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PropScope software for Raspberry Pi? — Parallax Forums

PropScope software for Raspberry Pi?

Bill HenningBill Henning Posts: 6,445
edited 2015-05-13 07:45 in Accessories
I have no idea how feasible this would be, but its an idea...

Comments

  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2015-05-09 16:40
    Bill Henning wrote: »
    I have no idea how feasible this would be, but its an idea...
    Bill,

    I guess that would all be in Hanno's court. I don't believe Parallax owns the Firmware.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2015-05-10 10:03
    Very feasible Bill. If you know the protocol.

    I would want to do it using the Qt GUI frame work. As used by SimpleIDE/ProellerIDE.

    For speed, of display at least, I might want to use opengl to draw the scope display. I kind of like running Qt apps using GLES full screen on the Pi, no X Windows.

    However, another attractive option is to use a browser as the display. Like Phil's web oscilloscope. One could use webgl for speedy rendering. I don't think any Pi browsers are up to it but the webview component in Qt should be. Then you have the bonus of remote display over the web.
  • TorTor Posts: 2,010
    edited 2015-05-10 10:10
    The problem is in the "if you know the protocol", without that you can't do anything with the rest. And the protocol (in its widest meaning, i.e. how to control all the aspects of the PropScope) is not known.

    -Tor
  • Bill HenningBill Henning Posts: 6,445
    edited 2015-05-11 08:22
    Thanks for the responses guys.

    I think Parallax / Hanno could move quite a few PropScope's to the Pi market, heck the Linux market in general, as few scopes are supported on Linux (see sigrok.org)

    As a matter of fact, it should not be too difficult for Hanno or Parallax to get PropScope support added to sigrok...
  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2015-05-11 08:54
    Bill Henning wrote: »
    Thanks for the responses guys.

    I think Parallax / Hanno could move quite a few PropScope's to the Pi market, heck the Linux market in general, as few scopes are supported on Linux (see sigrok.org)

    As a matter of fact, it should not be too difficult for Hanno or Parallax to get PropScope support added to sigrok...

    I think Ken would have to chime in, (not that he has nothing to do :) ) about who officially owns the code to the PropScope. You may also ask Hanno at his website:

    http://onerobot.org/forums/

    It think it's a great idea, and if Parallax or Hanno picks up on it, it would be awesome to put the Propeller name out there.

    Jim
  • Bill HenningBill Henning Posts: 6,445
    edited 2015-05-11 10:15
    Thanks... Good idea... I emailed Hanno...
  • David CarrierDavid Carrier Posts: 294
    edited 2015-05-11 11:25
    While Hanno's code is not open source, the code we have used inside Parallax is open source and available from here: http://code.google.com/p/open-scope/source/browse/#svn%2Ftrunk%2FFirmware. There was some work on furthering it here: http://propellerpowered.com/forum/index.php?board=8.0

    The assembly code is a proof of concept, but needs some work before being feature complete. The architecture of the sampling code varies significantly from the firmware Hanno's PropScope software uses. Hanno's firmware samples into cog RAM and uses a single cog for trigger detection. The open-source code samples to hub RAM and each cog checks for a trigger event.

    — David Carrier
    Parallax Inc.
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,173
    edited 2015-05-11 18:12
    David Carrier wrote: »
    .... The open-source code samples to hub RAM and each cog checks for a trigger event.

    Sounds good.
    The Prop should also be well suited to compressed Logic probe design, where edges are stored as timestamps, instead of a streaming-sample-capture
    Add one of these SIT5000AICGD-33N0-25.000000Y with /4 ( maybe 17c 74HC393BQ,115, or faster VHC393 ?) into the Prop, and you get some serious (trimmable!) timebase precision, at reasonable cost.
    Plus > 100MHz Frequency Counter ability.
  • David CarrierDavid Carrier Posts: 294
    edited 2015-05-11 19:12
    jmg,
    For capturing timestamped changes in digital signals, you could modify the ReadPulseWidths.Spin file in the Eddie Firmware to directly store the pin states and system counter values, instead of the differences as it now does.

    — David Carrier
    Parallax Inc.
  • HannoHanno Posts: 1,130
    edited 2015-05-12 14:46
    Hi Bill,
    Long time!
    The original design goal for PropScope was as a powerful electronics tool for hobbyists, educators and industry- windows only, closed source. To achieve high performance, I developed a design where the majority of the complexity and computation is on the PC, the Propeller does as little as possible. I believe a different software design is required to let PropScope easily interoperate with other projects. Eddie's code and the open source hardware should provide good starting points. I do doubt that adding linux/pi support would increase demand, instead I would prefer to see additional hardware adapters. That's a proven and more lucrative market.
    Hanno
  • Bill HenningBill Henning Posts: 6,445
    edited 2015-05-13 07:45
    Hi Hanno... too long time!

    No worries, I just thought it might expand your market, as I'd like to see you sell more PropScopes :)
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