Chapter1 Introduction
SerialHardware and Software for Windows 1-8 ni.com
NI-Serial Software Overview
The NI-Serial software for Windows 2000/NT/Me/9xincludes a native
Windows 2000/Me/9xdevice driver and Windows NT kernel driver that
provide fulli nterrupt-driven, buffered I/O for multiple COM ports. You
canobtain a maximum baud rate of either 460.8 KBaud(PCI/PXI-485 kits)
or115.2 KBaud (PCI/PXI/PCMCIA/AT-232 kits). You can also use up to
256 serial ports under Windows 2000 or up to 99 serial ports under
WindowsNT/Me/9x. The NI-Serial software also includes a configuration
utility, which is fully integrated into the Windows 2000/Me/9xDevice
Manager and Windows NT Control Panel. For more information about
software specifications,r efer to Appendix E,S pecifications.
The NI-Serial softwareincludes the following components:
•Devicedriver
•Diagnostic utility
•Configurationutil ity
•Product manuals
Time-Saving Development Tools
Yourkit includes t he NI-Serial software for Windows 2000/NT/Me/9x.In
addition, you can order the Measurement Studio or LabVIEW software
fromNational Instruments to speed your application development time and
makeit easier to communicate with your instruments.
LabVIEWis an easy-to-use, graphical programm ing environmentyou can
use to acquire data from thousands of differentinstrumen ts,in cluding
IEEE488.2 devices,VXI devices, serial devices, PLCs, and plug-in data
acquisition boards. After you haveacquired raw data, you can convert it
into meaningful results using the powerful data analysis routines in
LabVIEW.LabVIEW also comes with hundreds of instrument drivers,
whichdramatically reduce software development time, because you do not
haveto spend time programming the low-level control of each instrument.