Hacking the Rigol DHO800/900 Scope

[AndyBig]

By the way, if anyone is interested, this is what the graph of the NanoVNA-F V2 output power looks like in milliwatts versus frequency.

[Fungus]

914+BW15T25 and 924 - yes, they should be absolutely identical, but it's interesting to see their BW compared to 825

It needs confirming, obviously, but there should be no difference between a DHO800 and a DHO900 with the same vendor.bin file.

[AndyBig]

It needs confirming, obviously, but there should be no difference between a DHO800 and a DHO900 with the same vendor.bin file.

No, of course I mean a software change of the oscilloscope model
There will be no difference between the 800 converted into 900 and the real 900, I am also absolutely sure of this.

[iMo]

Be careful with nanovna as a sig gen (especially the cheaper older models) - it outputs square wave (the amplitude is settable in 4 or 5 levels afaik) and the frequency is limited to some 300MHz (with an o'clocked generator chip), all freqs above are the harmonics only. This may not apply to the latest models and the older F V2..

[AndyBig]

Be careful with nanovna as a sig gen (especially the cheaper older models) - it outputs square wave (the amplitude is settable in 4 or 5 levels afaik) and the frequency is limited to some 300MHz (with an o'clocked generator chip), all freqs above are the harmonics only. This may not apply to the latest models and the older F V2..

Yes, that's true, but in theory, the RMS measurement doesn't care what shape the signal is.

[AndyBig]

I measured the bandwidth of the remaining models and options. Now the table and graph contain all the models and possible options that expand the bandwidth.
The surprise was that the 824 bandwidth is absolutely identical to the 924 bandwidth. That is, by declaring the 824 bandwidth at 200 MHz, Rigol actually gives an open bandwidth of 250 MHz (and in practice even a little more than 300 MHz)
As last time, I am attaching an archive with an Excel file, in which all the original measurement results are saved.

[shapirus]

We need a mode between DHO814 and DHO824/924...

[AndyBig]

We need a mode between DHO814 and DHO824/924...

8(1.5)4 )))

[fearas38]

Hello everyone, could you please help me with a question? I updated my DHO814 from version 00.01.02.00.02 to version 00.01.04.00.02. Is it possible to revert to 00.01.02.00.02, and how can I do that? Thanks.

[Fungus]

Hello everyone, could you please help me with a question? I updated my DHO814 from version 00.01.02.00.02 to version 00.01.04.00.02. Is it possible to revert to 00.01.02.00.02, and how can I do that? Thanks.

Yes. Just copy 1.02 .GEL file onto a USB stick and install it.

[stj]

so it doesnt have a forward-only policy like the 1000z does?
interesting.

[norbert.kiszka]

On my DHO924S kernels 5.x and 6.x had small problems with graphic drivers - it didn't work, no matter what I did - including testing 100 kernel forks from GitHub that was made to work on a RK3399. Once I did workaround (just commented out one 'if' that generates error) in a mipi-dsi driver (internal LCD is connected via mipi) and result of it was... HDMI started to work, instead of mipi 

So... without almost any knowledge about DRM Linux subsystem (bridge between kernel, graphic drivers and user space) or graphic drivers, I decided to do something really crazy - to make a port of mipi driver from Linux kernel 4.4 into 5.10. 4.4 and 5.10 internally are almost two different kernels - half things are different or deleted (from a regular user perspective it's almost the same - 5.x is much faster and safer). With many DRM api functions, I needed to read tons of documentation, articles and compare code from both kernels. Only mipi driver in 4.4 has 2195 lines of code.

With that crazy and almost impossible thing to do and after about two weeks of fight, I did it  Both mipi-dsi and HDMI works.

However, it crashes when CONFIG_ROCKCHIP_DRM_DEBUG is enabled (null pointer in a VOP driver) and it needs to cleanup huge mess in my code. After fixing those issues, I will put it on my GitHub.

Belive or not, practically I did a Rockchip job without documentation of anything in RK3399 - only pure code with almost no comments in it (code made by Rockchip).

Im not 100% sure, but there is no huge changes in Linux 6.x DRM subsystem (between 5.x and 6.x), so probably it should work on it too. Funny thing, theoretically now it's possible to do a split screen - but that code is probably only for a Android.

so it doesnt have a forward-only policy like the 1000z does?
interesting.

Rigol firmware updates are just zip files without any encryption. Once I did manual update of half of their firmware, from 1.02 to 1.03 - FPGA, kernel modules and scripts - everything without app. It was working fine.

[Chade]

Hi, I received a Rigol DHO804 for Christmas and wanted to "upgrade" it a little 
I Installed the 1.04 FW and then tried to hack it using the https://github.com/zelea2/rigol_vendor_bin tool.
I tried to cretae the vendor.bin to change the 804 to the 824 (I want more bandwith, but not the 924 logic probe panel).
I could create the vendor.bin and push it onto the DHO804, but after reboot I do not get any signals on the channels anymore...
I also tried to create a vendor.bin for the DHO924 (as seen here ), but the result is the same.

Is it not working with the 1.04 FW? Or am I doning something fundamentally wrong?

[norbert.kiszka]

Check permisionss of file vendor.bin

Code: [Select]

ls -l /rigol/data/vendor.bin

[AndyBig]

Is it not working with the 1.04 FW? Or am I doning something fundamentally wrong?

You are doing something wrong. With firmware 00.01.04.00.02 replacing vendor.bin works fine.

P.S.: @zelea2 updated his utility for 824, great

[Fungus]

Did you do a self-cal?

What model do you see on the "About" screen?

[AndyBig]

By the way, an interesting point: I completely deleted the vendor.bin file from the oscilloscope and rebooted it. It booted up as 814, which is what it was originally when I bought it.

[lordstein]

I received this week the dho804, with firmware 00.01.02.00.02, I did the hack using the method of adding extra capabilities, (not changing the model) and then I updated to version V00.01.04.00.02, it seems that the activations are maintained, thank you very much

[J-R]

I believe the issue with the no trace is due to perhaps a one-time migration process of the calibration data when upgrading the firmware.  If you upgrade the model, it's looking for a specific calibration but can't find it, hence the blank trace.  But really I am not sure.

When I had the issue, this is what I recall doing: copy over the DHO804 vendor.bin file and restart, you should now have a trace, run self-cal, restart, copy the DHO824 vendor.bin and restart, verify trace, self-cal again and restart, should be good to go.

[AndyBig]

Yes, some new versions affect the calibration process and, accordingly, the way calibration data is stored. Version 00.01.04.00.02 is just such a thing, after the update, re-calibration is mandatory.

[Chade]

Many thanks, that did the trick.
I reloaded the original vendor.bin and did the self-calib.
The I uploaded the DHO824 vendor.bin and also changed the permissions of the file (adb shell chmod 777 /rigol/data/vendor.bin), just to be on the save side.
Now it's working like a charm   

[gpt]

just another simple usb fan mod...love noctua fans

[shapirus]

just another simple usb fan mod...love noctua fans

that color mismatch though...

but seriously, you DO want to add a protective grill there. whenever you think that you don't, you can be sure that it's a mistake.

[scopeman]

I needed a case for my new oscilloscope, but I wanted it as small as possible. Perhaps the stock Rigol case is good, but I found a camera case that works well for only $27 on Amazon.  It holds the unit, all four probes, the power supply, and cables.  There is still a little room for some 50-ohm feed-through terminators.  It’s a Vamson Carrying Case model VP808.  I may add a 5/8” layer of foam over the display, but it is not really needed.

Thanks for that. This should pair well with Jakob Holz's 3D printed snap on cover for the DHO800/900 series.
I printed one out of Matte Black PLA on my X1C and it came out great. You need to print it at a 45 degree angle on the narrow edge using tree supports as the X1C build size limit is 250mm. I am also exploring a case that I could bolt or pop rivet to the cover that would contain the probes and power supply but your solution may end up being a better one.

Here is a link for files for the cover. I wish my printer would allow making one for my larger DHO1204.

https://grabcad.com/library/rigol-dho-800-900-front-cover-1

[iMo]

FYI - my DHO-804 I've got today shows the fw v 1.03..