The UD driver requires a PC running Windows. For other operating systems, go to labjack.com for available support. Software will be installed to the LabJack directory which defaults to c:\Program Files\LabJack\.
Install the software first: Go to labjack.com/support/u6.
Connect the USB cable: The USB cable provides data and power. After the UD software installation is complete, connect the hardware and Windows should prompt with “Found New Hardware” and shortly after the Found New Hardware Wizard will open. When the Wizard appears allow Windows to install automatically by accepting all defaults.
Run LJControlPanel: From the Windows Start Menu, go to the LabJack group and run LJControlPanel. Click the “Find Devices” button, and an entry should appear for the connected U6 showing the serial number. Click on the “USB – 1” entry below the serial number to bring up the U6 configuration panel. Click on “Test” in the configuration panel to bring up the test panel where you can view and control the various I/O on the U6.
If LJControlPanel does not find the U6, check Windows Device Manager to see if the U6 installed correctly. One way to get to the Device Manager is:
Start => Control Panel => System => Hardware => Device Manager
The entry for the U6 should appear as in the following figure. If it has a yellow caution symbol or exclamation point symbol, right-click and select “Uninstall” or “Remove”. Then disconnect and reconnect the U6 and repeat the Found New Hardware Wizard as described above.
The Exodriver is the native USB driver for Linux and Mac OS X. With it you can use low-level functions to interact with your U6 over USB. The LJUD driver, LJControlPanel and LJSelfUpgrade applications are not available for Linux or Mac OS X.
Download the Exodriver at labjack.com/support/software or labjack.com/support/linux-and-mac-os-x-drivers. For Mac OS X you can use the Mac Installer for installation, otherwise use the source code and install script.
Unzip the contents of Exodriver_NativeUSB_Setup.zip and run Exodriver_NativeUSB_Setup.pkg. Then follow the installer’s instructions to install the driver.
• OS X 10.5 or newer
• Xcode developer tools
• libusb-1.0 library available at libusb.info
• Linux kernel 2.6.28 or newer.
• GNU C Compiler
• libusb-1.0 library and development files (header files)
To install the driver from source code, first unzip the contents of the Exodriver source code. Then run the following commands in a terminal (replace <Exodriver-Source-Directory> with the directory you unzipped the Exodriver source code to):
cd <Exodriver-Source-Directory>Follow the install script’s instructions to install the driver.
For more Exodriver installation information go to the Exodriver page at labjack.com/support/linux-and-mac-os-x-drivers. The source code download’s README, INSTALL.Linux and INSTALL.MacOSX also provides more information. If you run into problems, first take a look at the comments section of the Exodriver page as the issue may have been helped with previously.
After installation, to test your U6 connect it to your computer with a USB cable. The USB cable provides data and power. Build and run one of the examples from the source code download. Alternatively, install LabJackPython (at labjack.com/support/labjackpython) and run one of its examples.
The LabJack Control Panel application (LJCP) handles configuration and testing of the U6. Click on the “Find Devices” button to search for connected devices.
Figure 1.1-1 shows the results from a typical search. The application found a U6 connected by USB. The USB connection has been selected in Figure 1-1, bringing up the main device window on the right side.
Figure 1.1-2 shows the configuration window for U6 defaults. These are the values that will be loaded by the U6 at power-up or reset. The factory defaults are shown above.
Figure 1.1-3 shows the U6 test window. This window continuously (once per second) writes to and reads from the selected LabJack.
Selecting Options=>Settings from the main LJControlPanel menu brings up the window shown in Figure 1.1-4. This window allows some features to of the LJControlPanel application to be customized.
The processor in the U6 has field upgradeable flash memory. The self-upgrade application shown in Figure 1-5 programs the latest firmware onto the processor.
USB is the only interface on the U6, and first found is the only option for self-upgrading the U6, so no changes are needed in the “Connect by” box. There must only be one U6 connected to the PC when running LJSelfUpgrade.
Click on “Get Version Numbers” to find out the current firmware versions on the device. Then use the provided Firmware Upgrade File internet link to go to labjack.com, go to the U6 Firmware subsection, and check for more recent firmware. Download firmware files to the any location on your computer.
Click the Browse button and select the firmware file to program. Click the Program button to begin the self-upgrade process.
If problems are encountered during programming, try the following:
Two sample applications are available that can handle the basic data collection needs of many customers. LJLogUD uses command/response mode (Section 3.1) while LJStreamUD uses stream mode (Section 3.2). Go to the pages for each application for more information and to download: