The latest draft of Solver's user manual is now available and can be downloaded from the Solver64 directory.
Thanks for everyone who helped review it and provided feedback.
Solver64 version 6.0 is now available for both the original NanoVNA/H/H4 as well as the LiteVNA/64 V2Plus. These will require new defaults.
Update readouts when loading S2P files
Combine stability trigger to other cursor handler, all cursors now track
Change 2-Port Adv. Plots to SI units
Change TDR/TDT impulse curves to use the amplitude scale
Swap TDR/TDT samples/seconds graph axis selection, bug fix
Expose all TDR/TDT filter settings to user
Add support for METAS time domain modes using an uneven step size
Change TDR FIR filter to Zero Phase IIR filter
Add 2PSwp to readout event
Add Reflection types of round trip and one way
Use EXE location as a starting directory for Defaults and other files
Add full 2-port support for databased standards SOLT
Correct transpose error when calculating coefficients
Allow individual databased standards for each port
Allow saving Databased standard's paths to the Defaults file
Add new color scheme menu and add settings to the Defaults file
???What am I doing wrong? I can create a new defaults file but it does not seem to load (have any effect) when I restart solver64.
All else working fine. Thanks Joe!
Changing the color palette helps folks with color blindness.
???What am I doing wrong? I can create a new defaults file but it does not seem to load (have any effect) when I restart solver64.
All else working fine. Thanks Joe!
LOL. That's a pretty major bug.
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Looks like both programs have a problem. You can see the error code come up when it tries to load them. Guessing I forgot to create a new typedef or something.
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Yep, I had changed the color dialog without creating a new typedef. Both programs will have the same problem. It's a simple fix. I'll upload corrections tonight.
Thanks for taking the time to check it.
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LabView is a graphical programming language. Attached image shows a float divided by an integer. Note the red dot on the divide symbol, which indicates a problem. What got me into trouble is I had added the ability to change the graph's line widths. The software would create the defaults file just fine but when it goes to read it back it, it did not know how to handle this new line width as I never defined it. This type def mismatch doesn't throw a an error. You just get that red dot. The tools allow you to build and run the code even though it obviously is an issue.
I saw NI dropped the cost of their perpetual license from $15,000 to $10,000 USD. Still outside of what I am willing to pay for home hobby use but moving in the right direction.
Solver64 6.01 is now available. The only change was to correct the typedef.
Solver 64 now remembers the port and custom color scheme. Big thanks Joe!
Let me know if you run into any other problems with the software or manual. Most of the features have been vetted, or at least used for several weeks, as you saw there can still be bugs.
Let me know what you think about the new color settings. I think there are 200 controls. There are maybe 10 or so color attributes for each. I wanted to make it simple for users to change them.
While there were 40 downloads of the TDR wrapper, no one sent any code. I doubt I will do anymore with this.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/rf-microwave/nanovna-custom-software/msg5690523/#msg5690523While there is still some test code for the unknown thru, I never sorted out a way to characterize the VNA/cables/transfer relay.... that would allow it to work. If they ever come out with a better VNA that we can determine the switching errors, I may revisit this.
A few people have asked about running it on high def monitors suggesting I allow the program to be scaled dynamically. I've mentioned the problem is how the graphs were created using overlays. I tried a few experiments were I would scale the raster images but the results were very poor. One option is to use the stock graphs but these are slow. Then there is the whole problem of font scaling. For now, I suggest staying away from these high res displays if you want to run Solver.
There are no other planned updates at this time.
A quick check, looks like the defaults allowed people to edit rather than view. I can see where one person then decided to wipe it. Sadly, I didn't spend much time reading their documents and just assumed their default settings would be secure.
I got so fed up with Dropbox and the continued dance of death... first removing all my "bonus" storage (obtained 500MB at a time via referring friends to sign up back when DB started), stopping downloads after a certainly used bandwidth, and 24/7 nag to keep paying for more storage, etc. (as well as the continued push from 1Password to force me into a subscription model vs. the cross-platform licensed versions I paid for (just like NI tried to do to you)) that I setup my own opensource "cloud" in just a few hours using Nextcloud (and Bitwarden for password manager) and have never been happier. Check to see if Sonic has 1Gbit (or better) service at your location and if so, just take it in-house.
Thank you for continuing to share your cool stuff Joe. Manual looks great !
-=dave
After removing NIVISA and the runtime engine, along with changing the security settings, I have not had any problems with Dropbox. The big advantage for me is people do not seem to be having difficulties navigating it like they did with Github. The only problem I have heard of was someone from Russia claiming that NI would not allow them to download the support files from their area, which I wasn't too surprised given the current environment. There was that dweeb who could not sort out what files to download from NI, but outside of that things have gone smoothly.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/rf-microwave/nanovna-custom-software/msg5045368/#msg5045368
This link is where I have been saving pre-released software/documents. Currently a program named main.exe resides there. This program demonstrates the problems with making LabView programs resize. There are a lot of constraints. You can break up the GUI using splitter bars, but Solver is feature rich and uses tabs to maintain some level of sanity by breaking these features up rather than having everything on one screen. Tabs do not support splitter bars. To work around this, you can use a sub panel, which is a way to load a program into a designated area. Tabs support these sub panels but linking to the data structure is a major pain and I am not aware of a clean way to do it.
Main uses LabView's built-in Smith and polar graphs. Their code was stripped for the sections that draw the scales into a picture. These pictures are then overlaid onto of an XY graph, similar to how Solver works today. It's not pretty and would require a major rewrite/restructure of the GUI.
Main does not talk to a VNA. It's just a simple demo to show the shortcomings...
NI wants to invest in integrating AI into LabView. This is what they need the money for. Like NXG, more waste.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/ovszm2w3w5c97frn53z9q/ADjYi2z4Zmh2BupflfAWK9M?rlkey=krqjebz37ax2s652n03hbdlb9&e=1&dl=0
Someone had asked about reading a pF on the antiqueradios forum. I've never tried to measure anything that low.
https://antiqueradios.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=450475Here is my response:
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I had ordered a few AVX 600F1R0AT250XT4K capacitors. These are a 1pF +/- 0.05pF, 250V, COG, 0805 package. Fairly inexpensive but should provide some idea how close I could measure.
I started out making a fixture for my RCL meter. I measured it without a capacitor and get 0.075pF. Once inserted into the meter, I measure 1.122 - 0.075 = 1.047pF. Not great but in the ballpark.
A better approach would be to use one of the low cost VNAs. Shown is the latest revision of the LiteVNA 64. To de-embed the fixture, the test capacitors are mounted to the board as the calibration standards using the same connectors. Of course, we are no longer limited to the kHz range. Shown sweeping the device from 300k to 100M. The fixture has parts mounted as a shunt, shunt thru and thru, depending what we want to measure.
I use my own custom software to run the VNAs. Looking at S11 at 30MHz and 90MHz, I measure 1.01pF. This is a lot more believable than my RLC meter.
For a sanity check, two of the 1.0pF capacitors were placed in series and S11 was again measured. Not an ideal setup but measures close to the expected 500fF.
The homemade standards and fixture are good to around 1GHz. Both the series and parallel resonant frequency for 1pF part are well above 9GHz.
Shown calibrating the LiteVNA64 for 1GHz. Measuring C at 330MHz and 960MHz, we can see it it remains very close to 500fF as expected.