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VISA Licensing in application development
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TestcellGuy
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01-03-2022 08:54 AM
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Hi,
we are currently reworking legacy-applications which exclusively rely on GPIB and we are considering to use VISA
in the future within a common application (C#, Java, C++ ...). Regarding the licensing, i have the following questions:
a) Is it still possible to use VISA in conjunction with NI-hardware (GPIB-Card etc ..) without buying an extra license ?
From this thread it seems one could use VISA for "free" as long it is used to with NI-hardware
b) Assume a workstation is equipmed with another vendor's GPIB-Card. Is NI-VISA able to deal with a GPIB-Card which was not produced by NI ? If so, I suppose we would a need a license for each productive environment.
Regards,
TestcellGuy
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santo_13
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01-03-2022 09:19 AM
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VISA drivers are not licensed, you can use it as long as it works with the hardware.
Santhosh
Soliton Technologies
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Soliton Technologies
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01-03-2022 10:11 AM - edited 01-03-2022 10:12 AM
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Thanks for the fast answer, that's an important point.
Is there a chance that NI-VISA works with non-NI GPIB-cards ?
Unfortunately there are already various cards used ...
Regards,
TestcellGuy
santo_13
Trusted Enthusiast
01-03-2022 10:15 AM - edited 01-03-2022 10:17 AM
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I am not confident to say that, better to check with the GPIB card manufacturer, but I know Keithley and Prologix have their own drivers.
In any case, AFAIK none of the manufacturers licenses a basic driver which is essential to get their product working.
Edit: Do check their license terms, it may be free to use but not redistribute part of your application etc.,
Santhosh
Soliton Technologies
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Soliton Technologies
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Jack-of-multipl
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04-28-2023 02:32 AM
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a bit more details on the NI-VISA licensing, as santo_13's could be misinterpreted
1) santo_13 is right in the point, that NI-VISA does not enforce a licensing via NI License Manager, like IMAQdx does for example
2) NI-VISA nevertheless has license terms, which can be simpliefied to
a) do you call NI-VISA from NI Software --> free to use
b) do you use NI-VISA to interact with NI Hardware --> free to use
c) if you call NI-VISA from Non-NI Software to interact with Non-NI Hardware --> you need to buy a VISA license
so, if ((Non-NI HW) AND (Non-NI SW)) == TRUE --> you need a NI-VISA license
regarding the question about non-NI GPIB cards from NI-VISA
in NI-VISA you have so called Passports for the different interfaces supported by VISA
one of the Passports is the NiVisaTulip --> this enables interaction with GPIB cards from Keysight (aka Agilent aka HP)
other 3rd party cards are not supported
