Do the NI Linux Device Drivers Support non-Default Kernels?

Issue Details

I'm using the NI Linux Device Drivers with Ubuntu or RHEL and I want to use a kernel besides the default one.  For example, a realtime or low-latency kernel.  Is this supported?

Solution

This is not a supported configuration.  When reviewing the NI Supported Operating Systems Roadmap, the kernel noted and tested for each version of the OS is the default kernel that is present on installation of the OS.  For example, in Ubuntu, this is the *-generic kernel.

The NI Linux Device Drivers use dkms to build the kernel modules for each driver, so it's possible that the modules will build successfully, but you may encounter usability issues when running on those kernels.  For example, it might take certain functions longer to run or you may experience timeouts that impact your ability to use your code as intended.

If you are trying to debug an issue, and you are using a non-standard kernel, it would be best to check if the issue reproduces in the default kernel.

Additional Information

Although Linux distributions like Ubuntu ship a *-realtime version of their kernel, it is important to note that just installing and booting the *-realtime kernel is not sufficient to achieve realtime determinism.  If your program is not written for a realtime environment it is very likely that it will not perform as expected, because CPU availability for non-RT workloads is intentionally reduced when using a *-realtime kernel.