Best <$50 or $<100 USB Logic Analyzer compatible with Sigrok

[puterboy]

I know similar questions get asked from time-to-time but wanted to get the latest on this given the constant change in models and updates to Sigrok.

Looking for a good quality 16 input device with total bandwidth ~100MHz.

I was looking at the Kingst LA1010 which is 16 input, 100MHz total bandwidth but it doesn't seem to be Sigrok compatible (although the LA2016 is compatible).

Any recommendations for both the <$50 and the $50-100 price ranges?

Thanks!

[DEV001]

If you haven't looked into them I would recommend checking out Dreamsource Labs 'DSLogic' series of logic analyzers. You can find the older DSLogic Plus or standard versions for ~$70.00 with USB 2.0 support and reasonable sampling rates. I upgraded to their 1GHz. U3Pro16 USB 3.0 version about a month ago and it is much more performant and also includes shielded fly wires and a nice case.

They support Sigrok and also have a custom version with source on Github called DSView (instead of PulseView) that is more tailored to their products. I don't know how it compares with Kingst though as I haven't used their products before.

https://www.dreamsourcelab.com/product/dslogic-series/

[Doctorandus_P]

I'm also interested into a step up from the (FPGA less) Cypress C78013A based LA and something that works well with Sigrok, but I would not buy from dreamsourcelabs, because of their shitty behavior towards the Sigrok Project.

From what I remember, they forked the Sigrok project , used that as a starting point for their own software and made lots of changes and mixed up stuff to a point that it was nearly impossible to port back any improvements. At that point it was not clear if this was malice, ignorance, or an accident, but apparently this broken relationship has never healed.

Here a recent comment:
The stance of the sigrok project is that we do not actively work on any part related to the DSLogic on our own time because we're not willing to kiss the hand that keeps slapping us across the face. However, we also don't reject efforts by the community, which is why sigrok has DSLogic support for certain models. So if you buy one, you may be able to use it with sigrok. However, their firmware is not open source if that matters to you, and you will not receive much support from the sigrok devs, if any - meaning that if you buy a U2 model, you're out of luck: https://sigrok.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=1516

Source:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/another-logic-analyzer-question-(this-one-about-drivers)/

[wizard69]

Isn't the whole point of open source the ability to fork at any time?

As for this little battle between developers, I'm not up on the details but one of the reason for forks is the attitude of the projects leaders.   Your quote below makes me wonder if I should even consider using software associated with Sigrok.

I'm also interested into a step up from the (FPGA less) Cypress C78013A based LA and something that works well with Sigrok, but I would not buy from dreamsourcelabs, because of their shitty behavior towards the Sigrok Project.

From what I remember, they forked the Sigrok project , used that as a starting point for their own software and made lots of changes and mixed up stuff to a point that it was nearly impossible to port back any improvements. At that point it was not clear if this was malice, ignorance, or an accident, but apparently this broken relationship has never healed.

Here a recent comment:
The stance of the sigrok project is that we do not actively work on any part related to the DSLogic on our own time because we're not willing to kiss the hand that keeps slapping us across the face. However, we also don't reject efforts by the community, which is why sigrok has DSLogic support for certain models. So if you buy one, you may be able to use it with sigrok. However, their firmware is not open source if that matters to you, and you will not receive much support from the sigrok devs, if any - meaning that if you buy a U2 model, you're out of luck: https://sigrok.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=1516

Source:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/another-logic-analyzer-question-(this-one-about-drivers)/

[horo]

Isn't the whole point of open source the ability to fork at any time?

As for this little battle between developers, I'm not up on the details but one of the reason for forks is the attitude of the projects leaders.   Your quote below makes me wonder if I should even consider using software associated with Sigrok.

If you look at sigrok you can read about the license (in short, GNU GPL means: you can use and improve the source code, but you must make your changes available as Free Open Source under the same license):

The sigrok project aims at creating a portable, cross-platform, Free/Libre/Open-Source signal analysis software suite that supports various device types (e.g. logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, and many more).
It is licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL, version 3 or later.

[DEV001]

I am not sure of the full history but all of Dreamsource Labs changes are on Github (since ~2014) and they are updating DSView and working on any issues people report via GitHub issues.

All of their code appears to acknowledge Sigrok and is available as per the GPL. If it wasn't at one time I can understand the Sigrok maintainers being upset but any GPL issues seem to have been resolved many years ago.

The changes Dreamsource made to DSView (Sigrok Pulseview) I doubt Sigrok would accept a PR anyway since they are focused around working with their hardware like adding oscilloscope support for their DSCope products. I own their DScope as well and it works reasonably well for a USB scope. It doesn't replace a full bench scope at all but it seems to be within the capabilities of what they say on their site (risetime, UI features, etc...)

Btw, I have no affiliation with DreamSource Labs and I am just am stating my experience using their products over the last couple of years as a customer.

(DSView Repo)
https://github.com/DreamSourceLab/DSView

(All Dreamsource Labs Repos)
https://github.com/DreamSourceLab?tab=repositories

[alm]

I am not sure of the full history but all of Dreamsource Labs changes are on Github (since ~2014) and they are updating DSView and working on any issues people report via GitHub issues.

The first version they released was just an archive file of their version based on some version of Sigrok. That version was then uploaded to Github. That version is not in any way related to the Sigrok git repository, like would happen if you forked it through Github. So no, this does not contain their changes. It contains their version, and good luck figuring out which Sigrok version that is against. None of the automated git merge / cherry-pick / rebase commands are going to be of any help. While I imagine this complies with the license, it's certainly behaving like a bad guest. If you behave like a bad guest, don't be surprised you don't get invited to the next Christmas party.

Regardless of the motivation of the Sigrok developers, clearly the DSLogic are a bad choice if you search something compatible with Sigrok. If their own custom software is fine for you, then it may be an option.

I bought the first version, saw the horrible cross-talk on the flying leads, the hacked state of the software which was clearly not going to be integrated in the Sigrok project, and I threw it in a drawer and decided not to spend any more effort and energy on it. The Saleae Logic was more expensive, but was worth the hassle-free operation for me.

[puterboy]

So any suggestions combining the best of price, functionality and Sigrok compatibility?

[Helix70]

Sigrok works fine on my (genuine) DSLogic Plus. So does the DSView work great with the Sigrok plugins. Performance is fine, i got the coax leads as an extra.

[jgustavoam]

I bought a Kingst LA1010. What a disappointment!
Cheap Chinese logic analyzers are better in certain situations. I do not recommend the Kingst LA1010.

[Doctorandus_P]

I was wondering why this 5 year thread was dug up.
You've posted this same text in two other posts (so 3x in total) today:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/on-the-budget-la-kingst-la1010-vs-dslogic-u2basic/msg6120165/#msg6120165

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/recommendation-for-logic-analyzer/msg6120161/#msg6120161

I bought a Kingst LA1010. What a disappointment!
Cheap Chinese logic analyzers are better in certain situations. I do not recommend the Kingst LA1010.

So I assume you dislike Kingst a lot, but there is not any useful information in that for others here.

[Frex]

Hi,

There is also a newer interesting option (on the paper), the SLogic16U3 from sipeed.
It cost only 69$ and allow 16 channels 200MSPS up to 4 channels 800MSPS !
It work (only) with sigrok and the price/ratio seem very good.
Anyway, it lack on serious review and Dave receive one but was not be able to work with...
It would be great to have real customer review.

Frex