Help Using Propalyzer Logic Analyzer
rwgast_logicdesign
Posts: 1,464
Ok so recently Ive been just taking things slow and using the parallax Whats a MicroController kit to learn more about microcontrollers and hardware, basically its helping me fill in alot of gaps i have moving from a PC to the Propeller in a very easy to use fast language 
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Anyways to get the most out of most of the chapters and projects and make sure I have a thurough understanding I always take them further writing a Visual Basic front end or something of the sort, basically turning the books little project in to a full "product" if you will. Well I went through the servo chapter a while ago and havent moved on, the chapter introduces the first concepts of timing and digital pulses so I thought I would build a 5volt shifter for my propeller and use Propalyzer to view the timing. The thing is im not seeing at all what I excpected to see, and the LA doesnt work exactly like I thought. I took a screen shot becuase I dont know how to set up a trigger
theres no manual I missed for propalyzer is there?
So heres the screen shot I set the LA to 1ms, now with a servo to see a pulse and a space I would have thought I needed a full 20+ms capture.. so im not understanding why I see multiple pulses then lows. Also according to the timing at the top these lows are alot longer than 20ms which is how long the servo should stay low after the pulse.. I watched a new video at savage circuits about using an analyzer but the SALAE software he showed worked alot different it allowed you to set the bandwith. If anyone could maybe help me figure out how exactly to use this thing I would greatly appreciate it, Id like to understand it so I can watch the servo pulses and see how they work when I do cetain things, but im having a real problem understanding how timing in propalyzer works or something..
.Anyways to get the most out of most of the chapters and projects and make sure I have a thurough understanding I always take them further writing a Visual Basic front end or something of the sort, basically turning the books little project in to a full "product" if you will. Well I went through the servo chapter a while ago and havent moved on, the chapter introduces the first concepts of timing and digital pulses so I thought I would build a 5volt shifter for my propeller and use Propalyzer to view the timing. The thing is im not seeing at all what I excpected to see, and the LA doesnt work exactly like I thought. I took a screen shot becuase I dont know how to set up a trigger
theres no manual I missed for propalyzer is there?So heres the screen shot I set the LA to 1ms, now with a servo to see a pulse and a space I would have thought I needed a full 20+ms capture.. so im not understanding why I see multiple pulses then lows. Also according to the timing at the top these lows are alot longer than 20ms which is how long the servo should stay low after the pulse.. I watched a new video at savage circuits about using an analyzer but the SALAE software he showed worked alot different it allowed you to set the bandwith. If anyone could maybe help me figure out how exactly to use this thing I would greatly appreciate it, Id like to understand it so I can watch the servo pulses and see how they work when I do cetain things, but im having a real problem understanding how timing in propalyzer works or something..
1024 x 576 - 53K
Comments
There are 400+ 1ms samples displayed on your screen shot. Set the resolution to 100us or less.
Would you be so kind to explain how I can set up a simple trigger lets say something as simple as just waiting for the line to go hi? In continous mode the data moves by and theres no way I know of to view it after it passes... I thought those back forward buttons would do that but apparently not, is there a way to review a contious data stream?
Im sorry this is the only analyzer ive ever used
Yep, it's resolution, not screen. Hover help says: "Capture Sample Period - Affects display data only after capture. Resolution Propeller Code Dependent."
Capture a screen at a time using a Mask, Arm, and Trigger mechanism. Use forward/back to scroll on a zoomed screen.
Think of the mask as what you care to see or shoot with the gun analogy. Not all bits are relevant, so set the mask bits low for them. Only Mask high bits are the ones to shoot. The Arm mask is a starting state of the bits. The Trigger mask is the state to capture.
So, to capture a low to high change on bit 0:
1) set the mask to 0x00000001
2) set the arm to 0x00000000
3) set the trigger to 0x00000001
4) click the camera button
One can also use right-click in the window to set the arm and trigger.
No, that's what an Oscope does. Some logic analyzers can do that, but if we do that with Propeller, we loose the ability to get 100MHz sampling (with 6.25MHz crystal).
Propalyzer is very loosely based on the 16500 HP logic analyzer functions, but without the overwhelming-ness of that product. Honestly, though reading one of those manuals will not help much.
Like if im watching a continous stream and I see something I want to look at right then, the only way I know how to do this is hit stop. It whould be nice if you could rewind the screens that have passed, i would think the pc software would just have to save the data as it came in and then replay it in the window, propalyzer has no way to do this? I mean if you have 4 screens of data you need to look at once the first one passes its gone and taking a screen shot is the only way to see it again?
I will keep messing with it, im not seeing the data I excpected to see at all even at 10us, Im excpecting to see a 2ms hi then a 20ms low and instead im seeing alot off little his and lows and then a 20ms low..
Do you still have plans to release this?
I also have a bus pirate pirate wich can use SUMP at 1mhz bandwidth, are you familar with sump? maybe this would be a good first analyzer?
Being able to fill a buffer up to a trigger point and browse the history is a good feature, but I don't have time to add that feature. Unless you are just using a USB probe, Propeller code would be necessary of course, and it is possible.
The package was released in a thread where you asked about it last week. That's as far as i'm going with Propalyzer on .net as I explained there.
I'm not sure why you need Propalyzer if you have another package you already like to use.
Maybe you just need propeller code that would be compatible with the package?
That couldn't be too hard to develop, and I'm sure there are many PASM lovers here willing to help.