LIFA, LINX or What? IMO

[ronbelmar]

I would like to give my opinion on which toolkit one should use if you are new to Labview like I was and you are using an arduino. I bought the sparkfun kit and was off and running.  I am a ME trying to tinker in an EE world.  I was fimiliar with arduino but wanted to go to the next level.  So a few months ago I ventured into the Labview realm and I came to a fork in the road.  There was LIFA, LINX and my ARDUINO. I started in LIFA but read the warning it was discontinued. I started switching my projects over to LINX. To help other newbies, I hope to clarify the question as to which to use. Again, this is my opinion and by no means am I downplaying the hard work put in by many. Also, if I use the wrong terminology don't trash me, I am a newbie trying to help people.

The easiest: LIFA.  Even though it is not support, the community is active. LIFA was developed for the arduino and has a long legacy so it has lots of resources, even outside the community.  I found step by steps, videos, people showing stuff off where I picked up on something. It gets easier to use while helping you learn.

Strong second: LINX. This is a great toolkit and developed by the people/person who developed LIFA.  LINX is trying to reach a broader audience and its more "modular" than LIFA. It is trying to include other interfaces but from what I have read and seen, Arduino users far outnumber RIO or others. LINX forums are ok. There will be long nights trying to get things working. There were sereval nights I threw my hands up and walked away. Once you understand things better,  I does get easier.  Bottom line, if nobody in the forum helps, you need to figure it out.

So, if you just started and want to tinker with standard sensors available on sites like sparkfun or ebay with your arduino, use LIFA. If you are developing something more than a toy and in the future it may need to be more robust, use LINX..

RB

[Nathan_B.]

I just want to add that LINX is a work in progress and Sam is doing the best he can to add wanted features.  He has also made great strides in creating Arduino firmware that will allow people to more easily add their custom functions.  As with all software, there will be bugs as it gets developed (especially since LINX is still very young).  The more people that use it and report bugs, the faster it will become more stable.

[MitchA]

Im confused.  The dev of Linx says that Linx "supports everything Lifa does" but also includes other new features.  Why would someone still use Lifa if Linx now has the features but is supported? 

[Nathan_B.]

There are a few things that are technically not implemented in LINX that are implemented in LIFA.  One of them was the servo functionality which is now currently in the beta (LINX 1.2beta).