Logic analyzer...

[DrunkenDonkey]

Hey guys, days left till I get my board finally and I'm more and more thinking I shall have some LA too. Having some very limited budged, I checked some analyzers up to $200, of course the cheaper the better and can't really decide. So far:

1. Zeroplus LAP-C16032 - $120
+16 channels
+100MHz
+can decode lot of stuff (with added payment)
-small memory (32k samples/chan)
-very limited triggering capabilities

2. Open Logic Sniffer - $55
+16/32 channels
+200Mhz
+good triggering
-small memory (16k samples/chan)
-software? the official java client is just dead, the alternative crashed with some java exception and just refused to start (java 1.7)

3. USBee AX - $170
+unlimited recording
+great software with ability to easily decode various protocols
-8 channels
-24Mhz
-depends on the usb speed you can have data loss

4. Saleae Logic 8 - $150
+unlimited recording
+great software with ability to easily decode various protocols
-8 channels
-24Mhz
-depends on the usb speed you can have data loss

Now the question to people actually worked in the area - comparing speed vs samples size, is the unlimited size a bigger factor in the development? Is internal buffering enough for most tasks? I'm leaning towards Open Logic Sniffer, hoping the software can run somehow, will build from source the newest to try, any comments/recommendations?

[mobyfab]

Have you considered the DSO Quad?

http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/dso-qu ... ?cPath=174

It's a pocket oscilloscope that you can plug to your pc, it does logic analyzing as well. (but only 4 channels)

edit: actually this is not yet implemented, so forget it

[Giovanni]

For typical application I had no problems with the 32K buffer, that "unlimited" is dangerous IMO and 24MHz is not enough even for an SPI.

Giovanni

[DrunkenDonkey]

Spent last 8 or so hours reading about analyzers and guess what decision I came to? That's right - nothing. Every one have pros and cons and I can't really decide. Starting leaning towards http://www.saleae.com/logic16/, true, it is whole bunch of money, but allows for unlimited streaming and can follow up on extensive communication. 100mhz capture rate (at best, 2ch) should be enough? I don't have any fast communication planned, some lazy i2c, some bit more intensive spi and mostly uart.

[DrunkenDonkey]

I've got another winner on the table, previously dispatched due to inability to decode I2C, which he got via (beta) plugins yesterday: http://www.quantasylum.com/content/Products/QA100.aspx
Huge buffers and the mix of real oscilloscope/LA looks like a win?

Thing is, I'm so newbie so asking for an advice if you see anything blatantly bad with that QA100 thingy?

[Badger]

Which alternative client were you using? As long as Java works I've found it easy to use the Open Logic Sniffer, and it goes up to 200Mhz, 24k samples in the latest firmware. Plus it's so cheap..

[DrunkenDonkey]

That one - http://www.lxtreme.nl/ols/
Eclipse and other java stuff works, but it crashes. I guess if I download the source/other required stuff it will work. I'm very tempted about OLS too, but they don't even have clips/cables and finding good ones proved to be a problem by the look of forum posts, I have a day-2 more to think about it

[Badger]

Fair point about the probes, the cheapo ones on seeed are pretty naff. One day I'll get a decent set.. Have you tried running the client from the command line and seeing what errors java spits out?

[DrunkenDonkey]

Code: Select all

G:\temp\ols-0.9.4>java -Xmx1024m -Dnl.lxtreme.ols.bundle.dir="G:\temp\ols-0.9.4\\plugins" -DPlastic.defaultTheme=SkyBluer -cp "G:\temp\ols-0.9.4\\bin\*" nl.lxtreme.ols.runner.Runner
Error: Could not find or load main class G:\temp\ols-0.9.4\\bin\org.apache.felix.configadmin-1.2.8.jar

Thats the error, why it can't find its main class is beyond me

[kulve]

I bought the Saleae Logic some time ago mainly because it supports Linux officially with its java GUI. It has worked perfectly for my simple uses cases (uart, spi, i2c).

Friend of mine is recommending always the Open Logic Sniffer. It has better features and it's a lot cheaper than the Saleae. I don't know anything about the GUI side though.