How to get a CentOS 7 machine running with a National Instruments PCI-GPIB card and NI-VISA, starting with a fresh CentOS install

instructions_for_pci_gpib_on_centos_7

# How to get a CentOS 7 machine running with a National Instruments
# PCI-GPIB card and NI-VISA, starting with a fresh CentOS install
#
# Jim Martin, University of Waterloo, June 23rd, 2017.
#
# Some of the "reboot"s in the following recipe may not be necessary.
# This document is written in a "script" style, but all commands should be 
# copied from here, and run on the command line, answering prompts and
# observing output.
#
# Install PCI-GPIB card in computer.
# Install CentOS to harddrive on computer from DVD
# (I used CentOS-7-x86_64-DVD-1611.iso
# with: sha256sum CentOS-7-x86_64-DVD-1611.iso
# returning:
#   c455ee948e872ad2194bdddd39045b83634e8613249182b88f549bb2319d97eb
# in agreement with sha256 listed at::
#   https://wiki.centos.org/Manuals/ReleaseNotes/CentOS7
#
# If you are going to be reinstalling repeatedly, or on multiple machines,
# you should consider the use of "Kickstart" to give automatic responses to
# the CentOS installer queries.
#
# Log in as root after all following reboots.
#
cat /etc/centos-release  # gives: "CentOS Linux release 7.3.1611 (Core)"
uname -r # gives: "3.10.0-514.el7.x86_64"
#
# "PackageKit" interferes with yum; see: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/196078/how-to-avoid-yum-lock-hassle
# Get rid of it:
  systemctl stop packagekit
  systemctl disable packagekit
  sudo yum remove PackageKit
#
# get everything up to date.  Future installations may need to inhibit
# kernel updates (see end of these notes) before running updating.
  yum update
#
# Install 32 bit versions of some libraries required for National Instruments:
  yum install libstdc++.i686 libXinerama.i686 mesa-libGL.i686
# If these 32 bit libraries are not installed errors will typically be:
#   Can't load library /usr/local/lib/liblvrt.so.15.0
#   libXinerama.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
#   To download the LabVIEW Runtime engine, goto ...
# In this case the LabVIEW Runtime engine should NOT be downloaded,
# but instead the 32 bit libraries (above).
#
  lspci -v # gives (partial):
# 09:00.0 Communication controller: National Instruments PCI-GPIB (rev 01)
#	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 16, IRQ 11
#	Memory at fb209000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
#	Memory at fb204000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
#	Expansion ROM at fb200000 [disabled] [size=16K]
# Note that there is no "Kernel driver in use:" or "Kernel module:" lines.
  reboot
#
  uname -r # gives (changed since first boot): "3.10.0-514.21.2.el7.x86_64"
#
# Download or copy from external media, putting on ~/Desktop:
#   NIKAL151.iso        
#   NI4882-15.1.1f0.iso	
#   NI-VISA-16.0.0.iso  # 17.0 is available, but 16.0 worked.
# see:
#   http://www.ni.com/download/ni-kal-15.1/6549/en/
#   http://www.ni.com/download/ni-488.2---linux-15.1.1/5926/en/
#   http://www.ni.com/download/ni-visa-16.0/6185/en/
# I logged in to my NI account in my browser, and then from the command line:
  cd ~/Desktop
  wget http://ftp.ni.com/support/softlib/kal/15.1/NIKAL151.iso
  wget  http://ftp.ni.com/support/softlib/gpib/linux/15.1/patch/NI4882-15.1.1f0.iso
  wget http://ftp.ni.com/support/softlib/visa/NI-VISA/16.0/Linux/NI-VISA-16.0.0.iso
# Check downloads:
  md5sum NIKAL151.iso # returns: b42b45a99c5fbe31f9f9c1bf8b1f8862  
  md5sum NI4882-15.1.1f0.iso # returns: 7974cebc3db83772b28507162cd5f97b
  md5sum NI-VISA-16.0.0.iso # returns: 7bd345779ce11ff79d5cb970d3bf99b3
#
# Install NI-KAL:
  mkdir ~/Desktop/mount_location
  cd ~/Desktop/
  sudo mount -o loop NIKAL151.iso mount_location
  cd mount_location/
  ./INSTALL # a few prompts regarding license etc...
  lspci -v # (unchanged since before last boot)
  reboot
#
# Install NI-488.2:
  cd ~/Desktop/
  sudo mount -o loop NI4882-15.1.1f0.iso mount_location
  cd mount_location/
  ./INSTALL  # at the end the system queries for reboot.  Select "yes".
# After reboot:
  lspci -v # gives (partial; note additional "Kernel driver in use:" line)
#  09:00.0 Communication controller: National Instruments PCI-GPIB (rev 01)
#	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 255, IRQ 18
#	Memory at fb209000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
#	Memory at fb204000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
#	Expansion ROM at fb200000 [disabled] [size=16K]
#	Kernel driver in use: ni488
  gpibtsw # should pop up a window "NI-488.2 Trouble Shooting Wizard"
# showing: GPIB Name: GPIB0, Interface Type: PCI-GPIB , Status: Passed
#
# Install NI-VISA:
  cd ~/Desktop/
  sudo mount -o loop NI-VISA-16.0.0.iso mount_location
  cd mount_location/
  ./INSTALL
  reboot
#
# Everything should be working:
  lspci -v # same output as before boot
  gpibtsw # same behaviour as before boot
  NIvisaic # should show "GPIB Miscellaneous Resources -> GPIB0::INTFC"
           # if an instrument on the GPIB bus is turned on
           # and "Refresh" is hit, you should see something *like*:
           # GPIB Instrument Resources -> GPIB0::7::INSTR
           # Selecting instrument and trying "Input/Output", "*IDN?\n"
           # should return something, assuming *IDN? is a valid command for
           # the instrument.
# Success!!!
#
# To avoid kernel updates, consider editing /etc/yum.conf
# as described at: https://access.redhat.com/solutions/10185