Is 64bit support planned for all toolkits?

[Sense]

Hello,

some years ago a programmed a large application in LabVIEW 2010 with the help of some toolkits.

Currently I am thinking about switch to LabVIEW 2013 but in the 64bit version and update some stuff.

To my surprise almost no toolkit included in the Developer Suite Core Edition has a 64 bit Version.

Is the support planned or should I avoid doing anything new in LabVIEW since I can never use the large amounts of memory any computer offers today.

[Dennis_Knutson]

Which specific toolkit do you use that requires the additional memory space? The best place to request a change is the Idea Exchange.

[Sense]

Actually the toolkits (VI Analyse, Advanced Signal Processing Toolkit, PID Toolkit) don't need that much memory and my program currently fits inside the limit of around 4 GB .

But still I want to switch to 64bit and I don't want lose the ablity to use the toolkits.

Of course I could find ways to reduce the memory requirements of a new program and always use the 32 bit version of LabVIEW.

But why shouldn't I use the 32 GB RAM I have if I want to.

I guess my point is:

The first LabVIEW version which supported 64bit was 2009.

Now nearly 4 years later I can't see any progress in the transition from 32bit to 64bit at least regarding toolkits.

[JÞB]

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@Sense wrote:

Actually the toolkits (VI Analyse, Advanced Signal Processing Toolkit, PID Toolkit) don't need that much memory and my program currently fits inside the limit of around 4 GB .

But still I want to switch to 64bit and I don't want lose the ablity to use the toolkits.

Of course I could find ways to reduce the memory requirements of a new program and always use the 32 bit version of LabVIEW.

But why shouldn't I use the 32 GB RAM I have if I want to.Actually that "32GB limit" is understated by vast orders of magnitude in theory...you'll run out of phyisical RAM far faster than Addresses in x64

I guess my point is:

The first LabVIEW version which supported 64bit was 2009.

Now nearly 4 years later I can't see any progress in the transition from 32bit to 64bit at least regarding toolkits.

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This is just a guess (Fairly well thought out but, just a guess)

There is no difference in licensing LabVIEW x32 and x64.  In fact, I believe you can have them installed side-by-side (Never tried this myself)

Not many applications actually REQUIRE x64 as of today and very few LabVIEW applications developed with the current toolkits would require x64 architecture since (Drumroll please....). The existing x32 Toolkits WORK in a 32 bit architecture.

So, there is no market need to provide the existing toolkits with features that they do not take advantage of.  Are you following so far?

Toolkits that CAN and MUST take advantage of a 64 bit OS cannot be deployed on 32 bit systems.  What advantages do you feel you can provide your user's by moving a 32 bit TK to 64 bit?

[mikeporter]

There's a couple things to bear in mind concerning toolkits:

First, if the toolkit is written in pure LV (no DLLs or the like) the toolkit will be "converted" to 64-bit the first time its save or recompiled.

Second, if you are using a toolkit that calls a 32-bit DLL or the like, the 4G limit will only apply to the places in the code where the DLL is being used.

And then there's the apparent death-spiral that Microsoft (and much of the PC industry) is in. The toolkits are in the very near future going to need to support a variety of 64-bit OS options - and you can bet your bippy they will. Frankly, I just don't see a big problem here.

Mike...

PS: If you doubt that the PC market could completely collapse, I got one question for you. Remember the Apollo workstation, Mentor Graphics, the DEC Eagle? Where are they now?

[Darren]

I have posted instructions here on how to install and use the VI Analyzer Toolkit in 64-bit LabVIEW:

Using the VI Analyzer Toolkit with 64-bit LabVIEW

Note that this is not officially supported by NI, but I can help you with any issues you might have...just post them to that link, and not to the main LabVIEW forum.

[Sense]

Thanks for the many replys.

From my point of view not many people use a 32 Bit OS anymore at least not with a newer version of LabVIEW.

With the support for Windows XP currently ending my company recently made the switch to Windows 7 x64 on every computer.

So it would have been nice to play with the additional memory, have the extra performance and still use the toolkits.

As mentioned here:

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/71E9408E6DEAD76C8625760B006B6F98

I will use both the 64 bit and 32 bit version and cut down the usage of toolkits in the my VIs.

[altenbach]

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@Sense wrote:

With the support for Windows XP currently ending my company recently made the switch to Windows 7 x64 on every computer.

So it would have been nice to play with the additional memory, have the extra performance and still use the toolkits.

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If you actually read your quoted link, you DO have at least 1GB additional memory available if running 32bit LabVIEW on a 64bit system. You get the full 4GB! So yes, you will have some benefit going to a 64 bit OS even if only using LabVIEW 32bit. 😄

[JÞB]

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@Sense wrote:

Thanks for the many replys.

I will use both the 64 bit and 32 bit version and cut down the usage of toolkits in the my VIs.

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You failed to answer my prior question, "What benefit will your users see by creating x64 toolkits that restrict the toolkits rather than expand them?"  Christian mentions that you could potentially improve from 3Gb to 4Gb of address space HOWEVER, you both ignore the fact that the 2Gb of address space that is default available to LabVIEW x32 is sufficient for these toolkits!

These Toolkits do not reqiure x64 bit architecture to function.  x64 bit systems can execute a x32 bit application and the inverse is not true!  So, Again, "What would be the benefit of creating x64 bit versions of existing x32 bit Toolkits?"

[Sense]

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@JÞB wrote:

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@Sense wrote:

Thanks for the many replys.

I will use both the 64 bit and 32 bit version and cut down the usage of toolkits in the my VIs.

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You failed to answer my prior question, "What benefit will your users see by creating x64 toolkits that restrict the toolkits rather than expand them?"  Christian mentions that you could potentially improve from 3Gb to 4Gb of address space HOWEVER, you both ignore the fact that the 2Gb of address space that is default available to LabVIEW x32 is sufficient for these toolkits!

These Toolkits do not reqiure x64 bit architecture to function.  x64 bit systems can execute a x32 bit application and the inverse is not true!  So, Again, "What would be the benefit of creating x64 bit versions of existing x32 bit Toolkits?"

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For me the benefit is I don't need to worry about seeing "out of memory" messages after long runtimes and I don't need to cut up the large measurements for display. And with native 64 bit I have a slight increase in performance.

But I don't get what kind of restrictions you mean.

I don't what NI to change all toolkits to 64 bit, what I would like is them to offer both 32 bit and 64 bit side by side at least for now.