Microstar Laboratories has released DAPtools 6.0 software for its data acquisition products, extending the previous DAPtools v5 software to support native 64-bit applications for Windows 7.
Windows 64-bit support was available in DAPtools 5 but only with the 32-bit compatibility mode, not the full 64-bit native mode.
This was satisfactory in its time since most existing software systems need the 32-bit compatibility mode to run under Windows 7.
However, when developing the next generation of data acquisition software systems, the full 64-bit native mode support provided by DAPtools 6 is needed.
DAPtools 6 supports the DAP and xDAP data acquisition product lines; except for the unavoidable differences in the processor instruction set and addressing, compatibility is comprehensive.
Whether the user gets 32-bit compatibility or native 64-bit compatibility depends on how applications are compiled.
The included support software provides native 64-bit versions of the critical system service software.
Primary among these is the DAPcell Server, the software that co-ordinates devices, networks, and the programming API, so that all data acquisition processor devices share a common device driver system.
Two other critical elements are the DAPIO programming API and the MSLACOM control panel configuration utility.
The correct elements for the system are selected and installed automatically, depending on the version of the Windows 7 system used.
The DAPIO 64-bit application interface now supports development using Microsoft Visual C++, Visual C# and Visual Basic .NET.
Running in an embedded environment where its job is to operate hardware and buffer data efficiently, a new edition of the DAPL 3000 software includes support for the newly released xDAP 7410 data acquisition subsystem.
The xDAP 7410 features a 2GHz Intel Celeron processor.
DAPL 3000 can sustain data transfers to the PC host at a composite rate of up to eight million samples per second.
If necessary, xDAP 7410 can also buffer up to a full minute of data 'on board' at maximum sampling rates without any concurrent host transfers.
The DAPL 3000 system also introduces new sampling control features.
Users can configure, start and stop multiple sampling processes independently, or operate them in combination if desired.
For example, high-rate data capture with triggering analysis can run with one group of channels, while digital control lines are monitored at a much lower rate.
In addition, some processing commands that were previously available only with certain application support packages are now included by default in the DAPL 3000 system commands module.
