Enabling Serial Console Error Logging on PharLap Real-Time Targets

Issue Details

I have attached a monitor to my PharLap real-time target and I get error messages with my application that say more information is available on my serial port if I enable serial console error logging. How do I retrieve this information?

Solution

On PharLap real-time targets running LabVIEW Real-Time (RT) 2009 and later, the OMNI console outputs additional crash and debug information through the PharLap controller's serial port. To configure the controller to output this additional information, add the following tokens to the ni-rt.ini file:

2010 and newer:
[SystemSettings]
EnableOMNISerialConsoleOut=TRUE
OMNISerialConsolePortAddr=0x3f8
OMNISerialConsolePortSpeed=9600

2009:
[SystemSettings]
EnableOMNISerialConsoleOut=TRUE
OMNISerialConsolePortAddr=0x3f8
OMNISerialConsolePortSpeed=115200 

If you need to use a seperate serial port for retrieving the debugging information you can change the port address tag from 0x3F8 to 0x2F8 for COM2 on the controller. The default value is for the COM1 port on the controller.

After adding the tokens to the ni-rt.ini file, you will need to restart the target for the changes to take effect. Once the changes have been implemented, a null modem cable can be used along with a console viewer such as Putty to retrieve the serial debug information. 

Additional Information

Note:  This method also works for RT PCs with built-in serial ports.  If there is not a built-in serial port see if there is a built-in 10 pin IDC header connection for a serial port. 3rd party PCI serial cards will not work. 

Note:  If targeting a cRIO-9082, make sure that the Console Out DIP Switch is off. If the INI file was modified successfully, you'll be able to see console output on your terminal window.

Note: On a  PharLap target the ni-rt.ini can be found in the root directory.