Labview 8.5.1 Now available for download

[B.Johnston]

I'm not sure if it's been widely or clearly anounced, but...

You can now download and install the LabVIEW 8.5.1 environment with an extended trial license good til Jan 15 2010 if you want to follow allong with the beta testers here at the following link.

http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc/content.aspx?id=10934

The instruction on this page are fairly "beta" though.

Use this sequence (you'll be happier ;)

1.Using "Save Target As..." save the file

'LabVIEW_FRC_PKG_080501.lic.txt' to your computer.

2. Rename it to 'LabVIEW_FRC_PKG_080501.lic'

"lose the .txt extension"

3.Download and install LabVIEW 8.5.1 from one of the following:
o FTP: ftp://ftp.ni.com/pub/frc/lv851.zip
o HTTP: http://labview8.ni.com/pub/frc/lv851.zip

(after part 61 the drivers just click later to finish)

4. Put the license file 'LabVIEW_FRC_PKG_080501.lic'
in the following folder on your computer:

C:\Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\License Manager\Licenses

5. Using NI License Manager > Activate the software
with this serial number: L12R86754

6. Optional??? Using NI License Manager > Turn on the License Server
Most products do not require the Local License Server.
The controls for this feature remain hidden unless you have applicable
products installed, such as LabVIEW Remote Panel Connections.
(WE have this RPC but for ????)

[dmlawrence]

Is this version just for Windows, or is it also Mac/Linux compatible? (I'd check myself, but at the current rate, it will be another 6 hours before my download finishes.)

David

[B.Johnston]

Just looked in the setup.ini and its only for Windows

VersionNTMin=5,0,2195,3,0

[Joe Ross]

This was sent out in an email blast to all teams. See more discussion here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=69597

[B.Johnston]

Hopefully this will get a wider audience than the email blasts.
Which I missed.

[Andrew Schreiber]

I do find it interesting that they are releasing this in what amounts to a public license. I wonder how NI feels about this.

[B.Johnston]

I wouldn't even begin to use the term "public license" to describe this distribution.

If you check the acknowledgement email you'd see clearly that they know who is using and on what computer they are using it on.

This is clearly a time limited highly specific version of LabView with the purpose of broadening the opportunity to learn "How To".

To Quote the email

The activation code(s) above were generated with the following serial number and for the following computer:

Serial Number: L12R86754
Computer ID: XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

This serial number has been used to generate activation codes for FIRST Robotic Competition on 67 different computers in the past 365 days.

[Kevin Sevcik]

Erm. Since you could easily enter a fake name and organization, and do this through a TOR node or some public network, there's effectively zero practical restriction on who can use this license. We're not talking about people doing this legally, after all.

Granted, obtaining an illicit copy of Labview or most other software isn't particularly difficult for the moderately technically savvy and moral deprived. This is just making it that little bit easier, which is confusing when NI has gone to all the trouble of having the authorization system in the first place.

As a counter example, Autodesk has just as strong an authorization system and still manages to give the teams free software without putting a public download link, license, and serial number on FIRST's website.

It might be that this is simply because of the rush to get the software to teams ASAP, and following years will have a more secure distribution model, but it's still mighty confusing.

[Andrew Schreiber]

I wouldn't even begin to use the term "public license" to describe this distribution.

If you check the acknowledgement email you'd see clearly that they know who is using and on what computer they are using it on.

This is clearly a time limited highly specific version of LabView with the purpose of broadening the opportunity to learn "How To".

To Quote the email

The activation code(s) above were generated with the following serial number and for the following computer:

Serial Number: L12R86754
Computer ID: XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

This serial number has been used to generate activation codes for FIRST Robotic Competition on 67 different computers in the past 365 days.

Thanks for clearing that up, I havent seen the email. Im glad that there is some security to it. Don't get me wrong, I am so glad they released this. I just was musing on the fact that at first glance it didn't really appear that secure. Though the fact that they can see who is using it does somewhat worry me.

And don't get me started on Autodesk Firstbase.

[Alan Anderson]

If you check the acknowledgement email you'd see clearly that they know who is using and on what computer they are using it on.

How would they know that?

[Tom Line]

I'm assuming the computer ID is some hash-value that is generated based on that particular computer's configuration, similar to how other companies like Microsoft do it.

They probably keep information like IP address tied to the computer ID as well. Afterall, there's no reason they can't simply shutdown that license number right after the ship of our actual copies of labview, so I doubt they're too worried about it.

[Alan Anderson]

They probably keep information like IP address tied to the computer ID as well. Afterall, there's no reason they can't simply shutdown that license number right after the ship of our actual copies of labview, so I doubt they're too worried about it.

If that is so, it implies that we need an internet connection, not only to install LabVIEW, but to run it. Is that truly the case? I'm just now copying the lv851.zip file to a CD so I can install it on the computer at our workshop. I had already been fretting that instead of carrying the data to the computer, I might need to carry the computer to the data. Now I'm getting worried that I might not be able to use the computer at the shop even after putting the software on it.

[Joe Ross]

If that is so, it implies that we need an internet connection, not only to install LabVIEW, but to run it. Is that truly the case? I'm just now copying the lv851.zip file to a CD so I can install it on the computer at our workshop. I had already been fretting that instead of carrying the data to the computer, I might need to carry the computer to the data. Now I'm getting worried that I might not be able to use the computer at the shop even after putting the software on it.

You may activate over the phone. In that case, you'll call a 1-800 number and provide a code the LabVIEW activation software gives you. Then over the phone you'll get a different code, which you type into the activation software. Internet access is not needed either to run or activate LabVIEW.

I believe Tom was speculating about how it could work, not stating facts about how it does.

[ChuckDickerson]

If that is so, it implies that we need an internet connection, not only to install LabVIEW, but to run it. Is that truly the case? I'm just now copying the lv851.zip file to a CD so I can install it on the computer at our workshop. I had already been fretting that instead of carrying the data to the computer, I might need to carry the computer to the data. Now I'm getting worried that I might not be able to use the computer at the shop even after putting the software on it.

No internet connection required. Our donated computer at our shop is not connected to the internet either. I installed the LabView software last night and when it got to the part about licensing I clicked a box to do it via email from another computer. It allows you to save a text file with everything NI needs and you email the file attached to a empty email (no subject line, no message) to a NI email address and in a minute or two they email you back the license codes.

As far as I can tell (good or bad) there really isn't any possible way for NI to control this distribution.

1) How to get it and the serial number to use are on a web site that anyone can see.

2) The serial number and installation is the same for everyone and there appears to be no limit to the number of computer (seats) that it will install on.

3) There are multiple ways to get the required license codes to use it for the licensed period (til January of 2010) including direct internet connection, email from a separate machine, and even just calling up NI over the phone.

4) On the two machines I have installed it on - my laptop with an internet connection and our donated team desktop without and internet connection getting the activation code was a simple automated process. I just asked a machine to give it to me and it did (in a matter of seconds). No human @ NI was involved, thus no verification for FIRST team only use or not.

I assume they don't care if this is out there for everyone because:

1) Even though it is the "Full Version" of LabView it seems to be a FIRST specific distribution.

2) It will shut itself off in a little over a year.

3) If someone outside of FIRST gets it and learns it and then starts using it and then gets dependent on it they are going to be out of luck in a year and will be forced to buy it.

4) It is version 8.5.1 and the latest version seems to be 8.6. I assume we will be getting 8.6 in a box with actual CDs in the KoP in January.

[B.Johnston]

I assume they don't care if this is out there for everyone because:

1) Even though it is the "Full Version" of LabView it seems to be a FIRST specific distribution.

2) It will shut itself off in a little over a year.

3) If someone outside of FIRST gets it and learns it and then starts using it and then gets dependent on it they are going to be out of luck in a year and will be forced to buy it.

4) It is version 8.5.1 and the latest version seems to be 8.6. I assume we will be getting 8.6 in a box with actual CDs in the KoP in January.

Exactly ... except #4 - 8.5.1 will probably still be the Jan release due to perceived stability advantages as mentioned in other programming threads.

#3 is a great way to 'earn' new converts to a product and #1 will promote interest in FIRST, or at least knowledge of FIRST.

Lastly #2 it all goes ............ in a year.

Any commercial endeavour knows the value of genuine licenses resides in the support you receive. And I'll bet that our license entitles us to all the energy, skill and enthusiasm of those NI people we've met over the past few months(seasons) to build a FIRST robot and not much in the direction of developing a commercial application on the cheap.

[Team 1708 Dave]

Has anyone had troubles installing 8.5.1 with VISTA?

[Roboj]

Has anyone had troubles installing 8.5.1 with VISTA?

Are you having trouble? LabVIEW is fully supported on Vista since LabVIEW 8.2.1 - http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/5539

If you are having trouble, please post on the http://ni.com/first community for support. They can answer any questions you might be having.

[jcrawford]

I'm currently using 8.5.1 on Vista Ultimate SP1 with no problem.

[chinckley]

Are we allowed to load only one copy? Or can we put it on multiple machines so multiple students can learn it? We want to follow the rules.

We received the 30 day copies at a training class at Baker college, but this 1 year version sounds better since kickoff is more than 30 days away.

Thanks,

[B.Johnston]

This was mentioned in another thread by an NI Academic Program Manager so I think you'll be safe setting up as many seats as you need,

Teams will get a 25 seat license but it will most likely not be policed because we know so many teams are much larger. The license will expire January 2010 (just in time for the next season!)

[samir13k]

Exactly ... except #4 - 8.5.1 will probably still be the Jan release due to perceived stability advantages as mentioned in other programming threads.

#3 is a great way to 'earn' new converts to a product and #1 will promote interest in FIRST, or at least knowledge of FIRST.

Lastly #2 it all goes ............ in a year.

Any commercial endeavour knows the value of genuine licenses resides in the support you receive. And I'll bet that our license entitles us to all the energy, skill and enthusiasm of those NI people we've met over the past few months(seasons) to build a FIRST robot and not much in the direction of developing a commercial application on the cheap.
True...I had emailed a Labview employee who leads the FIRST distribution of products when 8.6 came out. He had told me that FIRST teams will recieve a copy of 8.5 and not 8.6 in the KOP this year.

[samir13k]

Has anyone had troubles installing 8.5.1 with VISTA?
I have been running labview 8.5.1 on Vista Home Premium. I did run into a problem with the license manager, but i think a reinstall/repair will fix that.

[BrentJ]

Has anyone managed to get this free copy of Labview working on a school computer network?
We won't get the FRC specific copy until the start of our build-time but I have some Labview mentors who I want to give the students an initial Labview intro course.

Thanks
Brent

[IKE]

Has anyone managed to get this free copy of Labview working on a school computer network?
We won't get the FRC specific copy until the start of our build-time but I have some Labview mentors who I want to give the students an initial Labview intro course.

Thanks
Brent

I have just been using the trial version. It is 30 days, but really all you need is about 4 dedicated hours to get a rough feel. Having seen the FIRST demo, there is a lot of new and unique stuff anyway coming in the FRC version. Having students use the trial version (no internet connection needed) is better than waiting a week or two due to installation issues.

[teepoo]

Has anyone else tried to enable the license recently. I've installed Labview and copied over the license file to the correct location, but when I try to activate the license with the NI Activation Wizard using the serial number "L12R86754", I get the message 'The serial number "L12R86754" is invalid or does not match the product you are trying to activate'. Any suggestions?

[BLAQmx]

Here is NI's document on the subject. The second URL has some tips that have not yet been included in the activation document.

Activating LabVIEW Evaluation for FIRST Participants (http://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-2435)


http://decibel.ni.com/content/message/2713?tstart=0#2713

[J.Tica]

Hey guys, my team #865 didn't use LabVIEW but wants to try it out. FIRST took out the page to download the program...anyone know where else I can find it?

[randalcr]

is this windows 7 Ultimate freindly? The last time i tried using labview on it, the PC wasn't very happy.

[Joe Ross]

Hey guys, my team #865 didn't use LabVIEW but wants to try it out. FIRST took out the page to download the program...anyone know where else I can find it?

It was included in your Kit of Parts. The link that this thread is about is from 2 years ago, before the new control system was introduced.

is this windows 7 Ultimate freindly? The last time i tried using labview on it, the PC wasn't very happy.

Do a search for Windows 7 and LabVIEW. There are some tricks for getting the installation to work. The latest versions of LabVIEW (2009 and 2010) do officially support Windows 7, while 8.5 and 8.6 do not (those are the versions we got for FRC the last two years). However, FIRST has not announced what will be used next year.

[RoboMaster]

I know some teams had reported no real issues when trying LabVIEW on Windows 7. So yes, IT IS NOT OFFICIALLY SUPPORTED by NI or FIRST, but it seemed to work fine for them.

FIRST might give us a new version of LabVIEW that works with it or has been tested to be ok with it, but yes, we don't know that yet. But we will know before kickoff, so it's not like it has to be a tough decision if, say, you're purchasing a programming computer.

[Alan Anderson]

Good news:
If your team is trying to plan ahead, the items in the 2011 Kit of Parts officially support Windows 7 and XP.

[Carter12s]

The link originally referenced by this thread is no longer in existence (404) error. I need to get the license file or have some other way to activate this labview license i remember some process i went through at the beginning of the build season to do this but now cannot find the instructions i follow. I too have damaged my original install CDs and need labview once again. Any one have any help?

[JohnBoucher]

This thread is closed. It's two years old. Better info available elsewhere.