Older National Instruments software upgrade (Linux?) recommendations

[Technical Mayhem]

I have some old virtual instruments that I'd like to run on an old National Instruments PXI chassis. The VI's and HW are of a similar vintage so should work together...

The VI's require the following minimum:
-Labview 2010 - 12 32 bit
-Modulation toolkit 4.3
-Spectral measurements toolkit 2.6
-RFSA 1.7

The PXI-8108 controller is running Win 7 (32 bit) and unfortunately NI has slowly dropped the ability to download the appropriate earlier versions of the required toolkits etc.

After a fair bit of research I've got more questions than I started with so I'm hoping someone on here has some tips.

Next things that I've thought of trying:
-Upgrade Windows / Labview / Toolkits to the latest possible versions. I'm unsure how well Windows 10 will run on this old HW but I don't care about GPIB support etc...
-Try Installing Linux (Ubuntu) and the Linux versions of Labview / the toolkits. There doesn't seem to be a Liniux version of the spectral measurements toolkit but it's possibly included with LabView

I'm much more familiar with Linux than Windows and would prefer to take that route if it's possible. Also I don't want to pay NI for a licence as this is just for hobby purposes!

Cheers for any suggestions

[joeqsmith]

Sell it all and RUN!!!! 

[Technical Mayhem]

If you don't have anything to add it's ok not to post 

Everyone knows proprietary software like this is a PITA

[J-R]

I have zero exposure to this device, but I was able to glean some information from the embedded controller data sheet: https://www.ni.com/pdf/dspdf/en/ds-273

The first thing that comes to mind is the 1GB default memory, which in my opinion should be upgraded to at least 2GB or 4GB for Windows 10, although the 32-bit OS will probably only see 3GB-3.5GB.

Next would be the OS licensing, which if you do an in-place upgrade from 7 Pro to 10 Pro using your typical Windows 10 ISO/disc, it should activate using the Windows 7 license key.  Or you can do a clean install if the key is stuck to the chassis somewhere.  Although your mileage may vary since MS changes licensing regularly, such as their recent disabling of free upgrades to Windows 11.

Drivers SHOULD be OK since generally speaking Windows driver compatibility is pretty good.  You may need to disable driver signing enforcement if the drivers are really old.

Speaking of drivers, I assume the primary reason for having the PXI-8108 is to communicate with the other modules, and according to the block diagram this is done via the PXI connector.  While I do see PXI drivers listed for Linux from NI, the only supported OS for the PXI-8108 is Windows XP/Vista/7, so I suspect there could be some blocker there.

For the next steps, I would begin by making a complete backup & clone of the existing drive to another drive to use for testing.  And ideally an SSD, since Windows 10 is a lot fatter than Windows 7.  For the backup, make a complete bit-for-bit copy of the drive.  For cloning, you might be OK with a standard clone (only used portions).

If you have access to your company's Microsoft licenses, I would also suggest trying a clean install of Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019.  It doesn't have all the normal Windows 10 bloat and is supported until January 9th, 2029.  You could also try LTSC 2021, but they have shifted that to the IOT licensing so you may need to jump through extra hoops to get it, or buy it from a distributor.

[DaJMasta]

It's gonna be real tough.  I think NI has dropped downloads for a lot of much older versions for things, so you'll need to find physical media installations for the software you need - they exist, but they are not necessarily easy to find the one you need.  While there is some reasonable lifetime on versioning including backwards compatibility, the last half dozen of years or so have seen a lot of deprecation of older parts, so whether your hardware can interface with new versions is almost entirely dependent on whether support for it has been dropped in more recent versions - and in my experience they sometimes report compatibility with hardware that was removed in a version or two previous - so it can be a lot of installing and uninstalling.

Then you have maybe the most substantial hurdle: the modulation toolkit and spectral measurements toolkits need their own licenses, so even if you're able to find installation media for them and have a labview license, you may be blocked by their licensing policy.  Of course, there's modern equivalents, but they will be a substantial charge and may not work with the older hardware (if you've gotta pay for it, though, they can probably tell you exactly what versions will work with your hardware.)

[joeqsmith]

If you don't have anything to add it's ok not to post 

Everyone knows proprietary software like this is a PITA

After a fair bit of research I've got more questions than I started with so I'm hoping someone on here has some tips.

While you stated you have more questions, you never asked any and only wanted tips.  So I provided you with one. 

[Technical Mayhem]

Thanks for the tips J-R & DaJMasta!
Unit has been upgraded with 4GiB RAM and an SSD.
Upgrading to Windows 10 took about 3 days and required removing a lot of drivers & software. Unit is running a lot faster now, probably thanks to the SSD.

I'm now going through the tedious process of getting the latest 32-bit NI software installed.

I tried Linux (Ubuntu 22.04 LTS) and while it ran fine I couldn't work out how NI's software works with it. Pretty sure the old VIs would never run on Linux anyway.

Cheers