1 - Installation [UE9 Datasheet]

Windows Installation Overview

The LJUD 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/ue9.

Connect the USB cable: (See Section 2.2 for Ethernet installation tips) 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 UE9 showing the serial number. Click on the “USB – 1” entry below the serial number to bring up the UE9 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 UE9.

If LJControlPanel does not find the UE9, check Windows Device Manager to see if the UE9 installed correctly. One way to get to the Device Manager is:

Start => Control Panel => System => Hardware => Device Manager

The entry for the UE9 should appear as in Figure 1-1. If it has a yellow caution symbol or exclamation point symbol, right-click and select “Uninstall” or “Remove”. Then disconnect and reconnect the UE9 and repeat the Found New Hardware Wizard as described above.

Figure 1-1. Correctly Functioning UE9 in Windows Device Manager

Linux and Mac OS X

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 UE9 over USB. A TCP interface is not included in the Exodriver, but most programming languages have a TCP library to use. We demonstrate low-level function usage over TCP using C/C++ in the examples at labjack.com/support/ue9/c-native-tcp-example. 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.

Mac OS X Installer

Unzip the contents of Exodriver_NativeUSB_Setup.zip and run Exodriver_NativeUSB_Setup.pkg. Then follow the installer’s instructions to install the driver.

Source Code

Mac OS X Requirements

  • OS X 10.5 or newer
  • Xcode developer tools
  • libusb-1.0 library available at libusb.info

Linux Requirements

  • Linux kernel 2.6.28 or newer.
  • GNU C Compiler
  • libusb-1.0 library and development files (header files)

Installation

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>
sudo ./install.sh

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 UE9 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.

1.1 - Control Panel Application (LJControlPanel) [UE9 Datasheet]

The LabJack Control Panel application (LJCP.exe) handles configuration and testing of the UE9. Click on the “Find LabJacks” button to search for connected devices.

Figure 1.1-1. LJControlPanel Main Window

Figure 1.1-1 shows the results from a typical search. The application found one UE9 connected by USB and Ethernet. It also found a second UE9 that is accessible only by Ethernet. The USB connection has been selected in Figure 1.1-1, bringing up the configuration window on the right side.

Refresh: Reload the window using values read from the device.
Write to Device: Write the values from the window to the device. Depending on the values that have been changed, the application might prompt for a device reset.
Reset: Click to reset the selected device.
Test: Opens the window shown in Figure 1.1-2. This window continuously writes to and reads from the selected LabJack. Starts with Factory Default settings.

Figure 1.1-2. LJControlPanel Test Window

Selecting Options=>Settings from the main LJControlPanel menu brings up the window shown in Figure 1.1-3. This window allows some features to of the LJControlPanel application to be customized.

Figure 1.1-3. LJControlPanel Settings Window

Search for USB devices: If selected, LJControlPanel will include USB when searching for devices.
Search for Ethernet devices using UDP broadcast packet: Normally, Ethernet connected devices are found using a broadcast of the DiscoveryUDP command documented in Section 5.2.3. On some networks, however, it might not be desirable to broadcast these UDP packets. There are also situations where a network might have proper TCP communication between the PC and LabJack, but the broadcast UDP packet does not work.
Search for Ethernet devices using specified IP addresses. When this option is selected, LJControlPanel will specifically search over TCP using each address in the list. On some networks this might be preferred over the UDP broadcast search.

1.2 - Self-Upgrade Application (LJSelfUpgrade) [UE9 Datasheet]

Both processors in the UE9 have field upgradeable flash memory. The self-upgrade application shown in Figure 1.2-1 programs the latest firmware onto either processor.

First, put valid values in the “Connect by” box. If USB, select first found or specify a local ID. If Ethernet, specify the IP Address. These values will be used for programming and everything else.

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 UE9 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. Based on the file name, the application will determine whether the Comm or Control processor is to be programmed.

Click the Program button to begin the self-upgrade process.

Figure 1.2-1. Self-Upgrade Application

If problems are encountered during programming, try the following:

Unplug the UE9, wait 5 seconds then reconnect the UE9. Click OK then press program again.
If step 1 does not fix the problem, unplug the UE9 and watch the Control and Control LEDs while plugging the UE9 back in. Follow the following steps based on the Comm and Control LEDs' activity:
1. If the Comm LED blinks several times and the Control LED is blinking rapidly (flash mode), connect a jumper between FIO0 and SCL, then unplug the UE9, wait 5 seconds and plug the UE9 back in. Try programming again (disconnect the jumper before programming).
2. If the Comm LED blinks several times and the Control LED has no activity, connect a jumper between FIO1 and SCL, then unplug the UE9, wait 5 seconds and plug the UE9 back in. Try programming again (disconnect the jumper before programming).
3. If the Comm LED has no activity, the UE9's Comm processor is not starting properly. Please restart your computer and try programming again.
If there is no activity from the UE9's LEDs after following the above steps, please contact support.