Windows XP 64 PCI GPIB driver

[gallen70]

I need XP 64 Drivers for the PCI GPIB card and a NI PCI-6251 M series Daq. This is a system that is in its test stages but the hope is that I will get it to go online within a year running XP 64.

[ScottieB]

There is no driver for the PCI GPIB card that is certified to work with Windows XP 64. We recognize that this is the direction in which Windows is moving, and we will have a solution as customer demand warrants.

Scott B.
GPIB Software
National Instruments

[gallen70]

I'm a customer aren't I? I do have a demand for it. I Don't expect you to have a release yet becasue XP 64 hasn't been released do you have a BETA Version I can help do Beta verification?

[shoneill]

If you're working on a system in the testing stage on a platform which doesn't exist yet and has no available drivers, I'd say that's some bad planning.

Having no experience of XP 64, I'll ask what might be a stupid question. Did Microsoft not include some sort of backwards compatibility to allow 32-bit software to have a chance? Otherwise I'm thinking the market introduction will be sluggish to say the least. I remember how long it took most manufacturers to switch from 16 to 32 bit (I know some major internationals who STILL haven't switched).

Otherwise, using BETA drivers in a BETA Operating system for the basis of testing seems well short of optimal.

Does LabVIEW even run in 64 bit? (Please note here I'm not assuming you're running LV in 64-bit, I'm just trying to point out where the possible priority list for NI might be heading)

Shane

[shoneill]

In addidion, the answer was that there are no CERTIFIED drivers for WinXP64. And there certainly won't be until XP64 retail hits the shelves, regardless of your needs.

Just my opinion.

Shane.

[gallen70]

Why is trying to accomodate an inevitable future bad planning?? If NI isn't planning to meet these future demands esecially since Microsoft has released a Beta Version for such events as mentioned to help people move to the new sytems and developer prepare for that then maybe I should be looking somewhere else for test equipment. I have talked to several other companies that are doing this. Now as for my reason for doing this I would like to see what I face with doing this sytem. The good thing is that I can go back to XP 32 with no problems XP 64 is compatible with most 32 bit programs but drivers have to be compatible with the 64 bit operating system as of now. I don't know what microsoft has up there sleave for this.

[Dennis_Knutson]

I would suggest that you first go to ni.com\beta and see if there's anything there. NI probably is planning to support XP 64 at some time. They keep pretty close tabs on what Redmond is doing. But what the priority is and the status is a mystery to everyone outside of NI itself. If there's no official beta program, it could be that any drivers are still in the alpha stage and just not ready for potential customers to give them a try. You could also try contacting your local sales engineer to see if he or she can get you a contact back at Austin.

[gallen70]

That is what I needed to know thank you.

[shoneill]

Your original mail sounded like a project required WinXP 64-bit with 64-bit drivers. Since this now seems to be not the case (I gather you're doing an internal investigation), then that's a different kettle of fish entirely. Regarding "bad planning", this was targeted at the idea (As it occured to me from your original mail) that you were developing a "system" (for a customer for example) which is now approaching the testing phase based on non-existing software. This is what I thought (and still think) was bad planning. Of course doing an investigation into future OS capabilities and pitfalls is always useful, although such tests with BETA OS and BETA drivers are still quite a way away from what things will be most likely be like when things hit the shelves in retail.

Hope this clears up things a little

Shane.

[JoshuaP]

Windows XP 64 is not exactly an upgrade for the current Windows XP and we imagine it will take some time before it is adopted. Even though XP 64 is capable of running most 32 bit applications, you will see little benefit in performance with 32 bit applications and Windows XP 64 is not going to support any 32 bit kernel drivers.

Here is a link to an interesting review on the performance benefits of XP 64.
http://arstechnica.com/cpu/03q1/x86-64/x86-64-1.html

In order to utilize the capabilities of Windows XP 64 it will require that every hardware driver in the system be ported and modified to support 64 bit operating systems and you will have to find a way to create a 64 bit application. Current software like LabVIEW 7.1 and MSVC 7.1 will not give you a 64 bit applications and therefore you stand to see very little benefit from actually having a 64 bit OS with most of the current development environments. In addition, if your applications doesn't require more than 4GB of memory and you are not doing mathematical computations that are larger than a 32 integer, note the floating point arithmetic is the same for XP and XP 64, you would still see very little benefit from using XP 64 with a 64 bit application and driver.

However, National Instruments is currently investigating Windows XP 64 and it is a good possibility that it will be supported in the future, but there are no current beta drivers available. The speed at which it is supported will be largely dependent on the amount of valid customer requests and the number of customers that will be using Windows XP 64. From what I understand XP 64 is expected to release sometime around the middle of the year, but it will only be an option on some of the larger server and workstations.

If you can, please give me some more information about you application and how you plan to use to develop the application. Why do you feel that you need Windows XP 64 support?

Joshua Prewitt
National Instruments