LabVIEW for Raspberry Pi

[vitoi]

The recently introduced Raspberry Pi is a 32 bit ARM based microcontroller board that is very popular. It would be great if we could programme it in LabVIEW. This product could leverage off the already available LabVIEW Embedded for ARM and the LabVIEW Microcontroller SDK (or other methods of getting LabVIEW to run on it).

The Raspberry Pi is a $35 (with Ethernet) credit card sized computer that is open hardware. The ARM chip is an Atmel ARM11 running at 700 MHz resulting in 875 MIPS of performance. By way of comparison, the current LabVIEW Embedded for ARM Tier 1 (out-of-the-box experience) boards have only 60 MIPS of processing power. So, about 15 times the processing power!

Wouldn’t it be great to programme the Raspberry Pi in LabVIEW?

[vitoi]

Community,

I've put up, on the LabVIEW Idea Exchange, five microcontroller development boards as potential LabVIEW targets to gauge interest. They are:

1) Raspberry Pi (234 votes): (this post)

2) Arduino Due (90 votes): http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/LabVIEW-for-Arduino-Due/idi-p/2082196

3) BeagleBoard (59 votes): http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/LabVIEW-for-BeagleBoard/idi-p/2090136

4) LM3S9D96 Development Kit (17 votes): http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/LabVIEW-for-LM3S9D96-Development-Kit/idi-p/2090140

5) Stellaris Launchpad (16 votes): http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/LabVIEW-for-Stellaris-Launchpad/idi-p/2147586

Since then I've learnt that the Raspberry Pi is not really open source and that it does not have analog inputs! For what LabVIEW users want, this looks to me to be the least attractive board. Ironically, it has the most votes!

Another interesting observation is that the microcontroller development boards that have the lowest votes are also the easiest for NI to implement. The easiest of these boards is literally a 2 month effort from NI (we got a quote!).

So, please review what you would like to see and consider voting for a more applicable development board that the Raspberry Pi.

Regards,

Vito

[Peter_B]

Adding analog inputs to a Raspberry Pi isn't too difficult and it will get easier over time as more people develop and release more add-on boards for it.  

For now the way to do it is to get the Gertboard, or use the I2C or SPI interfaces of the RPi and interface an external ADC chip.    The RPi is after all a cheap hobbyists platform and can't be all things to all people.  I predict many add on boards (like arduino shields) will come to pass.

Continue to vote for this idea in the hope that NI can't ignore you forever.

[vitoi]

It's even worse than the three blocks shown on the previous page!!!!

You also need a WiFi access point!!!!!

So:

    NI-6008 --> Raspberry Pi --> WiFi Access Point --> iPad (Data Dashboard)

It would be so much better as:

    NI-6008 --> Laptop (LabVIEW)

Two pieces and the full power of LabVIEW. The "product" shown at https://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-25806  is crazy!!!

[giordy72]

Wow...with the latest driver now i can use a usb6008 (>170€) with the RasPi (40€)...

There are better low cost solutions to gain ADC's and extra I/O's on the RasPi, at least using an Arduino (10€).

I think the killerApp for the raspberry may be something like DataDashBoard: what about a 32' fullhd HMI with some I/O for less than 400€? (300€ lcd tv, 50€ rasPi)  

[checking]

  And just what woukd be wrong with an Arduino Uno or Mega mounted on the back of a Raspberry Pi!!!!!!!

  Twenty bucks ( with its A/D converter and Arduino community included) and a fifty dollar (or less) 512MB Raspberry Pi (or the upcoming stripped down $25.00 version) that can still drive a High Definition Monitor or any HDMI LCD display)  seems like a pretty solid platform for a computer foundation. 

There area flood of wannabe developers and youngsters out there who need a simple enough starting point in experimenting to get a foothold.  Then we'll be suprised how quickly they can learn more intricate details; and want to work for NI; or use its full Labview products.

  There are ideas not being implemented and brought forward because the tools (like Labview) haven't been available to those wanting to get started in electronics. 

  Put the Labview on the Raspberry Pi and leave it up to the Arduino community to create the shield to attach it to the 512 megabytes.  Thats still a decent computer.

AND THAT IS ENTIRELY WHY ARDUINO AND RASPBERRY PI are so extremely popular; and why a smart company like National Instruments will become involved with those newcomers and untapped ideas of several pen tup generations.

  Myself being one of them at nearly 65 years of age.

[vitoi]

Financial figures for 2012 now available:

* National Instruments: Down 2.5%

* Agilent: Up 14.2%

* Nasdaq: Up 13.6%

* Russell 2000: Up 13.1%

The relevant indices and Agilent are all up about 13 to 14% (and remarkably close to each other). National Instruments down 2.5% over the year (or down 14.2% relative to the Nasdaq).

Not a good year. Let's hope 2013 is kinder. Looking for a game changing innovation from National Instruments.

[ivorypig]

There's not a Linux version LabVIEW that can run on Raspberry PI, isn't it?

[Dennis_Knutson]

01-02-2013 03:38 PM

Financial figures for 2012 now available:

* National Instruments: Down 2.5%

* Agilent: Up 14.2%

* Nasdaq: Up 13.6%

* Russell 2000: Up 13.1%

The relevant indices and Agilent are all up about 13 to 14% (and remarkably close to each other). National Instruments down 2.5% over the year (or down 14.2% relative to the Nasdaq).

Not a good year. Let's hope 2013 is kinder. Looking for a game changing innovation from National Instruments.

------------------------------

Since the Q4 and 2012 results were just released yesterday and have no resemblance to what you posted, where did you make your numbers up from?

[Dennis_Knutson]

Financial figures for 2012 now available:

* National Instruments: Down 2.5%

* Agilent: Up 14.2%

* Nasdaq: Up 13.6%

* Russell 2000: Up 13.1%

The relevant indices and Agilent are all up about 13 to 14% (and remarkably close to each other). National Instruments down 2.5% over the year (or down 14.2% relative to the Nasdaq).

Not a good year. Let's hope 2013 is kinder. Looking for a game changing innovation from National Instruments.

------------------------------

Since the Q4 and 2012 results were just released yesterday and have no resemblance to what you posted, where did you make your numbers up from?

[vitoi]

Hi Dennis,

Figures are not made up. These are the stock prices for 2012. That is, the the stock price during 2012 did the following:

* National Instruments: Down 2.5%

* Agilent: Up 14.2%

* Nasdaq: Up 13.6%

* Russell 2000: Up 13.1%

So, during 2012 while the Agilent, Nasdaq and Russell 2000 share prices went up by about 14%, the National Instrument share price went down 2.5%. These are easily checked on the web, or if you like I can elaborate.

The stock market does not see a bright future for National Instruments.

2012 was not a good year for National Instruments. Let's hope 2013 is kinder. Looking for a game changing innovation from National Instruments.

Regards,

Vito

[James_McN]

They seem to have changed their mind now! Bankers are a fickle bunch, but engineers seem to be consistently behind NI. 

IMHO it would be cool to get RT on a £50 piece of hardware but first which one? Many of these boards don't use standard interfaces so would have to be a different LabVIEW for each one and for commercial products they are likely not up too spec (environmentals, mtbf) or too expensive for a volume product. 

Im afraid I would rather see the time invested in improving core LabVIEW for now.