Getting Started with the LabVIEW Hobbyist Toolkit

You are currently developing an application, for example, Digital Write, and would like to utilize a third-party embedded controller such as Arduino or Raspberry Pi using LabVIEW. This article will guide you through the first steps toward achieving this goal.

Note: Starting with LabVIEW 2021, the LabVIEW Hobbyist Toolkit became the recommended option to communicate with hobbyist hardware like Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and BeagleBone Black. The LINX by Digilent Toolkit is the deprecated alternative option for LabVIEW 2011 up to LabVIEW 2020. For more details, consult the Using Raspberry Pi or Arduino with LabVIEW article.

The following steps apply to the LabVIEW Hobbyist Toolkit. However, there are similarities with the former LINX option.

To get started:

1. Download the LabVIEW Hobbyist Toolkit  matching your LabVIEW version (2021 or later). The toolkit can also be found and downloaded directly using the NI Package Manager.
2. Proceed with the installation by reviewing and accepting the license agreements.
3. After installation, you should have some additional integrated menus in LabVIEW, as well as a new Hobbyist Functions palette:
   
4. You should also have new available examples that can be found using the NI Example Finder by searching with the LINX or MakerHub keywords.
   
5. Choose one that you would like to explore (for instance the LINX - Digital Write N Channels.vi). 
6. Connect your embedded platform to your PC.
7. From the LabVIEW example, click Tools>>Makerhub>>Hobbyist>>Firmware Wizard.
   
8. Select the appropriate Device Family, Device Type and Firmware Upload Method.
    
9. Click Next and select the COM port that is being used.
   
10. Click Next if you are ready to install the firmware.
11. Select Finish.
12. You may now run the example as instructed by the example's instructions.

Additional Information

The LabVIEW Hobbyist Toolkit is a free software and is designed to make it easy to develop embedded applications using LabVIEW. The toolkit includes VIs for over 30 of the most common embedded sensors as well as hardware agnostic APIs for accessing peripherals like digital I/O, analog I/O, PWM, I2C, SPI, and UART.

For Support on using the LabVIEW Hobbyist Toolkit, you can use the Hobbyist Toolkit NI Community Group.