DSO2000X memory extension & bus decoding option

[Hydrawerk]

Yes, I have tried it. It doesn't work. Agilent is hack-proof.  But I hope that in say 5 years the 3V button cell will get discharged and the clock will stop. 
Photo taken by David Jones.

[Hypernova]

If you just want the cell to die might as well just short out the cell. The RTC chip it's powering would be powered from the normal circuit supply while the scope is plugged in like any sane designer would do.

[vl400]

Is it possible to run a secure erase and get the 30day trial option back? Cant recall if this removes the license options or not.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Yes, I have tried it. It doesn't work.

Doesn't work how exactly? Is the time remaining not affected by RTC setting?
Are the trials individually enableable or all at once?

Agilent is hack-proof. 

Nothing is hack proof - just a matter of effort required Internal trial enabling without licenses has to provide some additional opportunities.

But I hope that in say 5 years the 3V button cell will get discharged and the clock will stop. 

Bear in mind it's possible the battery also maintains RAM for cal and possibly license data. It would be easy enough to establish this - see what devices on the board have battery power, and if the RTC is a seperate identifiable I2C device , look up  how much RAM it has, and scope what gets read at startup.

However disabling the RTC crystal might be worth a try. If the software somehow detects this, an enhancement could be to only disable the RTC when power is off, so it lasts 30 power-on days.
Bear in mind that the PSU has soft on/off and there may be a standby supply running things when power is apparently off.

 
 

[Hydrawerk]

When you change the system time and date, the 30-day expire date also changes!!

[Hydrawerk]

I am not sure, what the Secure Erase does... I hope that it will not make my optional features like WAVEGEN or DVM disappear...

[Hypernova]

When you change the system time and date, the 30-day expire date also changes!!

And what happens when you dial the clock back? If the file installed trials are any indication the 30 days ones should still be there but with the exp date still on 2040.

Secure erase just erase the general settings and stored waveforms. I've pressed it when new FW uploads were refusing to patch, it doesn't touch the licenses.

Bear in mind it's possible the battery also maintains RAM for cal and possibly license data. It would be easy enough to establish this - see what devices on the board have battery power, and if the RTC is a seperate identifiable I2C device , look up  how much RAM it has, and scope what gets read at startup.

But surly these days everyone has moved on to EEPROM? It makes no sense to use battery backed ram when EEPROM is cheap and have a charge holding life longer than any possible chemical battery.

[Hydrawerk]

Well, there is no trick to make the 30-day trial last longer. 

[mikeselectricstuff]

But surly these days everyone has moved on to EEPROM? It makes no sense to use battery backed ram when EEPROM is cheap and have a charge holding life longer than any possible chemical battery.

Not necessarily - SRAM would be more tamper-secure, and if there is a battery already for a clock, not necessarily any more expensive. Using NVSRAM would also avoid any issues with write endurance for preserving settings at next power-on - with eeprom it gets messy as you don't know when power might disappear, so deciding when to save a changed setting becomes nontrivial.
 

[fpga]

Well, there is no trick to make the 30-day trial last longer. 

So what happens when you change the date back by one day? Does the 30-day trial end date also change?

If the trial end date also changes, then it could be that they are using elapsed time (RT clock chip, powered by that soldered coin cell, tick count) rather than calendar dates. Another possibility is that they change the end date each time the current date is changed such that the current difference between the two dates remains the same.

[fpga]

Yes, I have tried it. It doesn't work. Agilent is hack-proof.  But I hope that in say 5 years the 3V button cell will get discharged and the clock will stop. 
Photo taken by David Jones.

Looks like U2601 is some type of I2C RTC clock or micro. The picture is too blurry to make out the markings. If that's the case, then it could be the chip that keeps track of the time and may have a small amount of EEPROM storage to keep track of the 30-day trial. 

[Hydrawerk]

So what happens when you change the date back by one day? Does the 30-day trial end date also change?

Exactly. The 30-day trial end date also changes. 

[Hypernova]

Guess you have to play Cinderella and dial it back to start of each day before the clock strikes 12 then...

[marmad]

But surly these days everyone has moved on to EEPROM? It makes no sense to use battery backed ram when EEPROM is cheap and have a charge holding life longer than any possible chemical battery.

Not necessarily - SRAM would be more tamper-secure, and if there is a battery already for a clock, not necessarily any more expensive. Using NVSRAM would also avoid any issues with write endurance for preserving settings at next power-on - with eeprom it gets messy as you don't know when power might disappear, so deciding when to save a changed setting becomes nontrivial.

Most security measures (keys, times, limits, etc) worth their salt are stored in at least two separate areas to resist tampering - and then verified against each other at boot-up. Rigol finally learned the lesson from the DS1000 hack - and instituted these measures in their latest models.

[Dad-O-Rama]

I'll have to wait until the 30 day trial expires to test if it can be extended by changing the clock.

Right now, the screen shows the enabled options, and the date 2013-5-17 in parentheses immediately before them. Since I enabled the one time 30 day trial on the 17th, I figure it represents the expiration date.

I adjusted the clock forward and back a few days and the "expiration date" date changes accordingly.  I'll wait until May 16th and change it then to add another month and see if on the 18th it still works....

[ben_r_]

I just called and had the quote sent over for the MSOX2SGM and for free the DSOX2MEMUP. Waiting to see the pricing they come back with to see if it might maybe hopefully magically be lower than the website MSRP.

[Dad-O-Rama]

I had a could distributors quote upgrades (Test Equity, Metric Test), they came back with 5-8% off MSRP.  Also, if you're thinking of more that two upgrades, get them in pars- the promo is for every purchased option another of equal or lower value is free. I got quotes for 2 serial decode options and the segmented memory and memup, one of the serial decodes was free, as was the memup, so the total quote was $740.. not bad, all things considered..

[ben_r_]

I had a could distributors quote upgrades (Test Equity, Metric Test), they came back with 5-8% off MSRP.  Also, if you're thinking of more that two upgrades, get them in pars- the promo is for every purchased option another of equal or lower value is free. I got quotes for 2 serial decode options and the segmented memory and memup, one of the serial decodes was free, as was the memup, so the total quote was $740.. not bad, all things considered..

Yea pretty much the same thing here. Test Equity came back with a total of $285 for the two upgrades.

[ben_r_]

Man, so these upgrades are just License Keys? Not associated to the serial number of the unit. That sucks. Someone needs to get that key gen!

[Hydrawerk]

You get a certificate from Agilent. See attached pdf. Then you visit the Agilent website. You type the Order Number, Certificate Number, serial number of your scope and model of your scope. After that you will receive a licence file via email and load it into your scope.

Not associated to the serial number of the unit.

Unfortunately, the serial number is important.

[ben_r_]

AH! That does make more sense. Then the Test Equity guy was incorrect as I specifically asked him why no one had yet asked me for the units serial number.

[Hypernova]

I'll have to wait until the 30 day trial expires to test if it can be extended by changing the clock.

Right now, the screen shows the enabled options, and the date 2013-5-17 in parentheses immediately before them. Since I enabled the one time 30 day trial on the 17th, I figure it represents the expiration date.

I adjusted the clock forward and back a few days and the "expiration date" date changes accordingly.  I'll wait until May 16th and change it then to add another month and see if on the 18th it still works....

Be careful not to let it expire, once they are gone they are gone forever, dialing back at that point won't do anything.

[ben_r_]

Just got my license files from Agilent. Everything went very smoothly.

[DavidDLC]

Just got my license files from Agilent. Everything went very smoothly.

Did you take advantage of the promotion code 5.922 ? Buy one application get another one free ( same value or less ).

David.

[ben_r_]

Just got my license files from Agilent. Everything went very smoothly.

Did you take advantage of the promotion code 5.922 ? Buy one application get another one free ( same value or less ).

David.

Of course. And got a small discount from a reseller too. Still debating whether or not I want to get any other upgrades, but I do have have until late Sept to decide. I just wish that WaveGen upgrade was less expensive. I already have a MUCH nicer arb gen from Agilent, but I would like to have the built in one active too just because. Might get it and a serial decide though. Meh, save that decision for another month.