What a good ballpark scope be for a SX and Prop projects for learning and debug
Mark Hubers
Posts: 19
I have been using the SX chip a lot now and I have been looking at the Propeller for high level controller in bigger projects to talk to SX chips for low level tasks. I know this is a little off track for this forum, but what I want to know with the 2 chips I been working with.. what would a OK size Oscilloscope should I get? Can I get away with a 60Mhz with 250MSa/s for doing mostly digital work? Some of my projects I need to start looking at filters and others things to clean up my signals to make it more stable. I am still new at electric and seem using a scope goes a long way in helping understanding what going on when you have problems. What is a good size scope for the SX and Propeller work? I know the SX can run at 50mhz and the Prop at 80mhz but does that really mean I need 3 time that speed to have a good reading? If i get this right... just about everything you code on the chip need a few steps of code to do anything helpful. Ex: Make RB.0 go on and off. Would take min of 3 ticks. so would that be 80mhz / 3 = around 27mhz. So would a 60mhz/ or 100mhz scope be OK for any project with the Prop or SX? Am i way off or do I have the right idea? Any help be great. Trying my best to learn this. I would love to get the best with many Ghz bandwidth and 5Ga/s but I would have to sell my house! [noparse];)[/noparse] So what a good min scope be?
Regards,
Mark
Regards,
Mark
Comments
A logic analyzer is what one needs to look at timing between various signals and as a function of time (digital), an o'scope is more for analog signals.· Anyway, I'm thinking about buying a logic analzer from http://www.saleae.com/logic/
but the parallax usb scope has been meeting my needs.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Bad spellers of the world untie!
I do own a Parallax scope but it just not cutting it for me. It does not seem to detect some of the real fast spikes. Plus it does not seem to work good at all on Vista as the thing just hang for few seconds and never can seem to get close to real time with it. I think it maybe due to Parallax scope is a older USB (1.1) and that makes it hard to use with Vista. I have spend hours trying to reset the software as it freeze or just not updating right on the screen. So I am force to get something better and it maybe due to Vista. (Do not get me started with Vista... ahhh) LOL
I have one of those high end "digital phosphorous" scopes that you refer to, and it has 500 MHz bandwidth as well as 5 Giga samples per second on each of the 4 channels.
But usually (99%) I have the bandwidth set to 20MHz to keep the sreen less noisy, and it works plenty good. But in my opinion the 4 channes are a "must".
I would trade bandwidth for channels any day..... way more useful for micro work. That said, for high speed work, the extra bandwidth is a real benefit.
Depending on your budget, get a "real" scope with an LCD screen. Color and higher resolution is nice but not mandatory...... but at least 4 channels. For serious work, and that seems to be your direction, the less costly 2 channel units are just not enough.
Just some ramblings from an old-timer.
Cheers,
Peter (pjv)
Bill
Post Edited (Capt. Quirk) : 1/25/2009 3:10:14 AM GMT
I like and use a Bitscope usb BSU100. Works great with SX and other PICs. Also has a logic analyzer and there are options for accesories such as freq generator. Runs very stable also under Vista which is surprising....
Web site is: WWW.BITSCOPE.COM
Hope this helps!
Ken
Just the kind of helpful info I was looking for. I may take the route of going 4 ports over Hi bandwidth and felt if i get something like a 60Mzh 4 port scope with 1Gs should over 99% of my needs it sounds like. Let's hope I can find a good value in a 4 port scope as they seem very costly too.
Thanks,
Mark