Device Drivers or DAQmx for LabVIEW Community Edition

[MCUwiz]

Hi,

I am not sure who to ask and I believe I am not the first one to ask but I could not find a similar question with a good answer. Furthermore, my attempts at guessing a way to formulate the question have reached a dead end, so... here it is:

What drivers can be installed with LabVIEW Community Edition (LabVIEW 2020SP1 and LabVIEW 2021SP1).

Reason for my question:

- LabVIEW base/full/pro is said to come with the drivers (not sure if this is DAQmx or Device Drivers)

- LabVIEW Community is said to be "with no drivers"

So, logical reasonning:

If LabVIEW Community is downloaded without drivers, what drivers (and where, what release) should be downloaded to get a fully functional version of LabVIEW as said "to have the same full functionality of a LabVIEW full version.

Note:

If the information has been answered or if the information is available on the web site, then it is very well hidden.

Thank you in advance for helping get moving.

[santo_13]

Device drivers are completely isolated from LabVIEW (except that drivers add support APIs for LabVIEW) and hence all device drivers are non-licensed. This means you can install any downloadable device driver with LabVIEW CE.

https://www.ni.com/en-us/support/downloads/drivers/download.ni-device-drivers.html#

[rolfk]

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@santo_13 wrote:

Device drivers are completely isolated from LabVIEW (except that drivers add support APIs for LabVIEW) and hence all device drivers are non-licensed. This means you can install any downloadable device driver with LabVIEW CE.

https://www.ni.com/en-us/support/downloads/drivers/download.ni-device-drivers.html#

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A little correction. All the NI drivers are definitely "licensed" (and copyrighted)! But since they typically come with NI hardware and only work with NI hardware, they are usually free. That is not the same as non-licensed! You still get a license to install and use them on your computer.

Note that this is true for end user hardware. If you start selling your own hardware and pre-install NI software on it, be it drivers or otherwise, you need to get a distribution license from NI. And they can cost money, even for their drivers.

[santo_13]

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@rolfk wrote:

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@santo_13 wrote:

Device drivers are completely isolated from LabVIEW (except that drivers add support APIs for LabVIEW) and hence all device drivers are non-licensed. This means you can install any downloadable device driver with LabVIEW CE.

https://www.ni.com/en-us/support/downloads/drivers/download.ni-device-drivers.html#

---

A little correction. All the NI drivers are definitely "licensed" (and copyrighted)! But since they typically come with NI hardware and only work with NI hardware, they are usually free. That is not the same as non-licensed! You still get a license to install and use them on your computer.

Note that this is true for end user hardware. If you start selling your own hardware and pre-install NI software on it, be it drivers or otherwise, you need to get a distribution license from NI. And they can cost money, even for their drivers.

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Got it! learnt a new legal terminology.

So, yeah, I meant that the drivers are free to download and use (of course you can use them only with NI hardware)

[MCUwiz]

Hi Santo_13 and rolfk,

Thank you for your replies. I had read that there was no driver officially announced for Community Edition but now I understand that it is more of installing the drivers needed than just a long list of drivers, most of them never used for one's projects.

I understand the legal aspects you two explained. I have no interest, no plan, to distribute in any form what I develop as a hobby. As a retired electronic engineer with embedded software and hardware specialty, I use LabVIEW to test, support or encapsulate my projects.

Thank you again, I will give LabVIEW Community a try.

I wish in return that all goes well for you two.

Chris