Getting Started with BeagleBone Black and LabVIEW Community Edition

During this process, you will be installing and activating the following software and drivers on your development computer:

• LabVIEW Community Edition

1. Download LabVIEW Community Edition here. 
2. Follow the installer prompts to complete the software installation. In order to use the BeagleBone device with LabVIEW, you need the LINX toolkit. This toolkit is automatically installed with LabVIEW Community Edition.
3. You may be prompted to restart.

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1. After the installation is complete, the Activation Wizard opens automatically.
2. When you are prompted, click LOG IN TO ACTIVATE.
   
   
3. Enter your NI User Account credentials and click LOG IN.
   

   All your unlicensed products are listed in then Activate Software window.

4. Select Check my account for licenses and click Activate.
   

   If the Check my account for licenses method does not successfully activate your software, you can use your serial number to activate your software, instead. Select Enter a serial number in the Activate Software window, enter your serial number for each product, then click Activate. Learn how to find your software serial number.

5. After the licenses associated with your account are verified successfully, click the Finish button to complete activation.
   

   This process registers your software to you. After registering your software, you can access support and online training.

6. If you're working offline or neither of these methods work, try one of these alternative methods for activating NI software:
   • Offline Activation--If you are activating your software on an offline machine, visit the NI Product Activation page and fill out the Activation Code Generation Form. Notice that you will need a serial number and computer ID to complete this process. You can find your computer ID in the Activation Wizard or using the NI License Manager.
   • Volume or Enterprise License Activation--If you have a Volume License or Enterprise Agreement, your software is licensed using a license server. Contact the software administrator for your company for more information.
   • Academic Volume License Activation--If you are a student using an Academic Volume License, you will receive one or more serial numbers that can be used to license and activate your NI software. You can install software individually on a computer, and you will need to activate the software on each computer. For more information about deploying NI software to multiple machines, refer to the Academic Volume License Administrator Resources.
7. Restart your computer, if prompted to do so.




You've now installed the LabVIEW software that you'll need for your BeagleBone device. 




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The next step is to physically connect and set up your hardware. Watch the video or follow the written instructions to see how this is done.

Use these written instructions to follow along with the video.

1. Use BeagleBoard.org to help you accomplish these tasks:
• Obtain an up to date Debian operating system for your device, using these suggestions:
• Choose one of the IoT variants, because it leaves more room on the eMMC for your application.
• Choose a "flasher" image, or follow the instructions on how to make one on BeagleBoard's website, as it is specially configured to reprogram the eMMC on boot.
• You will need to flash the OS to a microSD card. You can choose from a variety of low-cost USB adapters and free imaging software to complete this task.
• Note the username, password, and IP address for your device, as you will be connecting the BeagleBone Black to the PC using USB.
• Your computer typically has a USB networking driver installed by default and SSH is normally enabled by default. If you have connection problems, visit the BeagleBoard.org website for more information.
2. Connect the BeagleBone Black to your computer and internet. The USB cable is used both to power the BeagleBone Black and provide communication with your computer. The Ethernet cable must be connected to a switch or router with internet access, as the BeagleBone Black downloads the files directly from an external feed.
3. Launch LabVIEW Community Edition and open the Target Configuration Wizard from Tools»MakerHub»LINX»LINX Target Configuration.
4. Select BeagleBone Black from the pull-down menu.
5. Enter the BeagleBone Black'IP address, username, and password with root privileges and click Connect.
• Default IP Address for the BeagleBone Black USB/Ethernet device is '192.168.7.2'
• Default Username is debian
• Default Password is temppwd
6. Click the Install Software tab.
7. Click Install.
8. Review any warnings and complete the installation.

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Now you are ready to create your first application. Watch the video or follow the written instructions to see how this is done.

Use these written instructions to follow along with the video.

You are ready to build your first example. This application deploys a LabVIEW VI to your BeagleBone Black that blinks an LED on and off at a fixed rate.

Find an Example

1. Connect your BeagleBone Black to your computer with a USB cable. This cable provides both power to the BeagleBone Black and the communication path for the LabVIEW Community Edition.
2. Launch LabVIEW, select Help >> Find Examples to launch the Example Finder.
3. Go to the Search tab, type in LINX, and press <Enter>. You will see a list of LINX compatible examples on the right.
4. Double click the LINX - Blink (Advanced).vi to load the example.
5. Close the Example Finder.

Edit and Run the Example

1. You will see some controls and indicators on the the front panel of the example. The front panel has three parts:
• Left: Basic schematic you need for the LED circuit
• Middle: Configuration settings
• Right: Indicator showing the status of the LED
2. Before you start editing, save a copy first. Go to File>Save As... to open the File dialog box.
3. Select Substitute Copy for Original.
4. Click Continue.
5. You need to edit the block diagram, which is the code for the VI. Show the block diagram by going to the Window Menu item and selecting Show Block Diagram.
6. The functions you see on the diagram are part of the LINX toolkit. The LINX toolkit provides a common API for the supported devices. The common pattern is an open call, followed by some actions, and a close call.
   
   Here you can see the open call is configured for serial communication with the device, the digital output is being written over and over again in a loop, and when the user presses the stop button the loop exits and the communication channel is closed.
7. Click the selector and choose Local I/O. Delete the resulting broken wire and COM port control.
8. Save the VI.
9. Close the block diagram.
10. To deploy the VI to your device, you will need a project. Go to the Project menu and select Create Project…
11. Select Blank Project and click Finish. A dialog box will prompt you whether you want to add the VI to the project. Select Add.
12. We need to add the BeagleBone Black to the project. Right-click the Project entry, select New>Targets and Devices.
13. We will manually add the device. Select New target or device, LINX devices and finally the BeagleBone Black and click OK.
14. Right click the BeagleBone Black and select Properties.
15. Enter the IP address you noted during the configuration process.
16. Click OK.
• You can verify connectivity to your device by right-clicking it, and selecting Connect. After a moment, it should connect and the small green dot should change from dark to light. If the color does not change, check your USB connection and IP address.
17. Now we need to move the VI to the target. First close the VI, then go back to the Project Window and drag the VI from My Computer to the BeagleBone Black.
• Double-click the VI to reopen it. This method is the easiest way to ensure your VI is associated with the correct target. You can verify this association in the lower left corner. 
18. Save your project.
19. Set up an LED and resistor based on the circuit shown on the front panel. Connect it to ground and DIO 7.
20. Change the control to select DIO 7.
21. Click the Run button.
• LabVIEW deploys all of the necessary code on the BeagleBone Black. After that process finishes, the VI starts running, and you can see both the physical LED blinking, as well as the status LED on the front panel. You can refer to the help for a list of supported lines and pinout information.

That’s everything, you’ve run your first BeagleBone Black example.

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Learn how to create a start-up executable for your BeagleBone Black. This file enables your device to run a VI on power-up, independently of your computer. Watch the video to see how this is done.