Open source lxi-tools and liblxi v1.0 released for GNU/Linux

[lundmar]

Today I cloned the lxi-tools git repository.
I tried to compile the lxi-gui under windows with QT-Creator.
But I got an error about a missing include file "lxi.h".
It is included from main.cpp and mainwindow.cpp.

I couldn't find it in the project directory tree.

Maybe it is missing in the project?

Best regards,
Martin

Hi enz,

The applications in lxi-tools depend on liblxi so you need to go install liblxi first which provides lxi.h.

[enz]

Today I cloned the lxi-tools git repository.
I tried to compile the lxi-gui under windows with QT-Creator.
But I got an error about a missing include file "lxi.h".
It is included from main.cpp and mainwindow.cpp.

I couldn't find it in the project directory tree.

Maybe it is missing in the project?

Best regards,
Martin

Hi enz,

The applications in lxi-tools depend on liblxi so you need to go install liblxi first which provides lxi.h.

 
Of course, thanks for the hint.

[lundmar]

I hope share first release on next week, now it testing and debugging stage.

First release is published.
I also add support of high precision TI TMP117 temperature sensor.

Now i have completed data logger solution with environment temperature measurement.

Cool - I'm curious, what kind of sampling rates are you getting using liblxi on the pi to query the temperatures from your instruments?

[ralphrmartin]

Hi Lundmar

three things, if you are still there and listening:

(1) Discover and SCPI commands seem to work for Rigol RSA3000 series spectrum analyzers  but screen shot does not.

(2) If you have a 4K display, the GUI is too small to read comfortably - is there any chance of scaling it up for high dpi displays?

(3)  While lxi-tools reads output fine with from the RSA3000, if I simply telnet to its LXI port, the output is garbled: it seems I just get the first character repeated, rather than the expected string, so for example, if I do *IDN? the output is RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR some large number of times rather than the correct string saying Rigol... whatever. Can you enlighten me as to what the issue is here? Is there anything I can do to make simple telnet output the correct strings instead?

Thanks.

[tv84]

(3)  While lxi-tools reads output fine with from the RSA3000, if I simply telnet to its LXI port, the output is garbled: it seems I just get the first character repeated, rather than the expected string, so for example, if I do *IDN? the output is RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR some large number of times rather than the correct string saying Rigol... whatever. Can you enlighten me as to what the issue is here? Is there anything I can do to make simple telnet output the correct strings instead?

This must be a bug. Which renders the SCPI output useless... If you can't even do the standard *IDN?... 

[ralphrmartin]

But the interesting thing is that lxi-tools gets the correct output from the device, e.g. showing the correct identification presumably in response to an *IDN?

Rigol's own ultra sigma also gives the correct output too.

It's only a direct telnet connection that returns this garbled output (verified from a Mac (telnet), a PC (putty) and a Linux box (telnet) - all the same).

Input is clearly going into the device OK, e.g. I can send commands from telnet to turn things on and off and see the expected responses.

Other commands which generate output seem to do the same, sending strings with the correct first character which is then repeated. E.g. If I query the impedance, I get 55, not 50.

How can lxi-tools be getting the correct output, if telnet is not?

[lundmar]

Hi Lundmar

three things, if you are still there and listening:

I'm back - I've been busy IRL and neglecting the lxi-tools project for a long time but now I'm back and some interesting changes are coming

(1) Discover and SCPI commands seem to work for Rigol RSA3000 series spectrum analyzers  but screen shot does not.

I'm sure we can figure that one out - just takes a little digging in the RSA 3000 programmers guide and an update to one of the existing rigol screenshot plugins or maybe a new one. Feel free to create a bug report / feature request in the github issue tracker: https://github.com/lxi-tools/lxi-tools/issues

(2) If you have a 4K display, the GUI is too small to read comfortably - is there any chance of scaling it up for high dpi displays?

Yes, hi-dpi scaling support is coming. One of the big changes coming is actually a total rewrite of the lxi-gui application. I've kicked out the old QT based lxi-gui application in favour of a much more modern looking GTK4 based application and that also implies hi-dpi support. You can take a peak at some screenshots of the new lxi-gui application here: https://github.com/lxi-tools/lxi-tools

Part of the move to the new lxi-gui is also to make it easy to install lxi-gui on Windows with the new WSL2/wayland feature.

(3)  While lxi-tools reads output fine with from the RSA3000, if I simply telnet to its LXI port, the output is garbled: it seems I just get the first character repeated, rather than the expected string, so for example, if I do *IDN? the output is RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR some large number of times rather than the correct string saying Rigol... whatever. Can you enlighten me as to what the issue is here? Is there anything I can do to make simple telnet output the correct strings instead?

Yeah, that wont work. LXI compatible instruments uses either VXI11 or raw/TCP for communicating commands - you likely telnetted into the VXI11 port and so you get gobbledygook.

[RoGeorge]

Thank you for the new additions, I'm eager to try them (probably next year, my desktop install just died 2 days ago).
So far the new lxi/GUI looks good by the github pics!   



As a feature request, will it be possible to have the LXI GUI as a native install in the repositories, too, same as the lxi-tools, please?

I mean, in the latest Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS repositories, the lxi-tools can be installed with "sudo apt install lxi-tools", while the GUI can only be installed as a "snap" install.  Some users are trying to avoid snap install for various reasons, I don't like snaps mostly because snap installed programs, when launched, are starting visible slower than a native install.

[lundmar]

Thank you for the new additions, I'm eager to try them (probably next year, my desktop install just died 2 days ago).
So far the new lxi/GUI looks good by the github pics!   

Thanks, I think it is looking pretty good. Writing it in GTK4 has been a nice experience - modern GUI toolkits have improved a lot. The application is really fast now because it renders in OpenGL/GLES/Vulkan and the modern toolkit has many cool subtle features never seen in any classic GUI.

As a feature request, will it be possible to have the LXI GUI as a native install in the repositories, too, same as the lxi-tools, please?

I mean, in the latest Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS repositories, the lxi-tools can be installed with "sudo apt install lxi-tools", while the GUI can only be installed as a "snap" install.  Some users are trying to avoid snap install for various reasons, I don't like snaps mostly because snap installed programs, when launched, are starting visible slower than a native install.

Yes, once I make an official release the package maintainers will pick them up when they have time and eventually you will see lxi-tools as native packages in various distributions. Snap is just a way to distribute a release quickly but I am aware of the performance hit that snaps take but for this type of application it matters less.

[N0NB]

Going from Qt to GTK is definitely not a path well traveled that I've seen.  Regardless, good to see you're back to coding again.

[lundmar]

Going from Qt to GTK is definitely not a path well traveled that I've seen.  Regardless, good to see you're back to coding again.

I would normally agree, but GTK4 is changing things up and is becoming a very solid alternative to QT. Much improved API, performance, and debug features. Also, I feel GTK4 is doing stuff more intuitively, the Linux way.

Let me put it this way. I would never have considered porting anything to GTK3.

[lundmar]

Hi guys,

Happy new year 2022!

If you feel brave you are welcome to try out the newly rewritten lxi-gui application via the snap edge channel:

Code: [Select]

$ snap install lxi-tools --edge
$ snap connect lxi-tools:avahi-control

It is work in progress and as long as it is on the snap edge channel it will be subject to changes and bugs. Try on your own risk.

Basic features are working and I am currently working on the script feature.

Here are a few updated screenshots to provide a quick look at the new GUI interface:








FYI: The old application is still available on the snap stable channel.

/Martin

[N0NB]

Well, it finds my Siglent SDS1202X-E DSO but nothing else seems to work.  I tried the :VERSion? button followed by the Send button and get a "Error: Read error (timeout)" in the terminal from where I started lxi-gui (I've not restarted to allow the snap system to integrate with Gnome).

I am using Debian 11.

[lundmar]

Well, it finds my Siglent SDS1202X-E DSO but nothing else seems to work.  I tried the :VERSion? button followed by the Send button and get a "Error: Read error (timeout)" in the terminal from where I started lxi-gui (I've not restarted to allow the snap system to integrate with Gnome).

That means you should be able to send "*IDN?" command to your instrument successfully using the SCPI interface.

Most of the SCPI 1999.0 commands must be used in some combination. Try send ":system:version?" like you see in the screenshots.

":version?" alone is not supported by the standards AFAIK.

[lundmar]

The new lxi-gui scripting feature is coming along nicely:



The new scripting feature is going to become very powerful for such a simple tool. It will be great for quickly managing many network attached instruments and do all sorts of data processing and presentation.

[RoGeorge]

Happy New Year to you, too!   



I was ready to kindly ask for a new feature request:  Python support, only to discover today you already have this on github, wow!   

Thank you very much for the new python module "lxi.py":  https://github.com/lxi-tools/python-liblxi

Since I didn't repair my damaged Ubuntu install yet, I'm still running on a FreeBSD pendrive, so I thought I'll test if lxi-tools can work in FreeBSD, too.  So far, good news:

- liblxi is already in the official binary repository of "FreeBSD 13.0-RELEASE-p4".  In FreeBSD, lxitools can now be installed online with:

pkg install liblxi

- and it's WORKING in FreeBSD  , tested it from Python, with "import lxi", and it could "*IDN?" my Rigol DS1054z.  Python support is a great feature, thank you!



(also made a pull request to python-liblxi, my first pull-request ever, so please don't whack me if I did something stupid there  )

[N0NB]

That means you should be able to send "*IDN?" command to your instrument successfully using the SCPI interface.

Most of the SCPI 1999.0 commands must be used in some combination. Try send ":system:version?" like you see in the screenshots.

":version?" alone is not supported by the standards AFAIK.

I am not familiar at all with the SCPI commands, etc.  However, there does seem to be a bit working now as shown by this screenshot:



I was also able to capture this shot from the 'scope via the program:

[tautech]

I am not familiar at all with the SCPI commands, etc.  However, there does seem to be a bit working now as shown by this screenshot:

Yes I struggle with this stuff a bit too however we have someone here to thank for your SDS1202X-E definition to use with lundmar's cool program.
Here's the latest programming manual for your scope: 
https://int.siglent.com/u_file/document/SDS1000%20Series&SDS2000X&SDS2000X-E_ProgrammingGuide_PG01-E02D.pdf

However it does include commands for all the other Siglent models but also tables of command compatibility and responses.

[lundmar]

I was ready to kindly ask for a new feature request:  Python support, only to discover today you already have this on github, wow!   

Thank you very much for the new python module "lxi.py":  https://github.com/lxi-tools/python-liblxi

Ha ha - yes, I forced myself to sit down and write the python bindings on request from a good engineer friend of mine to make it usable in his work environment. It is no secret that I am no fan of python (slow, horrible syntax) but it is what some people want, so here it finally is!

All I'm missing is to implement the discover feature for the bindings - I will eventually add that binding unless contributors beat me to it

- and it's WORKING in FreeBSD  , tested it from Python, with "import lxi", and it could "*IDN?" my Rigol DS1054z.  Python support is a great feature, thank you!

You're welcome. Now that liblxi is available on most platforms, the python bindings should work on most systems.

(also made a pull request to python-liblxi, my first pull-request ever, so please don't whack me if I did something stupid there  )

Yes, I see it. Already merged. Thank you!

Perfect first github PR - keep em coming  

[lundmar]

I am not familiar at all with the SCPI commands, etc.  However, there does seem to be a bit working now as shown by this screenshot:

Good

I was also able to capture this shot from the 'scope via the program:

Great, I just fixed the screenshot feature for people using the snap. It works fine on my local system but when built in the older snap environment it failed because some GTK image loaders failed to load. With the help of werwaswarum from Github, who reported the issue, we got it sorted out.

Now, we just need more testers and more equipment so we can broaden the lxi-tools instrument support.

[N0NB]

A bit off-topic, but as I am using the Snap (only app so far) does it update automatically or is there a command I need to issue to pull an update?

[lundmar]

A bit off-topic, but as I am using the Snap (only app so far) does it update automatically or is there a command I need to issue to pull an update?

It updates automatically but you can force an update using the following command:

Code: [Select]

$ snap refresh

If you want to know which version you have installed you can do:

Code: [Select]

$ snap info lxi-tools


[lundmar]

I just got approval of auto-connection of avahi-control for the lxi-tools snap. This means that if you want to try out the development version of lxi-tools you can now install it with a single command like so:

Code: [Select]

$ snap install lxi-tools --edge

No more need for the "snap connect ..." command.

The new lxi-gui is in good shape. I'm currently working on refining the script feature before the upcoming v2.0 release.

[lundmar]

I've just added a new feature to lxi-gui which allows scripts to sample data from instruments and plot it in a nice graphical chart. The chart is updated live as the data comes in.

This feature is leaps better than the old rigid lxi-gui "Data Recorder" feature that was inflexible and didn't really work well. This new way of scripting a data logger / recorder is the right way to do it. It's a little more complex because it is scripted but I think the way I've made the interface with lua makes it really simple! I think most people with little to no scripting experience will still understand.

Here are a couple of examples of the new feature in action:

[N0NB]

Looks good.

I think you're said the script language is Python, but what I see doesn't look like the Python I know.  I was guessing it to be LUA which seems to be popular for embedded scripting these days.

Please correct me and explain the syntax.