I have one of those devices. I'm not satisfied with it. First, the good: the java interface does work in Linux. And it is pretty cheap.
The bad: almost everything else. I was particularly frustrated when I was initially trying to debug my 1.8V<>5V level shifter & hm2_spi driver this summer. The probes I have are simple passive clip-ons with unshielded cables (.100-pitch ribbon cable). There's only one ground for each 8 channels. Consequently, it's very easy for one signal to be cross-coupled into another. Unused channels simply float unless you take care to ground them, so they either see just plain noise or a mangled version of the next-door channel. There's no control over reference voltages, so while you may be able to use it with 3.3V and 5V input signals, there's no way to set it so that it has the same response characteristics as whatever logic family you're actually using. And no go if you are working with a lower voltage than that. (it uses a MC74LCX16245 transceiver and a 3.3V nominal Vcc, so V_IH ~ 2.0V and V_IL ~ .8V) I was ultimately able to use this device to scope my SPI signals after the conversion to 5V, but only by designing my board with a header *just for* the OLS, using channels 0,2,4,6 for the four signals of interest and grounds on channels 1,3,5,7 (plus the ground to the outside of channel 0) and at low SPI clock rates like 4/8/12MHz. And the SPI signal analysis mode of the java software actually worked! It's probably a much more adequate device if you're working with consistent high drive strength 5V signals (like you'd have on the outputs of an AVR, for instance) and lower speeds can't hurt (I would have liked to scope a SPI signal with a ~40MHz clock but that just wasn't going to happen) Jeff ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Meet PCI DSS 3.0 Compliance Requirements with EventLog Analyzer Achieve PCI DSS 3.0 Compliant Status with Out-of-the-box PCI DSS Reports Are you Audit-Ready for PCI DSS 3.0 Compliance? Download White paper Comply to PCI DSS 3.0 Requirement 10 and 11.5 with EventLog Analyzer http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=154622311&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
