Win8 Compatibility?


crossbowjapan

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  • 2 months later...

Doing my first project on Win8. (Gateway SOHO grade machine)

Generally speaking no problems. Using a USB-RS485 converter in virtual com port mode (FTDI). Plugged it in and Windows did something, but it was neither just start using it nor announce a new device and ask for drivers. Driver's available as an executable, so I run that. Now recognizes the converter and assigns a port number. DAQ Factory won't write to it (no LED's flashing on the device nor anything showing in the DF port monitor), so I decide to try Hyperterminal to find out if it's Windows, hardware, or DAQ Factory. But....Hyperterminal evidently was taken out of Windows starting with Windows 7. So I download Q Terminal, a shareware terminal emulator, from Softpedia.com. Finds and uses the port just fine. Hmmm. So I try DF again, and now it works. So I figure the terminal software closed the port properly or something and was concerned that I might have to run it on every boot before DF would work, but no. Seems to have fixed it permanently.

So anyway, point of this long tirade is, Win 8 doesn't seem to have any problem with DAQ Factory per se. Seems like there may be some issues with device detection and installation and maybe initializing the device for the first use, but nothing insurmountable.

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Maybe, except the portion of the device detection before driver installation seemed off. Plugged the thing in and Windows neither installed it automagically, and started using it like it did with the WiFi card, nor did it ask for drivers. I started device detection manually, and it didn't find anything. Regardless, no insurmountable problems.

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Having a weird problem where not all file names are shown in the recent file menu. Not sure if this is a Win8 problem or an issue with DAQ Factory that I've never come across because I never had the right file name to trigger it. One of the files that was opened but not shown is called "2013-012 This Project 20130306.ctl".

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Here's one Windows gotcha, and I don't know if it's specific to W8 or if Windows has always been this way because I never had simultaneous DAQ Factory installs.

When I installed the beta, Windows changed the file association for CTL's to the beta. Makes sense, or maybe Windows should ask, but that's fine. But that's dangerous in this case, because a user opening the CTL rather than DF might not realize he was in the beta and inadvertently beta-ize his app file, rendering it unusable in the production release of DAQ Factory.

So I go to manually change the file association back to the 5.87 executable, and initially Windows offers me the option to "leave it as DAQ Factory" (obviously referring to the beta release) or to select another program. I choose to select another program, navigate to the 5.87 exe, and select it. Everything appears to work, but Windows doesn't actually change the association; if you open a CTL directly, it still opens in the beta.

Long term, this isn't a problem because we don't normally have two DF installs on the same machine, but it's potentially serious in those cases where it can occur, so I'd recommend installing the beta on a different machine or in a VM to avoid the hazard.

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We've actually changed the association in the beta to eliminate this. We'll be moving to a different file format and thus different extension anyway.

I should add that I generally do NOT recommend opening DAQFactory by using an association. Its better to create an shortcut to the DAQFactory executable and then explicitly specify the .ctl doc you want DAQFactory to open. It goes with my general dislike of computers trying to think for me. The same logic applies to hardware manufacturers that make Ethernet DAQ devices and then offer a DHCP option. What happens when the IP address changes? Or worse, what if you have two devices and they switch IPs?

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