Using LV 6.1 with VISA 3.2 for USB instruments

[LambdaPS]

We have large base of LV 6.1 s/w but need to start programming a USB
instrument. Can I just upgrade to VISA 3.1 and Max 3.0 without
upgrading LV?

My biggest concern is getting the VISA Resouce Name control to show
the user-friendly USB aliases.

[JoshuaP]

Yes... just upgrade to NI-VISA 3.2 and you can begin using NI-VISA
with USB. However, it will greatly depend on the USB device as of
whether or not NI-VISA will detect the device. If you are using
something that is USBTMC like an Agilent Function Generator it will
just show up in MAX as a VISA device and you can use it like a GPIB
device. However, if the device is not USBTMC you will have to use USB
RAW. This requires you to use VISA to create the *.inf file using the
VISA tools so that VISA is configured as the driver under the Windows
Device Manager. Note that if the USB device already has a driver it
will have to be uninstalled, because only one driver can be assigned
to a device. Here are some links to help you get started.

http://digital.ni.com/softlib.nsf/webcategories/85256410006C055586256BBB002C0E91?opendocument&node=132060_US

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/conceptd.nsf/webmain/6792BAB18242082786256DD7006B6416?opendocument

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/websearch/044FA220F32774ED86256DB3005850CA?OpenDocument

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/websearch/E3A2C4FE42D7ED0D86256DB7005C65C9?OpenDocument

-Josh

[Dan Mondrik]

Regarding the name that shows up in LabVIEW, it follows the same logic
as for any other instrument type. If there is an alias that the user
has defined in MAX, that is what shows up; otherwise, it uses the
canonical VISA resource name. That canonical name is admittedly long
and ugly for USB, but the name is designed to be unique on a given
system and inherently reproducible on all systems.

Dan Mondrik
National Instruments