Installing Software
You can find the NI-DAQmx driver for myDAQ Student Data Acquisition Device for download at this location on NI Labs. In addition to this driver, you will need the LabVIEW development system for Mac OSX. This software comes with the Academic Volume License (AVL). You can also download a trial version from this link.
Once you have downloaded the NI-DAQmx for myDAQ driver, you can install it by double-clicking on NI-DAQmx for NI myDAQ.dmg and following the prompts.
Taking your first Measurement
NI-DAQmx for myDAQ Student Data Acquisition Device ships with a myDAQ configuration utility, which you can use to verify that your myDAQ is working properly. To access this utility, go to System Preferences and select NI myDAQ.
The window shown below should pop up with a list of all of the different myDAQ Student Data Acquisition Devices you have connected to your system. You can use the window to rename your myDAQ Student Data Acquisition Device. If a myDAQ Student Data Acquisition Device does not show up, try refreshing the configuration utility.
A good first step is to run a self-test on your myDAQ Student Data Acquisition Device from this utility. You can access this self-test from the settings tab in the bottom left of the configuration utility. Once your myDAQ Student Data Acquisition Device has passed this self-test, you can proceed to setting up a loopback test using the myDAQ test panels to confirm that your myDAQ is operational. This test sends out a 1 Hz sine wave and reads it back in on myDAQ Student Data Acquisition Device Follow these steps to complete a loopback test:
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Connect Analog Output 0 (AO0) to Analog Input 0+ (AI0+). Making this connection allows you to output a signal from your myDAQ Student Data Acquisition Device's analog output terminal and then acquire it on the myDAQ Student Data Acquisition Device’s analog input terminal.
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Wire Analog Ground (AGND) to AI0-.
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These two connections will allow you to send out a signal from AO0 and read it in on AI0.
Now, we need to actually send that signal in hardware.
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Within the myDAQ Student Data Acquisition Device configuration utility, select Open Test Panels from the drop-down menu.
- Click the Analog Output tab and change the settings to match those shown below.
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Click Start.
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Click the Analog Input tab.
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Click Start.
You should see a sine wave acquisition in the Analog Input tab, like the one below.
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Click Stop in the Analog Input and Analog Output tab.
Congratulations! You have successfully taken your first measurement with your myDAQ Student Data Acquisition Device. Feel free to explore the other test panels to experiment with your Digital or Counter I/O.
Further Resources
There are two great places to obtain more resources for myDAQ Student Data Acquisition Device. The first is the LabVIEW example finder. To access this on Mac OS X, open LabVIEW, and go to Help>>Find Examples. There are a broad array of examples contained within the Example Finder, which are helpful for programming all aspects of LabVIEW. You can filter these examples to only show those which will work with myDAQ Student Data Acquisition Device through the following process:
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Click Setup in the bottom right-hand corner of the Example Finder window.
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Switch to the Hardware tab.
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In the pop-up window, scroll through the list of hardware on the left until you come to NI myDAQ, which should be the last of the hardware entries that begin with NI.
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Click on the right-pointing arrow to add myDAQ to the list of Devices to find examples for.
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Check the box next to Show Hardware menu. Your window should look like the one below.
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Close this window.
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Select NI myDAQ from the Hardware drop-down menu in the bottom left-hand corner of your window.
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Check the Limit results to hardware box below this menu.
You should now have a window full of NI-DAQmx Examples which run on the myDAQ Student Data Acquisition Device, like below.
