Mac OS X 64-bit Kernel and Rosetta Compatibility with National Instruments Drivers

National Instruments recognizes the need for its products to support the default Mac configuration. As such, we have made new drivers that are 64-bit kernel compatible and not dependent on Rosetta. The table below lists the first version of the drivers that you can install on Mac OS X 10.7 and Mac OS X 10.8. 

Driver	Mac OS X 10.7	Mac OS X 10.8
NI-DAQmx Base	3.5	3.6
NI-VISA	5.1.1	5.3
NI-488.2	3.0.1	3.0.1

For issues installing on Mac OS X 10.8, see Why Can't I Run National Instruments Installers From the Internet on Mac OS X 10.8?

Background:
A computer that is booted into a 64-bit kernel can still run 32-bit applications. However, it cannot load 32-bit loadable kernel extension (kexts on Mac OS X). A driver that interacts with hardware requires a kext and older versions of National Instruments Mac OS X drivers use 32-bit kexts.

Some computers that shipped with Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6) and all computers running Mac OS X Lion (10.7) or Mac OS X Mountain Lion (10.8) boot into a 64-bit kernel by default. If you wish to install the drivers older than the versions listed above on a computer that boots a 64-bit kernel by default, you will need to boot the system into 32-bit kernel mode. This can be accomplished by holding down 2 and 3 during boot on computers running Mac OS X 10.6 or Mac OS X 10.7. The 32-bit kernel is not available with Mac OS X 10.8.

Rosetta is no longer supported in Mac OS X 10.7 or later. Because previous versions of NI-488.2 use Rosetta, some components will not work even if booted into 32-bit kernel mode.