Hantek 6022BE 20MHz USB DSO

[daybyter]

Hello!

First posting here...

I'm the proud owner of a 6022be for a couple of minutes now...

Already gave the original software and RichardK's software (PR 18) a try. Seems like Richard's software makes more sense to me. Even after a quick look only.

Just one question: when I click the magnifying glass +, the signal gets bigger, but the grid stays the same?

It seems there's no link to the latest version of the software at the beginning of the thread, or so? Maybe create a sticky posting or a small webpage, or so?

I also do software dev, and you should consider github maybe? Even just the ticket system is helpful?

Thanks for the great software and the docs!

Ciao,
Andreas

[Rasz]

I also do software dev, and you should consider github maybe? Even just the ticket system is helpful?

Richard seems to have stopped developing this soft (probably real life took over). This is pretty standard for small hobby projects like this - authors dont want to share code because they feel its not good enough yet (they mean to share when it is polished), or they count hours spend and start thinking about financial gratification, or they are afraid someone will sell it once its open source(afraid = jealous about theoretical future potential profits that never materialize). It all ends the same way - sooner or later something else takes their attention, project dies, and since there is no source  there is nothing to continue.

[biot]

Richard seems to have stopped developing this soft (probably real life took over). This is pretty standard for small hobby projects like this - authors dont want to share code because they feel its not good enough yet (they mean to share when it is polished), or they count hours spend and start thinking about financial gratification, or they are afraid someone will sell it once its open source(afraid = jealous about theoretical future potential profits that never materialize). It all ends the same way - sooner or later something else takes their attention, project dies, and since there is no source  there is nothing to continue.

Amen, brother. Seen this happen many times, and quite a few right here on EEVblog.

It's my hope that people will eventually see that writing a sigrok driver for this kind of gear is a MUCH better use of time than doing a one-device app like this. When the author disappears or loses interest, the driver is still kept up to date by the sigrok project, adjusting to API changes and so on. If a new libsigrok frontend pops up, that device is automatically supported.

[ukzappa]

I felt that this had died months ago (I suspect like many others here) but one lived in hope!

With so much interest and an ever increasing following, I can imagine Richard feeling perhaps pressurised and somewhat obligated to come up with the ultimate software solution. To be honest, my interest in the Hantek is more as a play thing. I suspect it has already been pushed to its limits and I for one never expected too much from it. Still, thanks to Richard for his efforts. Damned fine effort in my book. However, time to move on me thinks.

Frankly I can't see a Sigrok solution seeing the light of day either but that is purely supposition.

[daybyter]

Has anyone tried to extract the firmware and take a look?

http://sigrok.org/wiki/Hantek_DSO-2xxx/52xx

[Rasz]

those hanteks have fpga and ram buffer inside
6022 is a streaming one, its a clone of USBee AX


in fact I wouldnt be surprised if USBee AX software could be persuaded (flashing usb id into serial eprom of hantek) into working with it _if_ pinouts used are the same
worst case scenario you could rewire it to emulate AX
http://kazus.ru/forums/showthread.php?t=13724

[rosasharn]

Has anyone tried to extract the firmware and take a look?

http://sigrok.org/wiki/Hantek_DSO-2xxx/52xx

sigrok has Hantek old models only.
Anybody developd for Hantek 6xxx?

[effbiae]

I was told whatever I do, absolutely do not, under any circumstances, do not buy a Hantek or Sainsmart USB oscilloscope.
I'm glad I found this forum.

It's true that those two USB scopes (amongst others) are often disparaged, though sometimes it's simply for their lack of knobs and screens.  But on a performance scale, one can not simply lump them all into one basket.  Hantek, for example, has a whole range of USB DSO's.  Some quite expensive and powerful.  The 6022BE is simply at the bottom of their price & performance chain, which is achieved by stripping out everything they possibly could, to minimize costs.  Leaving only core functionality intact.  Devices like the Sainsmart simply went a bit farther than they should have.

Hi Mark_O,

Is it possible you could show the 'family tree' of the 6022BE - that is, it's parents that share the same boards or architecture but have more functionality?

This would help me because there are third party drivers/dlls out there for more capable Hantek models and it's possible I could modify this third party software to help RichardK use a more reliable driver for his Open6022BE software.  Excellent software.

Thanks,


Jack

[RichardK]

Hello everyone sorry it's been a while, have not done any work really on the project, and not likely to for a while... so instead of just leaving the project to collect dust I am releasing the source into the public domain, and I had originally intended to clean it up before but never got around to it, so sorry if it's messy or if the commenting is lacking or not making any sense...

Here is the link to the latest source, hope it helps anyone interested in hacking this scope... --> http://jmp.sh/sJKpC23

I do intend on working on this again, trust me, but right now I just can't find the time. I'm glad you guys like the work I have done and I'm grateful for all the help and suggestions received.

To anyone looking to poke around in the code, good luck, and sorry again if the code is messy

[Mark_O]

To anyone looking to poke around in the code, good luck, and sorry again if the code is messy

Thanks, Richard!  That's very magnanimous of you. 

I wouldn't worry too much about messy code.  We'd all like the code we write and share to be as polished as possible, but that's often a dream unrealized.  Especially so when the code being developed was a part-time side project, and exploratory in nature... as it must be in anything dependent on Hantek APIs.

For anyone with the interest and time to work on this, it will save them a huge amount of time and work reinventing the wheel... even if there are a few head-scratchers within.  Moving forward is always easier than starting from scratch.  Plus, for those wanting to experiment, and just play around with adding their own pet features, this could spawn dozens of personal, customized versions.   Which is perfectly all right, and a real learning experience in itself.

I'll enjoy giving this a look over the holidays, in my spare moments.  Thanks again.

[Mark_O]

Hantek, for example, has a whole range of USB DSO's.  Some quite expensive and powerful.  The 6022BE is simply at the bottom of their price & performance chain, which is achieved by stripping out everything they possibly could, to minimize costs.  Leaving only core functionality intact. /quote]

Is it possible you could show the 'family tree' of the 6022BE - that is, it's parents that share the same boards or architecture but have more functionality?

Hi, Jack.  Yes, that would be easy... since there are none.  I.e., there are no 6022BE parents with the same boards or expanded functionality.  (The 6022BL adds a few LA parts to make a dual-function device, so it's a sibling.)

You may have been confused by my comment about stripping out functionality.  But I was referring to a process that occurred at design time.  I.e., take a fully functional architecture, and remove everything you possibly can.  What's left is the 6022BE.

[roderick]

...I am releasing the source into the public domain...

Here is the link to the latest source, hope it helps anyone interested in hacking this scope... --> http://jmp.sh/sJKpC23

Best Christmas present EVER!!!  Thank you.

I see you compiled it under Codegear Rad Studio, but I think I'll try to see if I can recompile under a free environment like gnu c.

[RichardK]

...I am releasing the source into the public domain...

Here is the link to the latest source, hope it helps anyone interested in hacking this scope... --> http://jmp.sh/sJKpC23

Best Christmas present EVER!!!  Thank you.

I see you compiled it under Codegear Rad Studio, but I think I'll try to see if I can recompile under a free environment like gnu c.

It's not going to compile easily under other environments due to all the GUI stuff relying heavily on the VCL (Visual Component Library)...

However most of the VCL stuff is a wrapper for Windows API, so it shouldn't be too hard to convert it.

As for the Hantek specific stuff that I pulled from the SDK and the other stuff I reverse engineered, that is written in standard C++ with some windows API stuff obviously, and it's been tested with CPPcheck so it should easily copy-paste-compile into any Standard C++ environment.

Also it should easily port over to the slightly older Borland C++ Builder Personal Edition which is free, and is what Codegear Radstudio is descendent from (it has VCL and similar IDE).

[effbiae]

I am releasing the source into the public domain, and I had originally intended to clean it up

Thanks RichardK.  Awesome.

Jack

[Mark_O]

Also it should easily port over to the slightly older Borland C++ Builder Personal Edition which is free, and is what Codegear Radstudio is descendent from (it has VCL and similar IDE).

I just took a quick look with Google, and didn't find any free BCB PE versions.  Lots of Trial-ware, and talk about free versions, but no free editions.

Any possibility you may have an active link?

[RichardK]

Also it should easily port over to the slightly older Borland C++ Builder Personal Edition which is free, and is what Codegear Radstudio is descendent from (it has VCL and similar IDE).

I just took a quick look with Google, and didn't find any free BCB PE versions.  Lots of Trial-ware, and talk about free versions, but no free editions.

Any possibility you may have an active link?

Borland used to own C++ Builder and they made a free personal edition of C++ Builder 6, however they sold their Rapid Application Development unit to CodeGear, and CodeGear kept it around until they were acquired by Embarcadero and I guess they removed it from the downloads...

You can try looking in torrent sites for it, it's essentially C++ Builder 6 with a non-commercial clause attached to it, not sure where you can get the license keys though, they were freely available on Borland and then CodeGear's site but that is gone as well...

It's a shame Embarcadero doesn't offer Personal editions of their latest software... The reason Borland offered a Free version was to offer an alternative to piracy for those who weren't interested in using it commercially and or couldn't afford an enterprise license.

I guess for those who would never buy it because it was out of their price range, and didn't want to use it commercially, they have no choice but to pirate it (I did a quick look on Google, apparently it's quite easy to obtain it) or not use it at all, and it's not like Embarcadero is giving you much of a choice... I mean even Microsoft offer's a free unrestricted Personal Edition of Visual Studio, which you can even use Commercially as long as the size of the team is 5 or less developers... 

[pickle9000]

Key is public

http://support.embarcadero.com/article/39702

Google

https://www.google.ca/search?q=Borland+C%2B+Builder+6.0+Personal+.iso&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=-seLVPuzLpK5ogSPnYGIBg

[RichardK]

Key is public

http://support.embarcadero.com/article/39702

Google

https://www.google.ca/search?q=Borland+C%2B+Builder+6.0+Personal+.iso&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=-seLVPuzLpK5ogSPnYGIBg

Nice find

[rosasharn]

Hantek, for example, has a whole range of USB DSO's.  Some quite expensive and powerful.  The 6022BE is simply at the bottom of their price & performance chain, which is achieved by stripping out everything they possibly could, to minimize costs.  Leaving only core functionality intact. /quote]

Is it possible you could show the 'family tree' of the 6022BE - that is, it's parents that share the same boards or architecture but have more functionality?

Hi, Jack.  Yes, that would be easy... since there are none.  I.e., there are no 6022BE parents with the same boards or expanded functionality.  (The 6022BL adds a few LA parts to make a dual-function device, so it's a sibling.)

You may have been confused by my comment about stripping out functionality.  But I was referring to a process that occurred at design time.  I.e., take a fully functional architecture, and remove everything you possibly can.  What's left is the 6022BE.

Hi Mark_O!
Thanks for your analysis.
However, I saw there're other members in Hantek 6000BE series, like 6052BE, 6082BE.
Aren't they the same family?

[Mark_O]

Hi Mark_O!
Thanks for your analysis.
However, I saw there're other members in Hantek 6000BE series, like 6052BE, 6082BE.
Aren't they the same family?

Yes, you are correct.  I had forgotten about those.  Thanks for reminding me.  Also their 6102BE and 6212BE, at least on their One-Drive SDK web page (I've never seen them elsewhere, probably because they're priced over $1,000!).  They are in the same "family", as in 6000BE-series, and share the same case, connectors. etc.  Though I'm not sure they share the same boards, since I haven't seen inside one.  But I would be extremely surprised if they did.

However, they do differ significantly in that they have on-board capture memory (32k of static RAM per channel) which the 6022 lacks (only a couple kB on the Cypress USB chip, though Hantek deceptively advertises a meg).  And much faster ADCs, and a separate hardware trigger section.  I'm sure they must have an FPGA of some sort, which the 6022BE lacks.  And a different front-end circuit.  It may be that the major thing they share is their cases.  The lowest model upscale is the 6052BE, which generally goes for about 3 times as much as the 6022BE.

Totally different API to talk to the 6052BE than the 6022BE.  Different Driver, etc.  Completely incompatible.  The user app software for the 6022BE also won't run on the 6052BE, and vice-versa.

[OK, now I have seen inside.  http://sigrok.org/wiki/Hantek_6052BE  Different front ends, different ADC chips, added external RAM, Xilinx Spartan FPGA running the show, Cypress chip handling the USB link.  Completely different PCB.  Speculations confirmed.]

As I suspected, the only thing they really share is their cases, and thus their PCB size/shape.  So getting back to the family-tree issue, I'd say no, they're not actually in the same family.  The 6022BE/BL are unique (the 6022BE is a 6022BL, with a few parts unpopulated on the PCB).  And the BL would be a lot more interesting if the logic analyzer and DSO could be run simultaneously, rather than shutting down one to run the other.  The real "family" is the 6052/6082/6102/6212BE.  The 6022BE isn't truly related.

Thanks for bringing up the question, Jack.  I learned something new.

[rosasharn]

Thanks a million Mark_O!
Now 6022BE blood is realised.

[Matchless]

Glad to see this thread is picking up again! Its unfortunate that RichardK cannot work on it any more, but hopefully someone else will take it a bit further.
I am just posting the latest version of the user manual as it stands to date. The notes in red were pending RichardK's attention.
This may be of help to someone intending to obtain one of these 6022BE units or is starting off with this as his first scope.

Here is the user manual: http://jmp.sh/3RFfHFz

Edit: I also have a list of "glitches" that I made up as still pending. If you want me to post it I will gladly do so.

Merry Christmas and a Happy new year to all!

[Mark_O]

Thanks, Matchless, for your continuing contributions.

I think everyone is busy with holiday preparations now (I know I am), but things may pick up further in the new year.

[daybyter]

Thanks a lot for the sources, Richard!

I'd like to see this under Linux. Maybe commit the code to some source code revision control? (Github? ) So any changes could be tracked, issues maintained etc?

[Will_D]

Many thanks to all for the amount of hardwork that's been put into this!

I have a working system on both Xp and win-7 using the supplied Hantek code/drivers.

I have the 6022BL version which supports the logic analyser as well.

If I run the Richards s/w the code doesn't see the device. Demo version is great for exploring the new functionality.

Now there is a button on the BL version that the documentation is not clear about it:

Button: press the button down to run hantek6022BE software.

and in the BL section:

Button: press the button down to run hantek6022BL software.

Any idea what this button is for?