FlexRIO development on desktop PC

[slefoll]

Hello,

I have a LabView FPGA project for a FlexRIO PXIe-7966R board, mounted in a PXIe-1082 chassis with a controller running Windows (no RT). I would like to use my desktop PC to compile the FPGA vi. I tried the steps explain here to set-up a new target on my development computer, but the PXIe-7966R does not show up in the "Add Targets" dialog. I have NI FlexRIO 14.0 and NI PXI Platform services installed on my computer.

Is there additionnal software or drivers that I need to install on my development computer? Or do I need to compile on the PXI controller?

[Sam_Sharp · Accepted solution]

Do you have the FPGA toolkit installed? Do you have the Xilinx Compilation tools installed? You might also need NI-RIO installed?

[Jacobson-ni]

---

@slefoll wrote:

Is there additionnal software or drivers that I need to install on my development computer? Or do I need to compile on the PXI controller?

---

If at all possible, I would recommend using the compile cloud, then you can compile from your PXI target but not have to have the tools on the chassis.

If this is not an option and you need to compile on your desktop PC you are going to have trouble finding your FlexRIO device from your desktop. You can mess around with the RIO server to get your device to show up but the easiest way around that would be to add a generic 7966R under your desktop project and compile for that. It won't run on the actual card but you can just transfer the generated bitfile over to your PXI system and use that to run your FPGA application without ever compiling on the chassis.

[slefoll]

I already have FPGA toolkit and NI-RIO installed, but not Xilinx Compilation tools (stil downloading...). This may be the issue since in the description of the download it is said :

"Tools are required to compile for certain NI RIO devices that do not use a Virtex-II FPGA."

The only devices that show up when I try to add a new device are indeed those based on a Virtex II. I will let you know when I get it installed.

@Jacobson: that is exactly what I want to do (generating the bitfile from my computer and then transfert it to the PXI), since I do not want to deploy Labview on the PXI Chassis (which will become a production tester). I keep in mind the cloud compilation option, but first I need to check with my IT for any security issues due to this process.

Regards,

[Louis.L]

Hi slefoll,

You have to download the Xilinx Compile Tools 12.4 for your NI PXIe-7966R => http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/EC05F29F0AEA873A86257E9F004F5E78

Here the link: http://www.ni.com/download/labview-fpga-module-2011/2592/en/

Regards,

[slefoll]

Ok, after a few hours struggling with NI Drivers, I found out that I had Flew-RIO 14.0 installed, but not with the corresponding "Development support" (which was 13.2). After reinstalling FlexRIO 14.0, all FlexRIO devices appear in the "New Target" dialog.

Thanks for your help,