How to configure cRIO Legacy Networking

[WynnSmith]

(I'm posting again, because the original message wasn't marked as a question and it went unanswered.)

I'm a volunteer mentor for a First Robotics school team.  They're using the cRIO Legacy and can no longer connect to it since the last competition.  I know about networks, but not about the cRIO.  So I have some questions. 

The robot also has a D-Link DAP-1522 wireless AP/Bridge on board.  The school network is a 10.99.x.x (class B) address.  The cRIO is currently set on a 10.25.x.x (class A).  We can connect to it by configuring the PC NIC to the Robot's address range, but then the PC can't connect to the school's network. 

Is this the right place to ask questions about setting up the cRIO?

Where can I find the right manual? 

The students were using Windriver to communicate with the robot rather than Labview.  I don't know much about either.

Do you suggest I change the cRIO's network setup?  I don't know how.  Alternatively, I hoped the D-Link could be used to perform address translation, but it doesn't seem able. 

Do I need to install any software on my Win7 PC to communicate with the cRIO?

My PC has an ethernet port, but not a serial port.  Will it work?

My goal is to understand how this works, and then show the students.

Thanks for your help.

[Kevin_F]

Hey Wynn,

If you want to be able to have your PC talk to both the cRIO and the school network at the same time you will either need to change the cRIO network configuration so that it is on the school network - depending on security settings, firewalls, etc this may not be a good option. Alternatively you can use two network cards - one configured for the cRIOs IP range and one configured for the school network. This getting started document contains information about configuring your cRIO in Measurement and Automation explorer:http://www.ni.com/pdf/manuals/372596a.pdf. The serial port on the cRIO is used mainly to get console output - which can be used for debugging purposes but is not required for day to day use.