USB-6009 problem in VirtualBox XP

[Dave Crabbe]

I am an instructor moving LabVIEW teaching from PCs to Macs. Because the MAC software does not seem to have the level of development as the Windows driver base, I decided to create a plain XP Virtual Machine using VirtualBox running on a 4GB iMAC. I am using the USB-6009 device that NI has loaned me as a demo.. and I have a 3 week license from NI for evaluation.

I've had nothing but problems. I downloaded the latest LabVIEW evaluation version of 8.6 and (as of a week ago) the latest NIDAQmx. Each are installed on an XP VM inside VirtualBox and given 2GB of RAM.

I have a few questions.

#1..  Does NI expect LabVIEW to run pretty normally in a VM? I am constantly having LabVIEW hang when I cancel a process and I have to resort to disconnecting and reconnecting the USB-6009 device (which can be done easily by a few mouse clicks in the VM control)

#2...    If so, how would I go about troubleshooting this problem..

The USB-6009 is picked up fine and I can use the test panel and in the automation utility. I can create virtual channels that seem to work fine.

I use the DAQ assistant to read the 6009 device. Inside the DAQ assistant as I go to set up the channel, I can perform a "RUN" test and it seems to get samples fine from the 6009 and displays the value (I am using a simple scaling factor.. that works fine).

But when I connect the DAQ assistant "data" output to a simple numeric control control, put the whole thing in a while loop, the software does not seem to be able to get samples properly. The software hangs and I cannot stop it using the stop icon.. I have to disconnect/reconnect the usb device.

I set up the DAQ assistant to simply get a single sample on demand.. I have tried using 1K samples at 1K rate and it returned an error .. seemed like it couldn't get samples fast enough..

It almost seems like there is some type of bug somewhere, but I am unsure if LabVIEW can work in a VM for certain timing requirements.

Dave Crabbe

Nova Scotia Community College 

[jschwartz]

Hi Dave,

Using VMware for data acquisition is not an ideal setup. I did find an article, Developing Data Acquisistion Systems on the Mac with Virtualization Technology,  that details some of the behavior you can expect from using this setup.  The USB-6009 may work but this setup is not supported.  I would say, ideally, you should dual boot the machine with XP and with MAC OS and just run your LabVIEW from the XP operating system.  You could do this or use LabVIEW in MAC OS with DAQmx Base.  

[Dave Crabbe]

Hi Jim;

Thanks for the reply..  in reading the article, they did test the USB-6009 and it appeared to work.. one of 2 things is going on..

1. VirtualBox has something unique that causes LabVIEW not to work at all with USB-6009

2. The latest NiDAQmx broke something for the USB-6009.. now I see there is a patch which I didn't install, because it said only install if you have a problem that this patch addresses.. and it didn't address this device at all..

Now if I do an install on a native XP or Vista and the device still doesn't work, I'll call a support person to see if there is a bug somewhere.. I'm hoping there is, because for my setup would be nice to work in a VM.. I'm doing very low tech data acquisition at low rates.

Dave 

[jschwartz]

Hi Dave,

Testing in a native Windows machine sounds like a good idea.  If you find that your card is not working, you can create a service request at ni.com/ask then call 1-866-275-6964 to speak with an Applications Engineer.  

[Dave Crabbe]

I didn't think it would.. but it works fine in a native XP environment.. I guess LabVIEW is not yet optimized for VMs.. 

Because the Mac community, I think, is growing.. I'm hoping their Mac capabilities increase to the same level as the Windows.. or even if they put a little more effort into making them compatible with more VMs.. VirtualBox, because it is free, is a great choice for education because NI could offer it as a solution for Mac users. But NI would have to tweak its code to find out what aspect of the VM is causing some devices to break.. Likely it is not a big thing; but would take an Engineer a while to track down.

Dave Crabbe 

[jschwartz]

Hi Dave,

You can use your USB 6009 with Mac OS with the DAQmx Base driver and National Instrument supports LabVIEW for Mac as well. 

[Dave Crabbe]

Hi Jim;

Yes .. I understand that the Ni-Daqmx base for mac does not have the same capabilities as that for Windows.. I am using some of the "getting started" tutorials as teaching aids with my students and I don't think I could use those with the mac versions..

Dave

[bstreiff]

There seems to be a little confusion in this thread; VirtualBox and VMware are completely different virtualization products, with differing implementations of USB virtualization. Personally, I would expect that VMware's USB implementation would be far more mature; it might be worth obtaining seeing if you have better results there.