Difference between USB-6501 and USB-6009

[mannu7410]

Hi,

Anyone has any idea why USB-6501 is not working with kernel 4.2.x where as USB-6009 is working perfectly with same set of drivers on Kernel 4.2.x.

Thanks,

Manoj

[metux]

What does the kernel log tell ?

Is the driver really loaded ? (see lsmod output)

[mannu741]

lsmod displays all NI Drivers loaded and lsusb lists the NI device in output, even reconfigured the Kernel but still facing the same issue. 

[luda.mattski]

Hi mannu741,

The root of the issue could be an OS incompatibility that is manifesting itself on the 6501 but not the 6009.  Does your DAQmx Base version line up with the version of Linux you are using?  If you are using Ubuntu, that could be the problem.  (See http://www.ni.com/product-documentation/53329/en/ for a compatibility table). 

Just as a heads-up, other people have run into this same issue with the 6501 and 6009 on certain unsupported Linux OSes.

[metux]

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The root of the issue could be an OS incompatibility that is manifesting itself on the 6501 but not the 6009.  Does your DAQmx Base version line up with the version of Linux you are using?  If you are using Ubuntu, that could be the problem.

Using any distro, expect the few handpicked ones in their standard configuration, will likely cause problems. Just replace the kernel and all hell breaks loose.

 (See http://www.ni.com/product-documentation/53329/en/ for a compatibility table). 

 This table alone clearly shows me that NI folks obviously don't even have an CI that builds for various distros+releases automatically. (which, actually, is pretty simple - everything you need is publically available and well documented).

Looking at their .rpm's clearly shows they even have trouble understanding how software is built, packaged, deployed in GNU/Linux world.

Even funnier: they offer linux software as Windows .exe's, and the web-frontends of their Linux-based crio's require Windows/Silverlight. I really wonder what's the big deal w/ developing web interfaces - done that 20+ yrs ago, when Windows still had trouble speaking IP and HTTP.

Just as a heads-up, other people have run into this same issue with the 6501 and 6009 on certain unsupported Linux OSes. 

Looks like many people have Problems w/ practically all NI products on Linux.

As long as NI still insists on (technically totally absurd) proprietary drivers, the situation will just go worse and worse.

Quite funny to see how an company w/ such potential consequently rips itself off the market.

[mannu7410]

But at least NI people should be able to answer "Why 6009 is working and 6501 is not", They can at least provide a technical answer to it. Till Kernel 3.13 both are working perfectly, But what has happened after that.

Most of the Embedded products are based on Linux and it is really strange that till today they are not able to support Linux properly.

Convert RPMs to DEBs and make it work. Why can't they directly provide the DEBs itself. But at the same hand, I don't see any alternative except using NI products to make my product work. Irony

[bstreiff]

Linux 3.18 added a Comedi driver for the USB-6501 (called "ni_usb6501"). Do you have that installed? If so, it'll conflict with DAQmx Base, and may explain the difference in behavior between 3.13 and 4.2.

[metux]

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@mannu7410 wrote:

But at least NI people should be able to answer "Why 6009 is working and 6501 is not", They can at least provide a technical answer to it. 

Well, that would require them confess that they dont wanna provide any decent Linux (maybe not even capable of) - proprietary kernel drivers is an completely aburd idea in the first place - you'll never get it stable, excep for very strictly controlled environments.

Till Kernel 3.13 both are working perfectly, But what has happened after that. 

A lot has changed. Note that kernel drivers are strictly kernel-internal, they are a direct part of it.

Note that the whole .ko thing is primarily for making the kernel boot image smaller, so parts that are rarely used can be loaded on demand - especially for distro kernels that are target to extremly wide range of hardware. It was *never ever* meant for hw vendors to ship binary drivers - that would require an entirely different kernel architecture and cause a lot of other problems. 

Most of the Embedded products are based on Linux and it is really strange that till today they are not able to support Linux properly.

Considering what I've heared from NI, they just don't want to. It's more important to keep everything secret. This automatically means no usable Linux support.

Convert RPMs to DEBs and make it work.

No, build the DEBs directly onto the various deb-based distros and put them in a public repo (as we all did for the last 20 years). pbuilder is your friend. Really, it's quite simple.

Why can't they directly provide the DEBs itself. 

Interesting question. I suppose, they just don't want to - if they wanted, they'd already done that many years ago. Customers apparently aren't relevant for stock rates anymore.

But at the same hand, I don't see any alternative except using NI products to make my product work. Irony

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Why exactly do you need NI products ? What exactly do you need ?

Maybe we can cooperate here, perhaps collect more users, and roll our own products. If NI doesn't want to offer anything useful, somebody else will fill the gap. Welcome to the free market.

(feel free to contact me directly: enrico.weigelt@gr13.net -- +49-151-27565287)

[metux]

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@bstreiff wrote:

Linux 3.18 added a Comedi driver for the USB-6501 (called "ni_usb6501"). Do you have that installed? If so, it'll conflict with DAQmx Base, and may explain the difference in behavior between 3.13 and 4.2.

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Why doesn't DAQmx just use Comedi in the first place ? It's been around for aeons.