OpenLDV™ ReadMe File
Release 3.3, May 2006
Copyright
© 2003-2006 Echelon Corporation
All Rights Reserved
The OpenLDV driver interface provides LonWorks® tool developers with a unified Windows software interface for sending and receiving LonTalk® messages through Echelon's family of network interfaces including:
· i.LON® 10 Ethernet Adapter
· i.LON 100 Internet Server
· PCLTA-20 and PCLTA-21 PCI Network Interfaces
· PCC-10 PC Card Network Interface
· SLTA-10 Serial Network Interface
· U10 and U20 USB Network Interfaces
The OpenLDV driver interface also works with Echelon’s legacy network interfaces such as the PCLTA, PCLTA-10 and SLTA/2.
When used in conjunction with the i.LON 10 and i.LON 100, the OpenLDV driver software provides outstanding security including RC4 encryption, MD5 authentication, and protection from replay attacks, as well as transparent, fault tolerant session recovery when the IP connection or power to the i.LON is interrupted. Support is provided for uplink connections, wherein a remote network initiates a call, either dial-up or broadband, into a service center. Uplink connections are commonly used in large remote access systems in which hundreds or thousands of sites report back to a single service center.
The OpenLDV Installer installs all required drivers needed to access the PCLTA-20, PCLTA-21, PCC-10, i.LON 10, i.LON 100, U10 and U20 network interfaces. To use other, legacy network interfaces, install the appropriate network interface driver in addition to the OpenLDV Installer.
For most Echelon customers, the development of PC-based network tools will be simpler and less time-consuming when using Echelon's LNS® Network Operating System software. In addition, network tools that use LNS will have higher performance levels than those that use OpenLDV. Contact Echelon Sales at http://www.echelon.com/sales if you would like assistance in determining whether you should develop your network tools with LNS, or with OpenLDV.
Network tool installer programs normally incorporate the OpenLDV Installer; however, if the network tool does not include the OpenLDV Installer, the end-user can download and install the OpenLDV Installer separately.
Network tool developers use the OpenLDV Developer's Kit to build support for the OpenLDV interface into their network tools. The OpenLDV Developer’s Kit may be downloaded from http://www.echelon.com/downloads.
The OpenLDV software is licensed for royalty-free use exclusively with Echelon's family of network interface products.
This file contains important information about the OpenLDV runtime installer. Additional information and updates, including critical updates, may be available in Echelon’s Downloads web page at http://www.echelon.com/downloads.
5 Repairing OpenLDV Installations
6 Known Problems and Workarounds
6.1 Interaction with LNS 3, Service Pack 8, Update 1 (36682)
6.2 Interaction with LNS 3.08 (36258)
6.3 Some Installations may require Reboot (32205, 32177)
6.4 OpenLDV control panel item does not appear (41439)
You must have Administrative Privileges in order to install this software.
If you are using the U10 or U20 USB Network Interface, install the OpenLDV software before plugging the network interface into a USB port.
Double-click the OpenLDV runtime installer (OpenLDV330.exe) to begin the OpenLDV runtime installation. OpenLDV330.exe is available on CD-ROM or from http://www.echelon.com/downloads. The "Welcome to the InstallShield Wizard for Echelon OpenLDV 3.3" window will open. Click "Next" to continue. This opens the "License Agreement" window.
Read the terms of the license agreement, and if you agree to the terms, click the "I accept..." radio button to continue. This opens the "Installing Echelon OpenLDV 3.3" window. The installer will now install the OpenLDV runtime software.
Normally you are not required to reboot the PC after installing the OpenLDV runtime software, and no completion dialog will appear when the installation completes successfully. If the OpenLDV runtime is not installed successfully, a dialog will appear to notify you of the problem.
If you are using the i.LON® 10 Ethernet Adapter or the i.LON 100 Internet Server, you may need to modify the configuration (such as the IP address) for those devices by clicking on the LonWorks Interfaces icon in Control Panel. Consult the online help within the LonWorks Interfaces item for more information. Advanced users may wish to create specialized connection profiles using the xDriver Profile Editor. For more information on the xDriver Profile Editor, see Chapter 2 of the OpenLDV Programmer’s Guide, xDriver Supplement.
If you will be developing OpenLDV applications, you will also want to install the OpenLDV Developer's Kit available from http://www.echelon.com/downloads.
This software product is installed using Microsoft Windows Installer technology. Some components of this product were also present in earlier installations of Echelon products that did not follow the Windows Installer installation rules. As a result, installing some older Echelon products after installing this product may revert some files to obsolete versions.
Workaround: If you experience software behavior changes as a result of another software installation, you can repair this product installation through the following procedure:
The following are known OpenLDV problems and their workarounds. The numbers in parentheses at the end of the problem descriptions are Echelon's internal problem tracking IDs.
Echelon released a patch update to its LNS product in March 2003 named “LNS 3, Service Pack 8, Update 1” (LNS3SP8U1) that is not forward compatible with OpenLDV 3.3 and greater releases.
This patch will cause problems for any computer with OpenLDV 3.3 installed, if it is installed after OpenLDV 3.3. It will overwrite the newer OpenLDV components, causing them to revert back to older versions. This will cause all functionality added in OpenLDV 3.3 – such as USB adapter support – to be lost, and may cause programs that use new OpenLDV 3.3 API calls (see ldv32.h in the OpenLDV 3.3 Developer’s Kit) to completely fail to run.
The LNS3SP8U1 patch is included in some versions of the Echelon i.LON 10, i.LON 100 v1.1 and LonMaker 3.13 product installations, and may also be embedded in installations from other companies that license and redistribute the LNS runtime. It is being phased out of product software, but it may be encountered for some time to come. The OpenLDV 3.3 installation can be used as a replacement for LNS3SP8U1, as it corrects all of the problems corrected by that update, plus provides new USB functionality.
This problem will only manifest itself if LNS 3 is installed on the PC. If LNS Turbo or a later version is installed, this problem will not occur.
WORKAROUND: If you suspect that you have encountered this problem, go through the procedure described in “Repairing OpenLDV Installations”. The OpenLDV 3.3 installation will then repair itself, and function correctly. If this is not the problem, there is no harm in running the repair operation.
After installing OpenLDV 3.3 over LNS 3.08, uninstalling OpenLDV 3.3 will cause LNS 3.08 to become inoperable. OpenLDV 3.3 provides a partial upgrade to LNS 3.08 that may not be reversed cleanly by uninstalling. Echelon recommends that, if your product installation embeds the OpenLDV 3.3 installation, you do not attempt to uninstall it as part of your uninstallation process.
WORKAROUND: If LNS 3.08 has been inadvertently broken by uninstalling OpenLDV 3.3, reinstall OpenLDV 3.3.
On Windows 2000, the OpenLDV installation will require a reboot before the LonWorks Interfaces icon in Control Panel is visible or before OpenLDV is accessible to all users.
On all Windows versions later than Windows 2000, if OpenLDV is installed by one User, a reboot is necessary before logging onto another User and using OpenLDV. Logging off one User and onto another is not sufficient.
The installation does not always inform the user when a reboot is required.
WORKAROUND: If some OpenLDV functionality is not working after installation, but before reboot, try again after rebooting the PC.
On a small number of Windows 2000 installations, the LonWorks Interfaces icon in Control Panel will not become visible, even after a reboot. This has been seen on a handful of PCs that have been upgraded from earlier versions of Windows to Windows 2000.
WORKAROUND: Find the directory where OpenLDV was installed – by default, this will be [Windows Drive:]\LonWorks\Bin. On the PCs where this problem has been seen, moving this directory to an earlier position in the system PATH environment variable has fixed the problem.
On Windows 2000, the procedure for this is:
Since the OpenLDV runtime software is designed to be incorporated into third-party software products, the documentation required to utilize the OpenLDV runtime software is included with the third-party software product that includes the OpenLDV runtime.
If you do need to create PC based LonWorks applications using the OpenLDV software, download the OpenLDV Developer's Kit available from http://www.echelon.com/downloads.
The license that governs the use of the OpenLDV runtime software is agreed to before downloading the OpenLDV runtime software from the Echelon web site. The license is also available from the directory C:\LonWorks\OpenLDV\ as file license_OpenLDV.htm. This location assumes that the OpenLDV runtime software is installed into the default LonWorks Path of C:\LonWorks.
The company that writes an application that uses OpenLDV is required to provide technical support for their product. For technical support purely in relation to the OpenLDV runtime software apart from use of the OpenLDV runtime software by a client application, contact http://www.echelon.com/support.
Echelon welcomes your feedback on the OpenLDV runtime software product. Please send non-technical support-related comments and feedback on the OpenLDV runtime software product to the email address OpenLDV@echelon.com.