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Ray B
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Joined: 16/02/2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 219

Posted: 06:32pm 20 Apr 2013

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The are a few sub $20 Logic Analysers on ebay etc.
Typically following models:
EZ-USB FX2LP CY7C68013A USB Development Core Board Logic Analyzer EEPROM
or
8 CH PC USB Logic Analyzer 24M Data Sampling CY7C68013 UART decoders I2C Master

Has anyone experience with these units & specifically know of a sourse for the application software & manual

Thanks

RayB from Perth WA

graynomad

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Joined: 21/07/2010
Location: Australia
Posts: 122

Posted: 05:08am 21 Apr 2013

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That looks a bit dodgy but for ~$17 what have you got to lose?

A logic analyser is THE most useful tool you can have when working with embedded systems, so anything is better than nothing. Personally I'd up the ante and get a Saleae Logic, the best $150 you'll ever spend.

______
Rob

Rob Gray, AKA the Graynomad, www.robgray.com

bigmik

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Joined: 20/06/2011
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Posted: 02:41pm 21 Apr 2013

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Lads,

Looks good (price wise) but what do you drive them with? Is there an open source program that shows graphical display of the inputs?

Regards,

Mick

Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<<

graynomad

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Joined: 21/07/2010
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Posted: 02:54pm 21 Apr 2013

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Quote Is there an open source program that shows graphical display of the inputs?

There is for most of these cheap LA, it's called SUMP, maybe they use that.

The lack of information with most of these Chinese products is a huge red flag IMO.

______
Rob

Rob Gray, AKA the Graynomad, www.robgray.com

Ray B
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Joined: 16/02/2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 219

Posted: 04:05pm 21 Apr 2013

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I've sent off an email to China to get a manual.....ha ha will wait and see but they sometimes come good.

The CY7C68013A chip in the ebay unit seems to be common in a lot of these units including the Saleae unit mentiond by Rob above than come in a great little pack for around $150 see this link
http://hackaday.com/2009/03/06/tools-saleae-logic-logic-anal yzer/
or if your into EEVblogs on Youtube and you have the time ....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OCPWCdg2ys

Cruising the net here is another cheap diy using a nokia screen
http://www.serasidis.gr/circuits/mini_logic_analyzer/minilog icanalyzer.htm

Stay tuned

RayB from Perth WA

TassyJim

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Joined: 07/08/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 6100

Posted: 05:02pm 21 Apr 2013

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I have one of these:

http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Open_Bench_Logic_Sniffer #SUMP_fork

Purchased from seed studio.

Jim

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James_From_Canb

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Joined: 19/06/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 265

Posted: 07:43pm 21 Apr 2013

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I have one on order from Deal Extreme. link. It should arrive any day now. It's $11.70 inc shipping and says USBee AX PRO logic Analyser on the case. At that price it must be a clone, but we'll see how it goes.

James

My mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought careening through a cosmic vapor of invention.

Hedley Lamarr, Blazing Saddles (1974)

Ray B
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Joined: 16/02/2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 219

Posted: 08:00pm 21 Apr 2013

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Great find James at a price so silly it is worth the trial for casual use then if justified go up to OpenBench Logic Sniffer as per TazzyJim's advice that will do 32 lines. Even comes with a case and more important leads.

Keep us informed on it's delivery

There was also a link to manufacture as follows http://usbee.com/download.htm

RayB from Perth WA

Bryan1

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Joined: 22/02/2006
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Posted: 11:12pm 21 Apr 2013

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I've got a 4ch scanalogic 2 and I gotta say it's one nice bit of test gear. The software that drives it is whats really makes it such a great tool. There are addons to decode I2C, USART, SPI , Manchester etc and one can write their own decoder if needed too.

Regards Bryan

Ray B
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Joined: 16/02/2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 219

Posted: 01:51am 22 Apr 2013

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Received some info from two suppliers as follows:

8channel 24MHz unit complete with enclosure and leads - $20 as follows:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230957345 407&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123

bare board available at $12 as follows:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/EZ-USB-FX2LP-CY7C68013A-USB-Developm ent-Board-Logic-Analyzer-EEPROM-/181064644685?_trksid=p20476 75.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26 asc%3D14873%26meid%3D7139119732330524841%26pid%3D100011%26pr g%3D1005%26rk%3D3%26sd%3D330910032147%26

With all of these units extra ezyhooks are available as follows for $7:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10pin-DIY-JTAG-IDC-USB-Logic-Analyze r-IC-Test-Clips-Test-Hook-Grabber-Test-Probe-/330879761949?p t=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d09f87e1d

Software - suppliers point me to following links which are either free USBee or Saleae downloads - they all seem to work with either as they have copied the original designs
http://blog.pennybuying.com/down/f/F295.rar
http://www.saleae.com/downloads (the latest version saleae logic 1.1.15 )

Overall James find at $11.39 including boxed & free delivery with leads but no clips
http://dx.com/p/logic-analyzer-w-dupont-lines-and-usb-cable- for-scm-black-148945
Interested in James evaluation when his arrives.

RayB from Perth WA

TinkersALot
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Joined: 20/11/2012
Location: United States
Posts: 72

Posted: 11:21am 22 Apr 2013

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graynomad said Personally I'd up the ante and get a Saleae Logic, the best $150 you'll ever spend.

______
Rob

would also recommend this. super easy to use, nice interface and works with no-muss, no-fuss 'right out of the box'

djuqa

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Joined: 23/11/2011
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Posted: 12:19pm 22 Apr 2013

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I agree the Salae Unit is a bargain.
I bought also one of those 11.70$ boards! Using it as a general 8051 clone MCU instead.

VK4MU MicroController Units

trippyben

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Joined: 26/06/2011
Location: Australia
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Posted: 11:41pm 22 Apr 2013

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TinkersALot said

graynomad said Personally I'd up the ante and get a Saleae Logic, the best $150 you'll ever spend.

______
Rob

would also recommend this. super easy to use, nice interface and works with no-muss, no-fuss 'right out of the box'

I'll third that - best piece of test gear i've ever bought.

Ray B
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Joined: 16/02/2007
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Posted: 03:25pm 23 Apr 2013

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Agreed that the Saleae is the benchmark BUT the cheap units are meant to be capable of using the Saleae and other "known brand" units software.
Last time I used a logic analyser was back in my Telstra days and was a trolley mounted unit costing $20K + but as my requirements are now only a lot simpler I've now opted to ebay the same unit as James & also lash out for the ezyhook kit all for less than $20.
Thanks for all of the contributors to my original post

RayB from Perth WA

graynomad

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Joined: 21/07/2010
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Posted: 05:49pm 23 Apr 2013

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Yeah it's really the software that makes the difference, so if the cheap units run that I guess it's easier to decide.

Saleae have fantastic support, they even sent me a new unit when mine broke, no questions asked. I'm pretty sure there will be roughly no support from a Chinese mob but once again if it only costs $17 that's less important.

This must be hurting the Saleae guys, maybe they should figure out how to link the software to a physical unit.

Rob Gray, AKA the Graynomad, www.robgray.com

Ray B
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Joined: 16/02/2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 219

Posted: 01:46am 26 May 2013

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Well my $12 Logic Analyzer finally arrived but would not work immediately as suggested on ebay using the USBee software but after some googling found most of what I required on the following link.
http://www.jwandrews.co.uk/2011/12/saleae-logic-analyser-clo ne-teardown-and-reprogramming/

Essentially this little Cypress controller needs to have the Product ID & Vendor ID programmed into the controller's EEPROM else Windows Device Manager won't recognise it and won't be able to load the correct driver and consequently the vendor software (e.g. Saleae or USBee) your wanting to run won't connect.

After several hours of hair pulling & sharing some info with James of Canberra who has the same unit we have been able to get the Saleae software running as designed.
Sofar have not been able to get the variations of USBee software running because I think I may not have the correct PID/VID codes to program into the analyzer & from previous posts Saleae seems to be the better product anyway.
Saleae does not have the analog features like Oscillscope but may not even work with this clone hardware.

I'm really impressed with the capability of the unit and especially decoding ascii strings. For example I have one of the 8 probes connected to the TTL output from a 433MHz RF Receiver, press some buttons on a basic Altronics or other RF Remote and it auto detects baud rate & displays the received code in Hex/ASCII - sure beats my previous method of triggering my CRO then going blind hacking the Hex code.

On course it also captures / analyzers other protocols including I2C, SPI, 1WIRE etc something I'm yet to try.

In summary if you are just using the clone for non commercial purposes then this is a great purchase, you need to spend another $5 for a bundle of EZ-Hooks. You may also also enjoy the experience of learning about USB PID/VID coding as well. Alternatively buy the real thing for $150.

Being a pure USB device it should work with other operating systems than Windows.

All of my playing to date has been using an Arduino but any other TTL lines will be suitable.

Enjoy...

RayB from Perth WA

JohnS
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Joined: 18/11/2011
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Posted: 07:56am 26 May 2013

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Thanks for the follow-up.

John

Bill.b

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Joined: 25/06/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 226

Posted: 05:38pm 26 May 2013

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Hi Ray

The link does not seen to work, even after closing the gap in clone.

many thanks
BillEdited by Bill.b 2013-05-28

In the interests of the environment, this post has been constructed entirely from recycled electrons.

paceman
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Posted: 06:04pm 26 May 2013

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Bill,
Just go to the main site JWAndrews and scroll down to the entry for Dec 14 2011 - it's not very far down.

Ray B
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Joined: 16/02/2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 219

Posted: 07:35pm 26 May 2013

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Here is the full link including the 'comments' which provides valuable info relating to Step 10.
http://www.jwandrews.co.uk/2011/12/saleae-logic-analyser-clo ne-teardown-and-reprogramming/#comments

Cheers

RayB from Perth WA

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