New USB Oscilloscope Software?

M Bush

I was perusing the 2006 catalog last night, and I noticed the following on page 18:

"Parallax developed a new version of our USB Oscilloscope software scheduled for a January 2006 release.· The new software is compatible with all versions of the Parallax USB Oscilloscope.· The new software has been redesigned in Delphi, providing a new architecture with a 25% increase in data point frequency plotting.· The improved plotting ability is more fluid and responsive with improved user controls."

I was wondering what is the status of this software?· Any estimated release dates yet?

Thanks,

Mike

Doug Pientak

Hello,
I am currently working on the final changes on the new software.· This project got derailed due to going lead free on our product line.· But now that I am back on this full-time it should be done in the next month to six weeks.·
If you are interested in being a beta tester email me at dpientak@parallax.com.· This will get it in your hands a little faster and help me test the software.·
Thanks,
Doug - Parallax Engineering

M Bush

Doug,

Any progress on the new software? I'm still interested in beta testing if you need it.

Thanks!

M Bush

(bump)

Forum mods - does Mr. Pientak still work for Parallax? I have been unable to get any kind of reply from him via e-mail. Is this project dead now?

Thanks,

Mike

dandreae

Yes, Mr. Pientak still works for Parallax.· However, he is very busy at the moment.· The new software has not been released as of yet.·

Dave

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Dave Andreae

Parallax Tech Support·

Ken Gracey

Doug's been working on this new software nearly all summer. It's his main priority. It's a challenging project and I've heard about different aspects of it from him.

Like you, we can't wait for him to get it finished so he can move on to other projects. Some of the neat things Doug has designed include the Ping))), USB Oscilloscope and HB55B Graphical Software.

Doug, the troops are getting restless!!

Ken Gracey
Parallax, Inc.

M Bush

Bump.· Just checking on the USB 'scope software.

Thanks,

Mike

Ken Gracey

Timely request.

You should see it on the web on Tuesday, next week!

Ken Gracey
Parallax, Inc.

Russ Ferguson

I see that the "Parallax USB Oscilloscope Software v5.0" is posted. http://www.parallax.com/html_pages/downloads/software/scope.asp

Great news! A big thank you to·Doug.

PAR

I see that the "Parallax USB Oscilloscope Software v5.0" is posted. http://www.parallax.com/html_pages/downloads/software/scope.asp

Correction: in Trigger menu, "Trigger Position" is misspelled.

Johngeek

Is there a "calibrate?· Or are the probes REALLY generating 40mV when "grounded?"

I appreciate the effort, but at this point, I like the older software better.· Calibrate function is really needed, and the "auto measurements" are kind of handy once you get used to them.

Post Edited (Johngeek) : 1/24/2007 7:07:56 PM GMT

Ken G

So I dug up the parallax scope that my school bought......
the 4.0 version of the software seems quite superior to the 5.0........
however i cant seem to find any much needed math functions. like ch1 - ch2 or vice versa......
we use this function in all of our electrical labs......
help!

ramgarjun

I'm having trouble with my P-USB-Oscope. Version 4.0 indicates not connected, even though it is on the correct COM port. Version 5.0 has a crossed out USB icon. Hardware devices show a USB com port 5. Any ideas?

Bean

The old software allowed you to export the data points to an excel file. I don't see that in the new software.
Even a comma delimited file would be fine, but I don't see ANY way to get the data points into a file.
I'm I missing it somewhere ?

Bean.

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Cheap used 4-digit LED display with driver IC·www.hc4led.com

Low power SD Data Logger www.sddatalogger.com
SX-Video Display Modules www.sxvm.com
Coming soon! Propeller based OSD module www.hittconsulting.com
·

Martin Hebel

Hi Terry,

From their download page:

What's not finished?

• Auto Measurements
• Calibration
• Auto Setting Save
• Export Data
• On-line Help

-Martin


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StampPlot - GUI and Plotting, and XBee Wireless Adapters
Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Electronic Systems Technologies

Bean

Thanks Martin,
I didn't notice that.

Bean.

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Cheap used 4-digit LED display with driver IC·www.hc4led.com

Low power SD Data Logger www.sddatalogger.com
SX-Video Display Modules www.sxvm.com
Coming soon! Propeller based OSD module www.hittconsulting.com
·

CCraig

Ramgarjun,

Sounds like you didn't load the FTDI drivers. They are required.

ramgarjun

Yes, they were loaded, but they did not work. It showed up under hardware devices as COM5, but said location 0. When it works it says "location on FTDI FT8U2XX Device". I tried the updating method, it did not work. I had to uninstall them and reinstall them.

How I got it working, but it's a crappy workaround I have to do every single time I use it.

1. Remove FTDI drivers.
2. Reboot.
3. Connect USB Oscope.
4. Allow Windows to automatically install drivers (reinstalls FTDI).
5. Reboot again.
6. Start Oscope program.
7. Yay! It works, until it freezes up, or you reboot, or log in as a different user, or who knows what else.

Tech support did not have any ideas as to debugging this Windows/Software driver issue. They probably test on a Windows box and all it has is this one program on it. Real world computers like mine have loads of usb peripherals and other software that could potentially interfere with their drivers. They could offer work arounds and eventual software fixes to such annoyances by testing on real world systems.

Chris Savage

Hello,

Actually my PC in Tech Support has over 8 USB devices attached, including 2 USB to 232 adapters and 2 USB BOE Boards. Plus the USB Scope and a second line for testing any RMA scopes we get. I also have a memory card reader attached and the BASIC Stamp Logic Analyzer. All these items work together great.·You mentioned FT8U2XX device which makes me believe you have the wrong drivers installed. I would recommend using the FTRemove utility to remove all traces of the driver (all FTDI USB hardware must be disconnected) and install the driver from our website located at the link below. Take care.

http://www.parallax.com/html_pages/downloads/software/ftdi_drivers.asp

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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support

ramgarjun

I don't know where the wrong drivers would come from. I uninstalled 4.0, 5.0, and the FTDI drivers, then reinstalled just 5.0 which installs the FTDI drivers. If 5.0 installs the wrong drivers, well then there is a problem somewhere.
·
My real world pc has a Saitek gamepad, logitech keyboard-mouse-webcam, Starview USB kvm share, Treo 650 cradle, HP officejet, SanDisk SD reader, and occasionally my Canon Powershot, plus lots of software.
·
I'm not familiar with this FTRemove utility, I'll search your site for it. But when I called back tech support to cancel the RMA on my Oscope because I got it working on another PC, I was looking for this kind of feedback to help me debug,·I did not get much.
·
Perhaps you can gather such tips onto one webpage and have tech support point customers to it, rather than leaving us hanging. I bought the Oscope to debug my electronic circuits not to debug Windows. So anything to help your customers quickly debug Windows driver problems so that they can use your product would be advantageous.

ramgarjun

I Googled for "FTRemove utility" on·the web and nothing. I Googled for "ftdi Remove utility site[noparse]:p[/noparse]arallax.com" and mostly got forum threads, one of which mentioned that the FTDI driver was finicky. Some guy was having similar problems to me, but he had the propellor product.

Do you mind posting a link to this FTRemove utility? Thanks

ramgarjun

I just installed the FTDI drivers from the link you provided and now it says COM5 location is·on USB Serial Converter. And sure enough, under USB controllers, FTDI FT8U2XX is gone and now replaced with USB Serial Converer.

I had installed these drivers several trials ago and they did not work either. The drivers are different. The drivers that seem to work are the ones that are installed by 5.0, but they are finicky and require the crappy work around I've mentioned.

PAR

ramgarjun said...
I Googled for "FTRemove utility" on·the web and nothing. ...
Do you mind posting a link to this FTRemove utility? Thanks

Try http://www.ftdichip.com/Resources/Utilities.htm·and look for the FTClean utility.

PAR

Chris Savage

ramgarjun said...(trimmed)
I'm not familiar with this FTRemove utility, I'll search your site for it. But when I called back tech support to cancel the RMA on my Oscope because I got it working on another PC, I was looking for this kind of feedback to help me debug,·I did not get much.
Perhaps you can gather such tips onto one webpage and have tech support point customers to it, rather than leaving us hanging. I bought the Oscope to debug my electronic circuits not to debug Windows. So anything to help your customers quickly debug Windows driver problems so that they can use your product would be advantageous.

Hello,
·
·· I can attach the FTDI Driver Removal Utility…It is available from their website.· We do not carry it on ours.· As for debugging windows issues with drivers we try to do our best with issues we are familiar with, but we cannot support Windows itself.· Every computer is different and sometimes people have problems we simply have never seen.· Often the problem is specific to the computer and not our hardware or software.· In these cases we try to help but there is a limit to what we can do.· I offered help based on what you posted and my experience but adding that to a troubleshooting chart would likely cause more confusion.· So is everything working now or are you still having issues?

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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support

Capt. Quirk

I'm having trouble with my P-USB-Oscope. Version 4.0 indicates not connected, even though it is on the correct COM port. Version 5.0 has a crossed out USB icon. Hardware devices show a USB com port 5. Any ideas? said...

I had the same problem with my laptop, But then I found that different USB ports had different com-port address. Com 4 worked like a charm. If you can't locate com 4, perhaps there is a setting in your BIOS or within the Device manager to allow use of com 4 on your USB port.

ramgarjun

Ok, my latest fix seems to be reliably consistent. I uninstalled everything, however I did not use the remove utility because no link was provided at that time. I then reinstalled 5.0 along with its drivers and it works, go figure. Should the problem return, I'll use the remove utility. I followed this same procedure before and it did not work. I added extra reboots this last time, and that might have made the difference.

I was aware that different USB ports are assigned different numbers, so that was not a problem. Somehow the drivers just did not install properly when I originally installed 4.0. Then installing 5.0 and its drivers and the seperate FTDI drivers over it, made it worse for trouble shooting.

The drivers in 5.0 should be utilized for reliable consistency with the Oscope 5.0 software, from my trial and error observations.

I appologize if I seemed untempered, but hopefully this thread will help others trouble shoot their installations.

Post Edited (ramgarjun) : 3/23/2007 6:37:39 AM GMT

statemachine

It seems there are some issues with USB ports on some brands.Chris,are you employing a powered USB hub?For many machines I believe the scope must be the only USB device in use.And has anyone had a problem with powered hubs?Bry.

ramgarjun

Smile, I don't use it for a week and now it is broken again. I really don't want to go through the whole mess of uninstalling and resinstalling to get it working again. Does anyone know any USB tricks to get this working again?

ramgarjun

I think you are right StateMachine. Using your advice, I used USBview and saw that on the root hub on which the oscope was located, was also my bluetooth dongle I had just placed, about a week ago. I removed the bluetooth dongle rebooted, configured the port setting in Oscope 5.0 and it WORKED!!!!!!!!

Finally, a work around that does not require uninstalling and reinstalling. I can live with only having it as the only USB device on a root hub, as long as I know to avoid putting other devices on there.

ramgarjun

Well, it quite working again. It seemed to work if I immediately started it after reboot. If I tried to start it later it would not work. I suspected it could be the software for either my Officejet D145 or my PalmOne Sync software. I closed down the officejet software, still did not work. I closed down the Palmone software, it worked. Great, so do I plug my Bluetooth back in and see if that also breaks it? Was it just one cause after all, or multiple? I really don't have the time for this.

statemachine

I have had varying results with my 2 laptops and 1 desktop...I have decided that a machine devoted to the scope alone works best,no internet or other apps running.And then it still might freeze.Stop and restart.Bry.