NI's LabVIEW 8.2.1 Provides Support for Windows Vista

17th April 2007

NI-Emerson

ES Admin

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National Instruments has announced the availability of a new version of LabVIEW, the graphical design platform for test, control and embedded system development, for use with Windows Vista. NI LabVIEW 8.2.1 includes both the desktop development environment as well as related application software including the LabVIEW Real-Time and LabVIEW FPGA modules. NI also released new 32-bit and 64-bit hardware drivers with support for the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista. For the first time, NI is offering PXI embedded controllers with Windows Vista pre-installed as the default operating system.

As a scheduled maintenance release, LabVIEW 8.2.1 includes bug fixes for improved performance and reliability. In addition to Windows Vista, LabVIEW 8.2.1 continues to support Windows XP and Windows 2000, as well as Mac OS X and Linux®. LabVIEW 8.2.1 is available for download now through the NI Services Resource Center to current NI Standard Service Program (SSP) members.

Windows Vista, the newest version of the Microsoft operating system, released to the general public in early 2007. One important aspect of Windows Vista that impacts engineers and scientists is an increased focus on security, resulting in a new user privilege model known as User Account Control (UAC). UAC is designed to prevent viruses and other malware from gaining control of a PC. Engineers and scientists building mission-critical systems or controlling production lines and manufacturing test systems with LabVIEW and related National Instruments software benefit from this new emphasis on security. LabVIEW 8.2.1 extends the new features and improvements found in LabVIEW 8.20 by introducing compatibility with Windows Vista security changes.

A second key aspect of the Windows Vista release is the availability of both 32-bit and 64-bit editions, which engineers and scientists can install depending on their computer processors. While LabVIEW 8.2.1 and other 32-bit application software packages function normally on the 64-bit version of Windows Vista through Microsoft compatibility technology, this version of Windows requires 64-bit hardware drivers. National Instruments has invested considerable time and energy in providing updates to existing 32-bit drivers to support Windows Vista and in creating new 64-bit hardware drivers for Windows Vista x64 Edition, the 64-bit version of Windows Vista.

“National Instruments continues to be among the first to market with compatibility for the latest PC technologies, including Windows Vista,” said Tim Dehne, NI Senior Vice President of R&D. “It is important that we provide support for both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista because NI strongly believes in letting customers choose the system that provides the best fit for their needs.”

While LabVIEW remains a 32-bit application, it functions normally on the 64-bit version of Windows Vista because of a Microsoft abstraction layer known as Windows on Windows (WoW64); however, the 64-bit version does require 64-bit hardware drivers.

With LabVIEW 8.2.1 software and compatible National Instruments hardware drivers, engineers now can use Windows Vista as both a development and deployment platform for their test, control and design applications.