Microsoft Windows
Drivers for Microsoft Windows
- Supplied at no cost with each instrument card
- Windows Vista, XP, 2000, NT, ME, 98
- Free updates for product lifetime, inc. future OS releases
The table shows which version of the Microsoft Windows operating system are supported for each card series. The drivers (also called Software Development Kits or SDK’s) for Microsoft Windows are supplied with the instrument cards at no extra cost.
| Operating System |
PCI-Express (UF2e series) |
PCI-X (UF2 series) |
PXI (UX series) |
CompactPCI (UC series) |
| Windows Vista 32 bit | a | a | r | r |
| Windows Vista 64 bit | a | a | r | r |
| Windows XP 32 bit | a | a | a | a |
| Windows XP 64 bit | a | a | r | r |
| Windows 2000 | a | a | a | a |
| Windows ME | r | r | a | a |
| Windows 98 | r | r | a | a |
| Windows NT | r | r | a | a |
| Windows 95 | r | r | r | r |
| Windows 3.11 | r | r | r | r |
| DOS | r | r | r | r |
| Linux | a | a | a | a |
The diagram below shows the driver structure for the PCI Express and PCI-X series of instrument cards. The concept is nearly identical to the PXI and CompactPCI cards except that Windows Vista and 64 bit versions of the operating systems are not supported.
The important points to note are:
- One common API for all operating systems
- Different kernel drivers for different operating systems
- All compilers access the same driver with the same function calls
- Support of both 32 bit and 64 bit operating systems
Programming with c/c++, Delphi or Visual Basic under Microsoft Windows
This is the most popular choice based on our own customers. Most engineers and scientists are able to program in one of these languages or have someone in their team that can. The Windows drivers support all the capabilities of the instrument cards.
We supply source code examples for each of these languages with the Strategic Test instrument cards, together with a +100 page printed manual that also contains code snippets. We receive very few requests for technical support because of the effort we’ve invested in providing the information in a clear manner.
One significant advantage of these languages is that you can fix any bugs that occur. As you start to develop your own software, you can find any errors easily by enabling the debugging option included in the driver. When this is enabled a log file is created that reports errors. If you find that you reach a point where you do need some technical support, we appreciate receiving the log file so we can help you faster.
One disadvantage of higher-level programming tools such as LabVIEW or MATLAB is that you have to wait for any system bugs to be fixed by the manufacturer, usually as part of a future update.