NI-488.2 v2.3 for Linux installation fails...

[tobin2]

Hi there,

I have a PCI-GPIB card that I am trying to use in a Dell PC running RedHat Enterprise Linux WS 3 (kernel 2.4.21-27.0.4.EL). (Eventually I want to control some Camac instruments with LabView).

Unless I am misreading something, I think the appropriate software driver is NI-488.2 for Linux/x86, Version 2.3.

When I try to install it, though, I get the following error:


ERROR: make of nikal kernel module failed, not installing kernel module.
Please make sure that gcc and the kernel headers/source for the
currently running kernel are installed.
Installation can be completed by invoking the following from
/usr/local/natinst/nikal/src after fixing the problem:
> make install
Otherwise report the problem and run '/usr/local/natinst/nikal/bin/UNINSTALL'
to remove nikal from your system.


As far as I know, I have the complete (i.e. "everything") Linux distribution installed, including kernel source files, etc.

Thanks for any help that you can offer.

-Tobin

[Geneva L.]

Hello,

Try this command to see what kernel files you have installed:

rpm -qa | grep -i kern

One possibility is that you are missing kernel-source-2.4.21-27.0.4.EL. If that's not it, please repost with the output from the command.

[Julien Brutus]

I have the same months ago, while trying to install beta 2.3.
In fact some symbols used by the driver are not present in the kernel.
Try to find what they are, add them to the kernel symbol file and rebuild the kernel.

I have problems with that driver because and cannot read back string greater than 16 bytes!!!

[tobin2]

I get the following (I included a little more, just for good measure):


[root@hal9000 root]# uname -a
Linux hal9000 2.4.21-27.0.4.EL #1 SMP Sat Apr 16 18:53:03 EDT 2005 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[root@hal9000 root]# rpm -qa | grep -i kern
kernel-2.4.21-15.EL
kernel-utils-2.4-8.37.7
kernel-source-2.4.21-27.0.4.EL
kernel-doc-2.4.21-27.0.4.EL
glibc-kernheaders-2.4-8.34.1
kernel-2.4.21-27.0.4.EL

[root@hal9000 root]# rpm -qa | grep -i gcc
gcc-objc-ssa-3.5ssa-0.20030801.48
gcc-g77-ssa-3.5ssa-0.20030801.48
gcc-java-ssa-3.5ssa-0.20030801.48
libgcc-3.2.3-49
gcc-c++-ssa-3.5ssa-0.20030801.48
gcc-java-3.2.3-49
gcc-ssa-3.5ssa-0.20030801.48
compat-gcc-7.3-2.96.128
gcc-c++-3.2.3-49
gcc-gnat-3.2.3-49
libgcc-3.2.3-49
compat-gcc-c++-7.3-2.96.128
libgcc-ssa-3.5ssa-0.20030801.48
gcc-3.2.3-49
gcc-objc-3.2.3-49
gcc-g77-3.2.3-49
[root@hal9000 root]#

-Tobin

[tobin2]

One more thing:

[root@hal9000 root]# cat /proc/version
Linux version 2.4.21-27.0.4.EL (bhcompile@crowe.devel.redhat.com) (gcc version 3.2.3 20030502 (Red Hat Linux 3.2.3-52)) #1 SMP Sat Apr 16 18:53:03 EDT 2005
[root@hal9000 root]#

I'm a little confused by this output -- does this mean that the kernel was compiled with gcc 3.2.3-52? If so, this doesn't make sense to me, since (see previous post) gcc is only up to 3.2.3-49 on this machine. I must be missing something.

-Tobin

[ScottieB]

Tobin,

It looks like your kernel is 64-bit, which I'm afraid isn't going to work with our driver. We only support 32-bit kernels at the moment. Just out of curiosity, though, were there other messages that appeared before the "ERROR: Problems building NIKAL" message? Could you give us a full output of the install so that we can see these errors?

Thanks,
Scott B.
GPIB Software
National Instruments

[tobin2]

Ok, I'll install a 32-bit kernel.

Log of installation attempt attached.

Thanks for your advice.

-Tobin