HARDWARE/SOFTWARE BEING USED:
LabVIEW 6.0.2 on MacOS 9.1 (G4-400MHz).
BACKGROUND:
I was having some problems with accurate high-speed (~4 msec) sampling of the serial port. At first I thought this was due to the way I had my serial port configured (see my last post, "http://exchange.ni.com/servlet/Redirect?id=1052290" for more information).
PROBLEM:
To test this, I set up a loop that was empty, except for some code to monitor the timing of the loop. As it turned out, even when the loop was set to execute once every millisecond (using a "Wait"), occasionally it would take as long as 15 milliseconds. The delay was inconsistent, but I particularly noticed it when the mouse pointer was left over the
"Abort" button on the VI's Toolbar until the popup descriptor appeared, and then dragged off again.
The fact that the interface can interfere with the loop timing to that extent leads me to believe that doing high-speed software-timed computing in LabVIEW on my current system is implausible.
MY QUESTION:
Would either of the following help this situation?
-OS with preemptive multitasking
-Faster processor
If so, what sort of computer/OS would be best suited for a task that requires high-speed, software timed sampling?
Also, does anyone have an idea of when the Mac OS-X version of LabVIEW will be coming out? I'd hate to switch to windows if it will be coming out soon...
Thanks,
Zach Crittendon