KnowledgeBase document 3V87TOOL at ni.com/kb.
NI-FGEN is compliant with the IviFgen Class Specification. For more information about this IVI Foundation class specification, visit www.ivifoundation.org.
Supported Hardware
The following table shows which hardware products are supported in this release under particular operating systems.
Hardware Product
Supported Under
Windows XP/2000
Supported Under
Windows Vista1
NI PXI/PCI-5401 Function Generator
√
X
NI PXI/PCI-5402 Function Generator
√
√
NI PXI-5404 Frequency Generator
√
√2
NI PXI/PCI-5406 Function Generator
√
√
NI PXI/PCI-5411 Arbitrary Waveform Generator
√
X
NI PXI/PCI-5412 Arbitrary Waveform Generator
√
√
NI PXI/PCI-5421 Arbitrary Waveform Generator
√
√
NI PXI-5422 Arbitrary Waveform Generator
√
√
NI PXI/PCI-5431 Video Signal Generator
√
X
NI PXI-5441 Arbitrary Waveform Generator with Onboard Signal Processing
√
√
1 Notice that MXI-4 is supported on Windows Vista/XP/2000, but MXI-3 is supported on only Windows XP/2000.
2 Windows Vista support for the NI 5404 does not include support for external calibration. External calibration for the NI 5404 should be performed on Windows XP or Windows 2000.
Device-specific information about these signal generators is included in the NI Signal Generators Help file.
System RequirementsMinimal System
Processor—Pentium III 600 MHz or equivalent
RAM—128 MB
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or later
A screen resolution of 800 × 600 with 256 colors
Windows Vista (32-bit version), Windows Vista x64 Edition (64-bit version), Windows XP, or Windows 2000, with all available critical updates and service packs
Recommended System
Processor—Pentium 4 or equivalent
RAM—256 MB
A screen resolution of 1024 × 768
If you are running your application on an RT target, 64 MB of memory or more is recommended.
Application Development Software
NI LabVIEW 7.1, 8.0, 8.20
NI LabVIEW Real-Time Module 7.1, 8.0, 8.20 (NI 5402/5404/5406/5412/5421/5422/5441 only)
LabWindows ™ /CVI ™ 7.0, 7.1, 8.0, 8.1
Measurement Studio 6.0, 7.0, 7.1, 8.0, 8.1
Microsoft Visual C++ (MSVC) 6.0, 7.1, 8.0
Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0
Installed File Names and Locations
This particular installation of NI-FGEN installs the following files:
Software
Files
Installation Location on Windows XP/2000
and Windows Vista (32-bit version)
Installation Location on
Windows Vista x64
VIs
Program Files\National Instruments\ \instr.lib\niFgen
Program Files (x86)\ National Instruments\\instr.lib\niFgen
LabVIEW Examples
Program Files\National Instruments\ \examples\instr\niFgen
Program Files (x86)\ National Instruments\\examples\instr\niFgen
C Examples
Program Files\IVI\Drivers\niFgen\Examples\c
Program Files (x86)\IVI\Drivers\niFgen\Examples\c
CVI Examples
Program Files\National Instruments\ \samples\niFgen
Program Files (x86)\ National Instruments\\samples\niFgen
NI-FGEN Function Tree for CVI
VXIPnP\\niFgen
VXIPnP (x86)\\niFgen
Documentation Files
Program Files\IVI\Drivers\niFgen\Documentation
Program Files (x86)\IVI\Drivers\niFgen\Documentation
FGEN Soft Front Panel (SFP) Files
Program Files\IVI\Drivers\niFgen\
Program Files (x86)\IVI\Drivers\niFgen\
FPGA Files for
NI-FGEN and Associated Hardware
Program Files\National Instruments\ \fpgafiles\
Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\ \fpgafiles\
FGEN SFP Example Waveforms
Program Files\IVI\Drivers\niFgen\Examples\Waveforms\
Program Files (x86)\IVI\Drivers\niFgen\Examples\Waveforms\
Visual Basic Examples
Program Files\National Instruments\ \VB\Samples\niFgen\
Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\ \VB\Samples\niFgen\
The following files are installed in the system directory of Windows systems:
niffofu.dll
niFgenDAQ_32.dll
niFgenDMF.dll
niArbCal.dll
nigplu.dll
nidcmpu.dll
nisrcdu.dll
nisrceu.dll
nihdf.dll (installed with FGEN SFP)
NIHDF_2_LV.dll (installed with FGEN SFP)
nifirgenu.dll
nifirgenInterfaceu.dll
nifirgenanlys.dll
The following files are installed in the drivers directory of Windows systems:
nigplk.dll
nigplkl.sys
nisrcdk.dll
nisrcdkl.sys
nisrcdkw.sys
Documentation
The following documents are installed with NI-FGEN and are available from Start» Programs»National Instruments»NI-FGEN»Documentation:
NI Signal Generators Getting Started Guide
NI Signal Generators Help
Specifications
Calibration Procedures
Note To view many of these documents, you need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. You can install the viewer from www.adobe.com/acrobat.
Visit ni.com/manuals to find the latest versions of product documentation.
The FGEN Soft Front Panel (SFP)
The FGEN Soft Front Panel (SFP) is accessible from Start» Programs»National Instruments»NI-FGEN.
You can find example waveform and function files in the Program Files\IVI\Drivers\niFgen\Examples\Waveforms\ directory (Program Files (x86)\IVI\Drivers\niFgen\Examples\Waveforms\ directory on the 64-bit version of Windows Vista). Refer to Waveform description.txt within the Waveforms folder for an explanation of the provided waveforms.
Uninstalling/Modifying NI-FGEN
For Windows XP/2000, complete the following steps:
Launch the Control Panel by selecting Start»Control Panel.
Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
Select National Instruments Software.
Click Change/Remove.
Select NI-FGEN 2.4.5 from the dialog box that appears.
Click Remove to uninstall the product; click Modify to change the components that are installed.
For Windows Vista, complete the following steps:
Launch the Control Panel by selecting Start»Control Panel.
Double-click Programs and Features.
Select National Instruments Software.
Click the Uninstall/Change button.
Select NI-FGEN 2.4.5 from the dialog box that appears.
Click Remove to uninstall the product; click Modify to change the components that are installed.
As part of the NI-FGEN 2.4.5 installation, the following list of software was installed. To completely remove NI-FGEN 2.4.5 from your system, you must remove all of these packages in addition to NI-FGEN.
NI Hierarchical Waveform Storage 1.4.4
NI IVI Compliance Package 3.0
NI LabVIEW Run-Time Engine 7.1.1
NI Measurement & Automation Explorer 4.2
Traditional NI-DAQ 7.4.4 (Windows XP/2000 only)
NI-DAQmx 8.5
NI-VISA 4.1
Caution Several of the software packages listed above are shared with other NI software packages. If you attempt to remove a piece of software that something else is dependent on, a message launches to warn you about the software dependencies. You can choose to either uninstall all of the software or to leave the shared software installed. If you choose to uninstall the shared software, some of your other NI software may no longer function correctly.
Known Issues
When you run setup.exe to install the software from the CD, you are prompted to choose whether you want to always trust software from National Instruments. If you do not select this option, your installation may be interrupted by one or more Microsoft Windows security dialog boxes. However, if you run setup from the command line, you will not receive this prompt, and the installer will automatically install NI's Software Publisher Certificate to the your Windows Trusted Publisher Store. If you do not want to make this change to your Windows Trusted Publisher Store, do not choose this installation method.
Windows Vista does not support Traditional DAQ (Legacy) devices. Traditional DAQ devices include the NI PXI/PCI-5401, NI PXI/PCI-5411, and NI PXI/PCI-5431. Simulating these devices is also unsupported on Windows Vista, both in NI-FGEN and the FGEN Soft Front Panel. Choosing to simulate a device that is not supported on your operating system will result in indeterminate behavior.
NI recommends that you disable Windows power management modes, such as sleep, standby, and hibernate, when using this product. These modes terminate any NI-FGEN operation in progress. In the case of a PXI-5404 operation in progress or open PXI-5404 session, these modes can crash the system. Notice that in Windows Vista or on a laptop computer, the default power management settings are likely to enable sleep mode.
Obsolete VIs and Functions
The following VIs are obsolete as of NI-FGEN 2.4 and have been moved to niFgenObsolete_2_4.llb.
niFgen Configure Ref Clock Frequency VI
niFgen Configure Ref Clock Source VI
niFgen Configure Trigger VI
niFgen Configure Update Clock Source VI
niFgen Send Software Trigger VI
The following functions are obsolete as of NI-FGEN 2.4 and have been moved to niFgenObsolete.h.
niFgen_ConfigureReferenceClockFrequency
niFgen_ConfigureReferenceClockSource
niFgen_ConfigureTriggerSource
niFgen_ConfigureUpdateClockSource
niFgen_SendSoftwareTrigger
The niFgen_ComplexF64 type is obsolete and moved to niFgenObsolete.h.
Changes by Release
This section describes the changes in NI-FGEN 2.4.5 from NI-FGEN 2.4.1.
Added support for Windows Vista
This section describes the changes in NI-FGEN 2.4.1 from NI-FGEN 2.4.
Added LabVIEW 8.2 support
This section describes the changes in NI-FGEN 2.4 from NI-FGEN 2.3.
Added features described in New Features in Version 2.4
Made a number of VIs and functions obsolete as described in Obsolete VIs and Functions
Added an NIComplexNumber typedef, which replaces niFgen_ComplexF64
Added the following VIs/functions, properties/attributes, and values: