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gsussman

Provide a Virtual Machine (VM) in which to run LV RT systems on

Status: In Development

When developing RT code (especially system upgrades) it would be truly helpful to have a virtual machine (VMware, MS Virtual PC, Sun Virtual box, etc....) that would allow us to run the actual VxWorks OS and LVRT in it's native environment, within the Windows OS. This would allow the code to run on the actual RTOS (I realize that determinism would be scacrificed) and provide the ability to actually test the functionality of the code in the actual environment to ensure that it runs as it should. It would also preclude the need to have a bunch of RT controllers sitting on the shelf in the event that you might need them.

 

There is and emulator for PDA module, why not for RT.

73 Comments
Neil.Pate
Active Participant

This is a fantastic thread. I have successfully gotten a 2015 and 2019 RT VM up and running. I have not tried the GUI in 2015, but using the command line to set the config file as mentioned above worked perfectly for me and the VM booted into the GUI the next time I ran it.

 

Dear NI. Please support activities like this.

fmorandat
Member

Hi all,

 

Just to say that it seems the PXI image is now available as a single package in the last version of NIPM :

 

NipmPxiImagePackage.png

 

Or here :

https://www.ni.com/fr-fr/support/downloads/software-products/download.ni-linux-rt-pxi-system-image.h...

James_McN
Active Participant

Got this working on Vmware Workstation - a couple of specific steps:

  1. You also need to enable UEFI mode under VM Settings > Options > Advanced
  2. By default (in 15.5) it loads a SCSI hard drive which wont be recognised. I removed the drive and re-added it with a SATA interface.
  3. I also had the keyboard issue and followed the instructions earlier in the thread to edit the grub boot to remove the requirement for this
James Mc
========
CLA and cRIO Fanatic
My writings on LabVIEW Development are at devs.wiresmithtech.com
LincyZM
NI Employee (retired)

Hi, guys

I meet a problem during installation, the error is shown below. Can anyone help me?

 
LincyZM
NI Employee (retired)

Snipaste_2020-02-24_17-03-56.png

nwxan90
Member

This error should be solved via the comment directly above yours if you are using VMware.

 

Posted by James_McN:

https://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Real-Time-Idea-Exchange/Provide-a-Virtual-Machine-VM-in-which-to-ru...


Certified LabVIEW Architect, Certified Professional Instructor

CLA CPI

nwxan90
Member

I have been messing around with this VM especially as most of us are working from home it has been great for doing some UI testing

 

With the announcement that NXG supports cRIO 904x and 905x series I wanted to see if I could target the VM in NXG. The issue is that the VM installs as a 903x series so its not compatible. The option to image it with NXG is greyed out from NI MAX.

 

I have however successfully managed to change the VM into thinking it’s a 9040 by editing some of the boot files from the 903x image. (I’ve listed the changes at the end if anybody else what's to test)

 

It allows for the VM to be imaged with an NXG image as below!

Small Screenshot 2020-06-03 at 12.52.23.png

 

However unfortunately when you attempt to add it to an NXG project via its IP address it shows as the model of virtualbox and times out before you can add it to NXG

Small Screenshot 2020-06-03 at 12.57.18.png

 

I have tried making the VM in VMware Fusion and oracle VirtualBox and both times the same result. So looks like it’s not possible to use it with NXG for now.

 

Modifying the VM to make it a 904x does show as a system link target and also allows for install of DAQmx. I haven’t done much testing of it yet though

 

 

For reference the changes required are:

  1. Open and edit the file boot/grub/grubenv
    1. I would recommend making a copy of the file first or having a snapshot to go back to
  2. Change the device code for a 9040 the code is 0x78E3 (I think)
    1. Device codes are in /usr/local/natinst/bin/TargetID Arches.csv
  3. Change Device Description to NI-9040
  4. Optional change hostname
  5. Format Disk from NI MAX
  6. Add and remove software
  7. Select an image and a programming environmentnwxan90_3-1591260467507.png

     

 

I am not sure if my issue with targeting in NXG is because I am running my windows install also from a VM or if its an issue with my windows firewall. I am going to try and grab some files off a legitimate 9040 cRIO and compare them to my edits


Certified LabVIEW Architect, Certified Professional Instructor

CLA CPI

fmorandat
Member

Hi,

A NXG VM is a very good new.
I can't wait to try it !

I tried to get a VM recognized by NXG 4.0 some months ago, but I never succeeded.
I tried with legitimate files (to get a "application does not support the system" error) in a "PXI System Link" VM, and did the same by installing the 903x distribution on real hardware to have a different model of network card (not a virtual one).

Even if on the real hardware the error is not the same, all finished in the same way : NXG try to connect to LinuxRT with a PAM Authentification which fail : the connection for root user fail, then the connection for admin user becomes active, and finally a deconnection is sent by the host (see /var/log/auth.log for details).

I played fastly with the pam scripts in /etc/pam.d, but it led to nowhere.

I was waiting NXG 5.0 to retry (but now I wonder what will happen if I change the PXI for a 9040).
If you try, I would be interested by your results.

andre.buurman@carya
Active Participant

Hi all,

First of all for all the work they shared a shout out to: Hooovahh, nwxan90, fmorandat and James_McN.

Thx, using your instructions I was bale to create my own cRIO VMs.

And nwxan90 I confirm you obesrvation with NXG 5.0. I have NXG nortmally installed on the host and it has teh same issues. Shows up nicely in SystemLink and MAX with NXG 5 run-time engine installed.

Regards,
André (CLA, CLED)
nwxan90
Member

Hi André 

 

Just to confirm you are not able to target the VM in NXG either?

 

I have discovered that if you install the LabVIEW 2020 image onto the Vm once its configured it shows up in NXG! However 😞 it has an error that the software is not compatible

cRIO VM Connected .pngimage.png

The VM just appeared in the Live View Tab

 


Certified LabVIEW Architect, Certified Professional Instructor

CLA CPI