Problems installing minilab 1008 on windows 10

[fws]

Hi there

I am trying to get a minilab 1008 to work on windows 10 (previously it has worked great on Windows 7 install).

I tried installing instacal and plugging it in but that didn't seem to work. 

Do I also need to install some other drivers? DAQami for example?

thanks

[DAQman]

Hello,

Install the latest version of InstaCal - see below. Then plugin the device and run InstaCal. The first time you run it, you should get a message to run an update. You need administrator rights to run the update because it changes a value in the registry that instructs Windows not to turn off the device. After the update, either plug it back in or restart Windows, then run InstaCal again and this time it should allow you to add it to the board list. The update process started with Windows 8.1. This is when Microsoft decided to save power by deactivating some USB devices like mice, keyboards and the minilab.

https://www.mccdaq.com/downloads/InstaCal/icalsetup.exe

Best regards,
John

[fws]

Hi John

thanks very much for your reply. We have instacal installed and we ran this registry update (we can see the board in instacal - however we keep getting this warning to run a registry update each time we log in and connect the minilab).

I am attempting to use matlab v 2022 to write digital output lines to control some lights.

However when I use the DAQ toolbox functions in matlab the minilab only shows up as being an 'analogue' device (see below).

As such I am unable to add digital output lines which is what I need to do.

Any ideas on what might be happening here?

best

Fraser

 

m1=daqlist("mcc");

>> m1.DeviceInfo

ans = 

mcc: Measurement Computing Corp. miniLAB 1008 (Device ID: 'Board0')
   Analog input supports:
      8 ranges supported
      Rates from 100.0 to 1200.0 scans/sec
      8 channels ('Ai0' - 'Ai7')
      'Voltage' measurement type
   
   Analog output supports:
      0 to +5.0 Volts range
      2 channels ('Ao0','Ao1')
      'Voltage' measurement type

 

[fws]

ps if I try to test the digital lines via instacal I also get an error (i.e. go to Test:Digital A0:B0 - this test fails and no other lines seem possible to test)

[Fausto]

Hello @fws.

MATLAB's Data Acquisition Toolbox™ Support Package for Measurement Computing™ Hardware was developed by MathWorks.  A list of tested MCC hardware devices is at this link.  https://www.mathworks.com/hardware-support/measurement-computing.html   Note, the support package does not support digital I/O subsystems.

With regards to InstaCal, the digital I/O test was not implemented for every MCC daq device.  Instead, test your miniLAB 1008 with MCC's DAQami software.

Supported hardware list:  https://www.mccdaq.com/pdfs/manuals/DAQami-hw.pdf

Download page for software and license key:  https://www.mccdaq.com/Software-Downloads

 

Regards,

Fausto

[fws]

Hi Fausto

thanks a lot for your reply.

Is there any other way I could control digital output to the minilab 1008 using windows 10 and matlab (2022) ?

Could I use system commands to access it? 

Or would it be possible via matlab in a linux system?

Or perhaps python has better support?

thanks

Fraser

Edited February 6, 2023 by fws

[Fausto]

Hello @fws.

MCC does not support the miniLAB 1008 under Linux.  If you are familiar with using Python in MATLAB R2022, then you could use the MCC Universal Library Python API for Windows.

https://www.mccdaq.com/daq-software/Python-Support.aspx

https://www.mccdaq.com/pdfs/manuals/PyWin-hw.pdf

https://github.com/mccdaq/mcculw

https://www.mccdaq.com/pdfs/manuals/Mcculw_WebHelp/ULStart.htm

 

Regards,

Fausto