NI Visa Drivers - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Whuffo
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2013, 04:10:54 pm
content: Rigol's software needs these drivers to work - and they don't include them. Trying to download them from NI reveals that NI won't let you have them unless you provide full name, email address, etc.I don't want NI reps popping marketing material into my mailbox; I'm not going to buy anything from them so it's just a waste of time. They're just as bad as the semiconductor corporations that won't let you see a datasheet unless you hand over your contact information first.

author: orion242
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 29, 2013, 04:12:26 pm
content: Turn the joke on them....http://mailinator.com/

author: Whuffo
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2013, 04:15:57 pm
content: Even better, I'll just download them from an "unauthorized" source. They're downloading right now - but I regret the time I spent bouncing off of the NI "register to proceed" page. They know I wouldn't need that driver if I didn't have test equipment that it supported, so they'd see me as a hot prospect. Those bright eyed sales droids can harass someone else, thanks.

author: kfitch42
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2013, 07:24:28 pm
content: I suspect many software vendors don't mind the "unauthorized" sources. I remember years ago when I had access to the Microsoft developer network thingy, it would show you cryptographic signatures for every possible download, even ones you didn't have access to. I took that as a wink-and-nod to say "if you get this somewhere else, at least make sure its clean".

author: Whuffo
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2013, 05:32:36 pm
content: So after installing the drivers and UltraScope - it works as expected. Nothing special; given the maximum length of a USB cable, I'd just as soon use the front panel of the scope.But what are these new processes running on my machine? NImDNSresponder and NILXIdiscovery? I can't imagine any legitimate reason for the driver for a directly connected scope to need to play with DNS services - that's the kind of trick malware would use. Searching for info brought me to the NI blog where a factory rep says that these services are "to support specific features" in their products. No mention of what those features might actually be.Doubletalk about something that just isn't right raised my hackles. So I disabled both of those services on my machine. UltraScope still works, I don't see any loss in functionality from disabling those services. If you've got the NI Visa drivers loaded, you might want to do the same. You'll save about 8 megs of RAM, and get a chunk of CPU cycles back.Usually, malware uses a DNS "addon" service to redirect your traffic through their server, where it's then passed onto the web. This allows them to monitor both your inbound and outbound network traffic. I'm not saying that this is what NI is doing, but given the non-answer they give when directly asked about it, it's a useful assumption.

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 30, 2013, 06:29:08 pm
content: The NI VISA framework is not just a driver for your Rigol scope, but supports connecting to instruments via USB, RS-232, GPIB, LAN and even via other computers with the VISA framework installed. Those services are to automatically discover supported devices connected to the same LAN and to announce instruments connected to your local machine to other computers on your LAN. mDNS stands for multi-cast DNS, the same technology used for Zeroconf auto-discovery of printers, routers and media devices (what Apple calls Bonjour). I don't think it's a common malware target.If you assume that NI is distributing malware, feel free to uninstall the VISA framework. I would trust the NI VISA framework over the Rigol UltraScope software any day. NI VISA has orders of magnitude more users, for starters. They're by far the biggest player in the world of test equipment automation, so you'd have a hard time avoiding it. You can try to get it to work with the Agilent IO framework if you're so inclined.

author: Whuffo
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 02, 2013, 05:40:05 pm
content: I did a bit more looking and found that NI had installed a web server on my machine, too. Maybe there's a good reason for all of this, but they didn't bother to ask me if this was OK and secretly installed network wedges and a web server on my machine. That's just plain unacceptable - if their installer had told me it was going to install system network drives and a web server and offered me the chance to decline, I'd have done so. But they didn't, they installed all of this stuff without any notice.It's been suggested that I should just delete the driver if I'm unhappy with having these system drivers installed on my machine without notice. That's a good plan, and it's already been uninstalled. But it's also worth considering that NI is in business to make money selling software, and it'll be a cold day in he*l before I consider purchasing any of their software. They managed to lose a customer before their marketing staff even had a go at me.This thread is here to warn others and let them consider what to do with their NIVisa installation.

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 02, 2013, 05:54:48 pm
content: Quote from: Whuffo on November 02, 2013, 05:40:05 pmYou severely underestimate the standing NI has among its users and customers.

author: Alex
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 02, 2013, 06:17:25 pm
content: Quote from: Whuffo on October 29, 2013, 04:10:54 pmIt is a good idea to register with NI if you plan on seriously using their products and services, not just a quick trial. For example, registering gives you access to a wealth of facilities like support requests, the forum, drivers (as you found out), orders etc. Not only do they have my email, they also have my phone number.NI seems to be returning some value for registration - I certainly am receiving more NI related emails through other channels than NI themselves.The rant should have been about pure gold cables etc.

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 02, 2013, 06:28:39 pm
content: Quote from: Bored@Work on November 02, 2013, 05:54:48 pmYou mean how they are divided in two fiercely opposite camps ?The fanboi's and the haters ?I'm in the latter group.NI stuff works great if you fork over oodles of money and buikd things with only their stuff.Throw anything else in there and it all goes to hell very quickly.- nstrument drivers : they rely on the goodwill of their users to write these. they are all incomplete and full of mistakes- after 60 years of GPIB interface NI still can't handle correctly an SRQ. you have to write callback code and it ends being a convoluted mess.- their foray into releasing labwindows and labview on Sun workstation was a disaster.Make little loop .. get stuck ... How do you stop a program in endless loop ? <consults manual> hit ctrl-alt-delete ...Ring - Hello NI support speaking. Eh guys we got a program in endless loop on a Sun , not a pc ... there ain'n no such key combination on a Sun workstation .. Official reply : we havent had the chance to make the manual for sun ... find the process id and kill it. -sigh-ls-l kill xyz.. kill doesnt work.... kill -9 xyz ... doesnt work.Ring - Hello NI suport speaking ? What do we do now ? Powercycle the workstation ...takes install cd , manuals , puts in box , send back with label -not fit for purpose-switches to free express edition of visual studio , spends half a day tweaking the sample DLL code for the GPIb board to his liking. lives 18 years happily ever after. NI Nitwits Incorporated...

author: metalphreak
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2013, 08:11:25 am
content: http://www.bugmenot.com/view/lumen.ni.comThe first one has always worked for me.

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2013, 10:01:33 am
content: Quote from: free_electron on November 02, 2013, 06:28:39 pmDoesn't matter. Both camps will not change their mind because of a strange forum posting.

author: Whuffo
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2013, 12:32:45 pm
content: Quote from: Bored@Work on November 02, 2013, 05:54:48 pmNot really; my weather page is generated by a back end server running a LabView program. If you want to present gauges and dials in an attractive and readable manner, there's nothing better. Alas, all that graphical goodness is backed up by a programming model that would try the patience of a saint. The Rigol software looks to be built in Lab View, also. LabView is what it is; I haven't taken it out back and shot it yet - but I've been sorely tempted many times.Note well that the weather stuff runs on a server - this is a workstation. The one that I do my design work on, as well as do some surfing and email. I have all incoming requests thoroughly blocked, so if nothing calls out my work is safe. So yes, when an application or one of its required drivers surreptitiously installs a web server and some networking wedges - that's a big problem. I was a bit surprised that NI would do this - but regardless of who did it and what their "standing" might be, it was wrong. Geez, they even snuck an exception into Windows firewall for that mDNSresponder service.Perhaps you don't care about computer security - if so, just ignore my message. But if you do, realize that programs / drivers that punch holes in your firewall and install server software and networking services are bad news.

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2013, 02:00:14 pm
content: That's probably down to them deciding that a more convoluted process to install only the necessary pieces would be beyond the abilities of most of their users, so they just dump the whole kit on your machine.