Requirements for LabVIEW FPGA Module
The development computer is a PC or NI PXI/PXI Express system on which you install LabVIEW and the LabVIEW FPGA Module. You can use this computer to compile FPGA VIs, but if the FPGA design or target requires more than 2 GB of memory, National Instruments recommends installing the LabVIEW FPGA compilation tools on a separate computer. This computer is referred to as the remote compile server.
Development Computer
- LabVIEW 2012 Full or Professional Development Systems (32-bit)
- 1.2 GHz Pentium processor or equivalent
- 11 GB additional disk space
- Memory1: At least 3 GB of RAM for Virtex-5 and earlier FPGA targets or at least 4 GB of RAM for Virtex-6 and later2 FPGA targets
- One of the following operating systems: Windows 7 (32-bit)3, Windows 7 (64-bit with 32-bit LabVIEW installed), Windows Vista (32-bit), Windows Vista (64-bit with 32-bit LabVIEW installed), Windows XP Pro (Service Pack 3), Windows Server 2003 R2 (32-bit)4, Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit with 32-bit LabVIEW installed)
- FPGA device
- Device driver software—To program most devices with the LabVIEW 2012 FPGA Module, install the NI-RIO 12.0 driver software. Refer to the hardware documentation for different requirements for a specific device.
1Memory requirements vary according to both the FPGA target and the FPGA VI you create for that target. To determine your memory needs, monitor the memory usage of the xst.exe process in the Windows Task Manager.
2You must use a 64-bit OS to address 4 GB of RAM.
3The LabVIEW FPGA Module uses Xilinx compilation tools that do not officially support Windows 7. NI obtained permission from Xilinx to allow LabVIEW FPGA Module customers to use the tools on this platform, with the disclaimer that Xilinx is not able to fix any bugs found that are specific to this platform. NI tested the Xilinx tools that the LabVIEW FPGA Module uses and did not find any issues. If you encounter problems with the Xilinx tools and Windows 7, you might need to compile using Windows XP or Vista. In such cases, you might want to install the Xilinx compilation tools on a separate computer. Refer to the National Instruments Web site for information about installing the compilation tools on a separate computer. NI is not liable for any problems or issues related to the use of Xilinx tools with Windows 7.
4The LabVIEW FPGA Module does not support the Windows Server non-R2 editions.
