Three New, 32-Bit, NativeMode Windows 95 Driver Software Packages Give PCs
HighPerformance Data Acquisition and Instrument Control Capability

National Instruments Web Site Highlights Windows 95

AUSTIN, TEXAS - SEPT. 22, 1995 - National Instruments - The Virtual
Instrumentation Company - announced today native, 32-bit Windows 95
versions of its NIDAQR driver software for data acquisition (DAQ)
applications, multitasking NI488.2M driver software for IEEE 488 (GPIB)
applications, and NIVXI driver software for VXI applications. Scientists
and engineers can use these driver software packages with traditional
programming languages or the company's newly announced native Windows 95
versions of LabVIEWR and LabWindowsR/CVI application software and
instrument control and data acquisition hardware - including PCI-based and
Plug and Play-compatible interfaces - to build high-performance
instrumentation systems on Windows 95 PCs.

The 32bit versions of the driver software take advantage of improved
interrupt latencies and lower system overhead. When used with the native
Windows 95 versions of LabVIEW and LabWindows/CVI, users benefit from the
performance advantages of Windows 95 as well as an improved user
interface, a more robust 32bit architecture, long filenames, and OLE
automation.

NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS WEB SITE HIGHLIGHTS WINDOWS 95

The National Instruments InstrumentationWeb features updated information on
the LabVIEW and LabWindows/CVI Windows 95 Preview Program as well as
information on hardware and driver software that will take advantage of
Windows 95, including the company's line of Plug and Play boards for DAQ,
GPIB, VXI, and serial (RS232/485). Users can reach the site at
http://www.natinst.com/win95.htm. Browsers can link to the Microsoft
Windows 95 web site from the National Instruments Windows 95 web site.

ABOUT NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

National Instruments, headquartered in Austin, Texas, manufactures software
and hardware products for PCs and workstations that scientists and
engineers worldwide use to build virtual instrumentation systems. These
systems are used for research and industrial applications, such as
automated testing, laboratory automation, advanced research, industrial
control, factory automation, physiological monitoring, numerical analysis,
and data visualization.

National Instruments stock is traded on the NASDAQ National Market System
under the symbol NATI. Further information on National Instruments may be
obtained from the company's SEC filings or by directly contacting the
company's Investor Relations Department at (512) 3495090.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

For more information, contact National Instruments, 6504 Bridge Point
Parkway, Austin, Texas 787305039, (512) 7940100. Or call toll free in the
U.S. and Canada at (800) 4333488, fax (512) 7948411, email
info@natinst.com. Readers can also access information through the National
Instruments InstrumentationWeb at http://www.natinst.com/

ABOUT NIDAQR FOR WINDOWS 95

The NIDAQ software for Windows 95 takes full advantage of the 32- bit
Windows 95 operating system. Rather than converting from a 32- bit
application to a 16-bit dynamic link library (DLL), called "thunking, "
the NIDAQ software has been completely rearchitected as a 32-bit driver
and DLL, with direct access to the hardware device registry, called the
Device Manager, which is the central configuration utility for all Windows
95 hardware interfaces. NIDAQ gives users a single interface for
communicating with the company's DAQ hardware and complete control of all
hardware functionality. It acts as an operating system with standard I/O
routines, a Resource Manager, and a data and buffer manager for DAQ boards
that give analog, digital, and timing I/O capabilities to PC/XT/AT, PCI,
PCMCIA, and EISA computers. It controls all of the company's DAQ products,
including E Series boards, PCMCIA DAQCards, parallel port DAQPads, and
Plug and Play products. NIDAQ also features messaging, OLE Custom
Controls, user-available register reads and writes, and an operating
system- independent API.

MESSAGING

With messaging, NIDAQ can acquire data in the background while a foreground
process is running. NIDAQ notifies Windows 95 applications when
user-specified events occur, so the need for continuous polling of the
data acquisition process is eliminated. User-specified events include
completion of a data acquisition operation, acquisition of a certain
number of samples, and data exceeding a threshold or meeting a trigger
condition.

OLE CUSTOM CONTROLS

NIDAQ adds three custom OLE controls that execute in response to data
acquisition events. The custom controls respond to events, such as when a
user-defined number of analog samples were acquired on a specific channel
or when all channels have acquired the required amount of data.
Applications written in 16-bit Visual Basic 3.0 using VBXs can be upgraded
to 32-bit Visual Basic Version 4.0 using the OLE Custom Controls (OCXs)
without any code modifications.

REGISTER-LEVEL READS AND WRITES

With NIDAQ, users can perform register-level reads and writes and make
NIDAQ calls within the same application. NIDAQ monitors the state of the
registers and maintains the integrity of NIDAQ calls. Users can alter bit
settings directly without worrying that subsequent NIDAQ calls will erase
their settings.

OPERATING SYSTEM-INDEPENDENT API

The NIDAQ function calls are the same for a variety of operating systems.
This makes porting of applications from Windows 3.x to Windows 95
extremely easy as no code modification is necessary.

ABOUT NI488.2M FOR WINDOWS 95

The NI488.2M software for Windows 95 takes full advantage of the 32-bit
Windows 95 operating system. Rather than converting from a 32-bit
application to a 16-bit GPIB DLL ("thunking"), the NI488.2M software for
Windows 95 has been completely rearchitected as a 32bit kernel-level
driver with direct access to the hardware device registry, called the
Device Manager, which is the central configuration utility for all Windows
95 hardware interfaces. With this software, National Instruments Plug and
Play compatible interfaces for GPIB - ATGPIB/TNT (Plug and Play),
ATGPIB/TNT+, PCMCIAGPIB, PCMCIAGPIB+, and PCIGPIB - are completely
installed and configured by the operating system on boot up. GPIB-specific
information is also configurable from the Device Manager, replacing a
separate GPIB configuration utility. Users can install other interfaces,
such as the legacy ATGPIB/TNT, using the Windows 95 Add New Hardware
utility and configure the hardware settings in the Device Manager.

SINGLE DRIVER CONTROLS SEVERAL INTERFACE TYPES

A key feature of the NI488.2M software for Windows 95 is the ability to
control several GPIB interface types with a single installed driver. For
example, users can mix and match an ATGPIB/TNT (PnP), PCMCIAGPIB, and
PCIGPIB in the same PC using the same NI488.2M driver. Applications
developed using previous versions of the company's NI488.2 software are
compatible with NI488.2M software for Windows 95. Users who change their
GPIB interface requirements need only change the hardware. This
functionality was previously unavailable in the NI488.2 software for DOS
and Windows and is unique on PC platforms.

The NI488.2M software for Windows 95 is completely compatible with existing
Win16 and Win32 applications. The NI488.2M software for Windows 95
includes conversion DLLs so compiled Windows (Win16) applications can run
with the NI488.2M software without modification.

For existing NI488.2 software users, upgrades to the NI488.2M software for
Windows 95 will be available for a nominal charge. Kits that include both
GPIB hardware and NI488.2M software will also be available.

ABOUT NIVXI FOR WINDOWS 95

The NIVXI software for Windows 95 takes full advantage of the 32- bit
Windows 95 operating system. Rather than converting from a 32- bit
application to a 16-bit GPIB DLL ("thunking"), the NIVXI software for
Windows 95 has been completely rearchitected as a 32-bit kernel-level
driver with direct access to the hardware device registry, called the
Device Manager, which is the central configuration utility for all Windows
95 hardware interfaces. With this software, National Instruments Plug and
Play-compatible interfaces for the company's PCI-MXI-2 and AT-MXI-2
MXIbus-based controllers are completely installed and configured by the
operating system on boot up. Users can install other interfaces, such as
the company's ATMXI, using the Windows 95 Add New Hardware utility and
configure the hardware settings in the Device Manager.

NIVXI software for Windows 95 is completely compatible with existing Win16
and Win32 applications. The NIVXI software for Windows 95 includes
conversion DLLs so compiled Windows (Win16) applications can run with the
NIVXI software without modification.

The VXIplug&play-compliant NIVXI software includes the Win32 VISA
Transition Library, called NIVTL. With NIVTL, users can run all
VXIplug&play software including executable soft front panels and
instrument drivers. NIVXI is also completely compatible with the company's
VXIplug&play-compliant software packages, LabVIEWR and LabWindowsR/CVI.

For existing NIVXI software users, upgrades to the NIVXI software for
Windows 95 will be available for $295. Kits that include both VXI hardware
and NIVXI software will also be available.
 
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