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Wither the PropScope ? — Parallax Forums

Wither the PropScope ?

CounterRotatingPropsCounterRotatingProps Posts: 1,132
edited 2017-04-21 23:58 in Accessories
Hi all, long long time no post.

I noticed that Hanno hasn't been here since 2014 --- which is about the last time I was here :-/

... and many of the (forum) propscope links are dead. (Including at least one on the still available (propscope product page scroll down to 'additional resources')

So I just discovered an old propscope lying little used for years in a box.

Is the propscope still supported ?

The (old?) drivers still listed are all Windows. Did anyone ever attempt making a driver / gui for Linux ?

It would be really neat to make a little scope box using an RPi and a TFT display. :)

thanks
- Howard in Florida

Comments

  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    PropScope is pretty much as it is when it came out. No upgrades at all. It still works great for me as is until I can afford one of the DSO that everybody has. :)
  • rbehmrbehm Posts: 102
    Just a shameless advertising:
    A while ago I created new software for the PropScope. It runs in Linux using Qt5. So should be portable to other systems.
    Since the interface protocol is nowhere documented I also created my own software on the scope. Up to now it uses only one COG with a max sapling rate of 1MHz.
    It can be found here https://github.com/rbehm-ibb/PropScope
  • VonSzarvasVonSzarvas Posts: 3,488
    Sounds fabulous. Could you post a screenshot?
  • iseriesiseries Posts: 1,496
    I originally purchased a DSO138 put together scope for checking signals. It was cheap and did the trick.

    I found out later that the scope was way to slow to capture the signals I needed and found the prop scope on sale.

    I was skeptical at first because I needed a faster scope and the prop scope said it samples at 25Mhz where the DSO only did 1Mhz.

    I purchase one and it works great. I was able to view the signals coming out of the STM32 chip to a WS2812b LED.

    Using the prop scope I got the correct timing down to drive this LED.

    Mike
  • rbehmrbehm Posts: 102
    VonSzarvas wrote: »
    Sounds fabulous. Could you post a screenshot?
    Look at the github page, there is .one.
    You can set several cursors (x, y) their positions are shown as values in the lower right.
    x.png
    888 x 636 - 80K
    cursor.png
    906 x 735 - 84K
  • DrPopDrPop Posts: 227
    Rbehm, that's just awesome. I've wondered for a while if there was a way to get the Propscope working in Linux. It would be neat to run it hooked up to a Pi or something fun like that. The Windows software it comes with is quite functional, but that requires at least something the size of a laptop. (Which isn't really a problem, just the other small, Linux form factors would be kind of fun for a project.)
  • rbehmrbehm Posts: 102
    DrPop wrote: »
    Rbehm, that's just awesome. I've wondered for a while if there was a way to get the Propscope working in Linux. It would be neat to run it hooked up to a Pi or something fun like that. The Windows software it comes with is quite functional, but that requires at least something the size of a laptop. (Which isn't really a problem, just the other small, Linux form factors would be kind of fun for a project.)
    I have not tried it yet, but I'm afraid that the current version of the GUI might be a too heavy burden on a low power CPU. The graphics eats a lot of power.
    Have never played with a Raspi before but I got one last week and will try it.

  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    Yep, graphics eats a lot of power.

    I suspect a high speed scope display can be created on the Rasperry Pi using Qt and OpenGL ES rendered directly to the frambuffer, no use of X Windows.

    A while back I did some experiments with Qt5, gles and the frame buffer on an old Pi 2. It's amazing what it can do.
  • rbehmrbehm Posts: 102
    edited 2017-11-10 04:58
    Heater. wrote: »
    Yep, graphics eats a lot of power.

    I suspect a high speed scope display can be created on the Rasperry Pi using Qt and OpenGL ES rendered directly to the frambuffer, no use of X Windows.

    A while back I did some experiments with Qt5, gles and the frame buffer on an old Pi 2. It's amazing what it can do.

    No doubt that's possible. But my current software relies on qcustomplot to do the waveform and scale drawing and it is a heavy load on the CPU.
    To switch to OpenGL would need a big rewrite. This is spare time project and currently I only invest time into it, when I need a feature.
    Before investing much time into a redesign for OpenGL I would first get the software on the propscope up to speed: use several COGs to get full 20MHz sampling.

    But hey, I made it open source. If anyone wants to chime in you are welcome.

  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    What is the highest frequency the Propscope can realistically work with? If it samples at 25 Mhz, then I assume it must be frequencies well below that. For example, suppose at least ten samples are required peak to peak. That would mean 2.5 Mhz would be the ceiling.

    So it would work fine for audio waves, AM broadcast band waves, an 1 Mhz digital, but not work for 10 Mhz frequencies. IS this correct?
  • DrPopDrPop Posts: 227
    Martin_H wrote: »
    What is the highest frequency the Propscope can realistically work with? If it samples at 25 Mhz, then I assume it must be frequencies well below that. For example, suppose at least ten samples are required peak to peak. That would mean 2.5 Mhz would be the ceiling.

    So it would work fine for audio waves, AM broadcast band waves, an 1 Mhz digital, but not work for 10 Mhz frequencies. IS this correct?

    If no one has the answer off the top of their head, since I own one, is there a fairly simple way I could test this for you and let you know the result?
  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    DrPop wrote: »
    If no one has the answer off the top of their head, since I own one, is there a fairly simple way I could test this for you and let you know the result?

    Do you have the ability to generate a 2, 5, and 10 Mhz sine waves? If the scope is limited to 2.5 Mhz and below the first one should look good, and the others will look distorted or alias to a lower frequency sine waves.
  • DrPopDrPop Posts: 227
    Martin_H wrote: »

    Do you have the ability to generate a 2, 5, and 10 Mhz sine waves? If the scope is limited to 2.5 Mhz and below the first one should look good, and the others will look distorted or alias to a lower frequency sine waves.

    Sorry for my ignorance, I only ever used the scope to check a signal wire on a truck transmission. Could I generate those with the included DAC card? It says it has "Function generator outputs configurable waveforms between -1.5 to 1.5V and 0 to 5V "
  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    I don't know the limits on the function generator, but it's frequency I am concerned about, not amplitude.
  • iseriesiseries Posts: 1,496
    Ok, I wrote a program that does high then low and repeats on the flip chip and this is what the scope shows.

    highlow.png

    Mike
    highlow.png
    782 x 518 - 113K
  • kuismakuisma Posts: 134
    edited 2018-02-01 14:33
    rbehm wrote: »
    Just a shameless advertising:
    A while ago I created new software for the PropScope. It runs in Linux using Qt5. So should be portable to other systems.
    Since the interface protocol is nowhere documented I also created my own software on the scope. Up to now it uses only one COG with a max sapling rate of 1MHz.
    It can be found here https://github.com/rbehm-ibb/PropScope

    Got any Makefile for your project? I'd like to compile, but can only find a bunch of source code files in your git repo.

    Never mind, realized you used qmake. :-) How about the templates..?
  • rbehmrbehm Posts: 102
    kuisma wrote: »
    rbehm wrote: »
    Just a shameless advertising:
    A while ago I created new software for the PropScope. It runs in Linux using Qt5. So should be portable to other systems.
    Since the interface protocol is nowhere documented I also created my own software on the scope. Up to now it uses only one COG with a max sapling rate of 1MHz.
    It can be found here https://github.com/rbehm-ibb/PropScope

    Got any Makefile for your project? I'd like to compile, but can only find a bunch of source code files in your git repo.

    Never mind, realized you used qmake. :-) How about the templates..?
    Everything is in the repo.

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