real time for PC

[StuartF84]

I'm interested in using a cheap PC as a real time target but there's one thing I still don't quite understand. It says you need a license for each PC you deploy to. Is one licence good for only one deployed target? Does this mean that if I create a $500 target PC (intel CPU/intel ethernet chipset/etc) I will still need to spend $1000 on a license for each system? That would totally defeat the purpose. We would be better off dropping labview and designing our own circuit board.

[James.M]

There's a bit of confusion here.

Real-Time is LabVIEW's embedded operating system. This wouldn't be running on a PC.

Now, for PCs, you can build executables to run on any PC you want as long as you install the Run-Time Engine. The run-time engine is free as long as you have the Application Builder license to create the executable in the first place from your development environment.

[Hooovahh]

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@James.M wrote:

Real-Time is LabVIEW's embedded operating system. This wouldn't be running on a PC. 

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Oh, why not?

http://www.ni.com/tutorial/2733/en/

Never used it personally not sure how licensing works.

[StuartF84]

James,

yes I am not referring to regular Labview Realtime, im talking about using it as the main OS on an intel PC.  How does licensing work? If it costs an extra $1000 per system there is no point.

[James.M]

Looks like the deployment license is indeed $987 and is required for each PC.

[Hooovahh]

I kinda agree that that is a high price to pay to turn a PC into an RT machine.  Especially when you consider that this won't be the new Linux Real-Time but instead the LabVIEW Real-Time OS that NI developed.  Unfortuantly I think there needs to be some kind of cost associated with this, otherwise people will stop buying so many cRIOs, and NI support will need to staff up all the new users trying to use their OS on this hardware (Linux or other).  Maybe if this were free but only to those with SSP, meaning they are paying for support anyway.

I mean really for $1000 you could buy a myRIO with RT Linux on a dual core ARM, built in FPGA, WIFI, USB Host, or control, and a bunch of built in I/O, and probably in a smaller package and power requirements then your desktop PC.

[James.M]

Agreed. It seems like maybe NI received requests for a Real Time PC OS and obliged, but didn't want to underbid the rest of their RT hardware prices. Maybe a defense contractor somewhere has specs that they're allowed to use a specific PC because thay've used it before and it would just take more work to vet the cRIO than it would to just convert a PC.