What are the DAQmx, DAQmx Base, Edaq, and Comedi Data Acquisition Drivers for Linux?

Issue Details

I would like to use my NI hardware with my Linux® development computer. I have verified that I am using a supported Linux distribution, but I am unsure what driver to use. What are the Edaq, Comedi, DAQmx, and DAQmx Base data acquisition drivers for Linux?

Solution

NI-DAQmx for Linux®

Rereleasing summer of 2018, NI-DAQmx for Linux® offers the most comprehensive NI hardware integration and the most functionality in a data acquisition driver software. With an application programming interface for both NI LabVIEW and ANSI C, NI-DAQmx for Linux works with PXI/PXIe and PCI/PCIe data acquisition and signal conditioning products.

NI-DAQmx Base for Linux®

The NI-DAQmx Base driver offers a subset of the functionality found in the NI-DAQmx driver and a similar programming interface to NI-DAQmx. NI built this driver using the Measurement Hardware DDK and LabVIEW. The NI-DAQmx Base driver supports a subset of USB DAQ devices; full lists of the supported hardware can be found in the release notes of each NI-DAQmx Base version.

Note: The last version of the NI-DAQmx Base driver available for download is 15.0. Please check compatibility for Windows, Linux, and macOS for supported versions of this driver. Starting 2018, NI-DAQmx for Linux is included with the NI Linux Device Drivers. For more information, please read the End-of-Life Announcement for DAQmx Base Driver .


Comedi

Comedi is an open-source collection of drivers for a variety of data acquisition boards.  The drivers are implemented with a core Linux kernel module providing common functionality and individual low-level driver modules.  Many NI boards are supported by the Comedi driver.

Comedi is primarily maintained by David Schleef and Frank Mori Hess.  Much of Comedi has been developed by others as well.

Note: Contributions to Comedi have not been evaluated by NI and must be supported by the groups who created them or by other third-party sources. Ni does not support the Comedi driver.


Edaq

In 2000, NI released a beta driver to support Linux environments. This driver was used for a short time, but the Comedi driver shortly replaced Edaq and, for a few years, became the recommended way to use NI data acquisition boards on Linux. The biggest difference between Comedi and Edaq is that Comedi does not support timed, buffered acquisitions and Edaq offered interrupt-driven, timed, buffered acquisitions. The Edaq driver is no longer supported.