OS - Windows

Phidgets are designed to run on Windows 2000 or newer. On Windows, Phidgets can be either plugged directly into a USB Port or run over a network using the Webservice.

Getting Started (Libraries and Drivers)

Before choosing a language below, you should have installed the Core Drivers and confirmed that your Phidget works. These drivers automatically come with the 32 bit or 64 bit installer you ran to get a icon in your task bar.

You can find theses drivers and instructions in the Getting Started guide for your specific Phidget device.

Programming Languages

After you have installed the Core Drivers, you should pick a programming language, install libraries, and run the examples for that specific language.

On Windows, we recommend the following languages:

• C#
• C/C++
• Flash AS3
• Java
• LabView
• Max/MSP
• Python
• Visual Basic .NET
• Visual Basic 6.0

You can also use these languages, but they do not support event driven code, and must use logic code only:

• MATLAB

Webservice

Drivers for the Phidget Webservice on Windows are already included in the Core Drivers that you installed in the Getting Started guide for your specific Phidget Device. If you have a icon in your taskbar, you already have the Webservice drivers installed.

To learn how to use a Phidget over a network using the Webservice, you can move on to the general Webservice Instructions.

Common Problems and Solutions

Issue: Installing .NET 2.0 on Windows 2000.

Affected Operating Systems: Windows 2000

To install the Phidget Framework on Windows 2000 systems, the .NET 2.0 framework is required. Also, although not explicitly required to use Phidgets on a Windows system, Phidgets under the .NET languages can use .NET 2.0.

Solution: The Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable Package for (x86) and (x64) systems is freely available from www.microsoft.com. You will need to upgrade to at least Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 for the (x86) version.

Issue: A corrupt installation fails on removal or repair

Affected Operating Systems: Windows

Solution: In Windows, if the normal uninstall fails then the Phidget Framework can be manually uninstalled by following these steps:

1. Delete C:\Program Files\Phidgets\
2. Remove the Phidgets key from the Registry [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services PhidgetWebservice21].

In most cases this is enough to get the installer working again. If you need to remove all traces of the Phidgets libraries manually without using the uninstaller:

1. Shut down any programs using the Phidget libraries, including the webservice and the Phidget Control Panel.
2. Unregister the COM library: regsvr32 /u “C:\Program Files\Phidgets\Phidget21COM.dll”
3. Remove Phidget21.NET and Policy.2.1.Phidget21.NET from C:\Windows\Assembly\
4. Delete ‘C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Phidgets’ (WindowsXP) or ‘C:\Users\All Users\Phidgets’ (Vista).
5. Delete C:\Windows\system32\phidget21.dll
6. Delete Phidgets from the start menu
7. Delete C:\Program Files\Phidgets
8. Search for and remove keys mentioning Phidgets from the registry in the following locations:

• [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\]
• [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\]
• [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\AssemblyFolders\Phidgets Inc]
• [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\Phidget21Manager]
• [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Assemblies\Global\]

9. Reboot

NOTE: You can go through the registry and purge any other keys mentioning Phidgets if you still have problems, but at this point you should be able to reinstall under most cases. There will also be keys relating to the installer, the .NET library and the COM library, but they should not interfere with anything.

Issue: Some Logitech software prevents communication with Phidgets

Affected Operating Systems: Windows

Old Logitech drivers or software will sometimes mistakenly claim Phidget devices when waiting on some hardware to be connected. When this happens, the device shows up in the Phidget Control Panel at start up but examples and programs are unable to make a connection to the Phidget. This is known to occur with Logitech QuickCam and Force Feedback Mouse software.

Solution: Try shutting the offending Logitech application down or kill its process in the task manager when using Phidgets.

Issue: Event data is sporadic/slow/clumped over the webservice

Affected Operating Systems: Windows

Windows implements 200ms delayed ACKs for network traffic. When traffic is one-way only - as it is with event data, the data will all arrive in clumps every 200ms because of delayed ACKs.

This can be a great drawback for application which rely on low latency event data over the network. (source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/214397)

This delayed ACK behavior can be disabled in windows to decrease event latency as documented here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/328890

In the future, the Phidgets library may implement this differently, but so far we have been unable to match the performance achieved by disabling delayed ACK.

Limitations

List any limitations associated with running Phidgets with this OS.