Configuring NI-VISA to Recognize an INSTR FireWire Device

Each FireWire device must have a kernel-level driver associated with it; this is done in Windows via a .inf file. For NI-VISA to recognize your device, you must run the NI-VISA Driver Wizard, available via the Start menu under National Instruments»VISA.

The wizard first prompts you for basic information NI-VISA needs to properly locate your FireWire instrument. This includes the following:

• Instrument Prefix—The VXIplug&play or IVI instrument driver prefix for the device.
• Unit Specification ID—The 24-bit value that identifies the specification to which the FireWire-based device adheres.
• Unit Software Version—The 24-bit value that identifies the Unit Specification version to which the FireWire-based device adheres.

In text boxes where numerical information is required, preceding the number with 0x designates a hexadecimal value. The wizard assumes all other numeric entries are decimal values.

When you are done, the NI-VISA Driver Wizard generates a Windows Setup Information (.inf) file. Before a FireWire device is visible to NI-VISA, you must use the .inf file to update the Windows system registry. To manually install the .inf file, open the appropriate .inf file in a text editor and follow the instructions on the first few lines at the top. Alternately, you can let the wizard install the .inf file before the wizard exits.