Other DSO manufacturers besides GW-Instek that use Xilinx Zynq-7000 series

[pascal_sweden]

I wanted to find out through this thread, if there are other DSO manufacturers out there,
besides GW-Instek, that use the Xilinx Zynq-7000 in their digital oscilloscopes?

The Zynq-7000 architecture is very promising, and results in a very responsive digital oscilloscope.
I really like that GW-Instek selected this architecture, unfortunately I don't like the design of their scopes,
and therefore I am on the lookout for another DSO manufacturer that uses this architecture, and that has better design taste

I know about the Red Pitaya product, built on a Zynq-7000, but this is not what I am looking for.
There has to be another DSO manufacturer, that uses this architecture, but I haven't found one yet.

[saturation]

On the $6000 NI Virtual Bench Dave identified Zynq SoC on board.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-875-ni-virtualbench-teardown/msg934441/#msg934441

Signal path also did a review of the lower end $2000 NI, but didn't go far enough to identify the core CPU so don't know if this is Zynq powered.



On Instek, there are 11 variants on the platform: 6 for the 2000E and 5 for the 1000B.

[pascal_sweden]

Thanks for the update!

That instrument classifies however under the USB device section, and not under the stand-alone DSO section

Moreover that device is not in the price range, that I am looking for.

So hereby I further specify my search:

I am on the lookout for other DSO manufacturers besides GW-Instek, that produce stand-alone digital storage scopes which are built around the Xilinx Zynq-7000 SoC architecture, and that come in a 500-1500 USD price range

Besides the Xilinx Zynq-7000 SoC architecture, the newer Xilinx Zynq UltraScale MPSoC architecture is a valid candidate as well, in the stand-alone DSO that I am looking for

[Someone]

Are you wanting to make an alternative firmware image but want to use a cheap product as a base? Otherwise the underlying architecture is mostly irrelevant.

[nctnico]

Otherwise the underlying architecture is mostly irrelevant.

Not quite. Equipment with lots of processing horsepower makes processing tasks like decoding, filtering, math, FFT, measurements, etc very fast for very low cost. Just look at Dave's FFT comparison and see how the GW Instek scope runs circles around every other scope he tested. There is a good reason higher end scopes are based on PCs: it is all about processing power.

[Kilrah]

Yeah but there's nothing miraculous about the Zynq, it's an awesome platform but in the end it's nothing but a dual core CPU and an FPGA in the same package. So there's no reason a different solution that packs a comparatively powerful CPU and FPGA in discrete packages can't do just as good.

The Zynq may save a little in parts and/or assembly costs meaning a bit more power than a discrete solution for the same price, but I'd tend to think any advantage most likely comes from good IP/software design and optimization.

[pascal_sweden]

The Zynq SoCs and MPSoCs from Xilinx are a natural fit for design teams consisting
of software and FPGA hardware engineers. However, teams with limited or no
hardware engineers, have been challenged due to the RTL (VHDL or Verilog)
development expertise needed, to take full advantage of the benefit of the device.

To resolve this challenge and enable more design teams to take advantage of Zynq
devices, Xilinx has introduced SDSoC, a new C/C++ development environment.
The SDSoC development environment enables the broader community of embedded
software developers, to leverage the power of hardware and software
‘all programmable’ devices.

The SmartConnect interconnect optimization technology attacks the IP interconnect
bottleneck at the system level, by automatically optimizing the interconnect for the
specific design’s requirements around throughput, latency, and area while providing
the optimal performance/watt.

[EEVblog]

Interesting question, I don't recall seeing any other bench scopes...

[H.O]

The Zynq SoCs and MPSoCs from Xilinx are a natural fit for design teams consisting
of software and FPGA hardware engineers. However, teams with limited or no
hardware engineers, have been challenged due to the RTL (VHDL or Verilog)
development expertise needed, to take full advantage of the benefit of the device.

To resolve this challenge and enable more design teams to take advantage of Zynq
devices, Xilinx has introduced SDSoC, a new C/C++ development environment.
The SDSoC development environment enables the broader community of embedded
software developers, to leverage the power of hardware and software
‘all programmable’ devices.

The SmartConnect interconnect optimization technology attacks the IP interconnect
bottleneck at the system level, by automatically optimizing the interconnect for the
specific design’s requirements around throughput, latency, and area while providing
the optimal performance/watt.

And here's the source of those statments link, and link.

[Someone]

Yeah but there's nothing miraculous about the Zynq, it's an awesome platform but in the end it's nothing but a dual core CPU and an FPGA in the same package. So there's no reason a different solution that packs a comparatively powerful CPU and FPGA in discrete packages can't do just as good.

You got it Also, if you buy a scope you can test its performance for the important uses you have, it doesn't matter if there is a desktop intel CPU (Lecroy) or an FPGA (Tek, Rigol, etc) or an ASIC (Keysight) what matters is the end result.

The Zynq may save a little in parts and/or assembly costs meaning a bit more power than a discrete solution for the same price, but I'd tend to think any advantage most likely comes from good IP/software design and optimization.

Price of a zynq part has been much higher than comparable separate CPU + FPGA parts, so its been targeting space constrained applications. With serious competitors creeping into the market prices might come back to a realistic point or who knows!

To resolve this challenge and enable more design teams to take advantage of Zynq
devices, Xilinx has introduced SDSoC, a new C/C++ development environment.
The SDSoC development environment enables the broader community of embedded
software developers, to leverage the power of hardware and software
‘all programmable’ devices.

Don't believe the hype, high level synthesis has been around a long time and still isn't able to extract the same efficiencies as poorly written and designed HDL. Even Altium had a half decent attempt at it with little impact:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-level_synthesis

[nctnico]

I recall a thread where someone tried Xilinx's C to FPGA compiler and it seemed to work quite well. OTOH what matters most nowadays is speed because resources are abundant. When I started with FPGAs there where devices with 32 or so block rams of 512 bytes (or so) each. You really had to plan the usage at the design stage. In a current project even a low cost FPGA has over 100 blockrams holding 4kB each.

[pascal_sweden]

High-Level Synthesis has become a reality!

Please take a look at CyberWorkbench from NEC:

C-based integrated environment for System LSI design, that provides an "All-in-C" based design flow.

Digital designs can be dominated by either control or data path logic. This tool uses powerful synthesis
algorithms to generate control and data flow logic allowing the generation of any type of digital design.

Here is an impressive video from NEC about CyberWorkbench:
http://www.nec.com/en/global/prod/cwb/video/index.html

Enjoy!

[coppice]

High-Level Synthesis has become a reality!

Please take a look at CyberWorkbench from NEC:

C-based integrated environment for System LSI design, that provides an "All-in-C" based design flow.

Digital designs can be dominated by either control or data path logic. This tool uses powerful synthesis
algorithms to generate control and data flow logic allowing the generation of any type of digital design.

Here is an impressive video from NEC about CyberWorkbench:
http://www.nec.com/en/global/prod/cwb/video/index.html

The videos have been than impressive for over 20 years.

[pascal_sweden]

If you want to improve your HLS skills this summer, then I recommend you to buy this book

http://www.hlsbluebook.com/

[ebastler]

The Zynq SoCs and MPSoCs from Xilinx are a natural fit for design teams consisting
of software and FPGA hardware engineers...

High-Level Synthesis has become a reality!
...
Digital designs can be dominated by either control or data path logic. This tool uses powerful synthesis
algorithms to generate control and data flow logic allowing the generation of any type of digital design
...

Pascal -- please do yourself and us a favor: If you quote some manufacturer's marketing blurb, please put in in quotes and explicitly state the source. That also applies if you transcribe marketing blurb from a manufacturer's video ;-)

I am not opposed to relaying manufacturer information here. But I think it is good practice to make it very clear which parts are your personal (hopefully unbiased) assessment, and which ones are quoted from a manufacturer who obviously is far from unbiased.

[coppice]

If you want to improve your HLS skills this summer, then I recommend you to buy this book

http://www.hlsbluebook.com/

Is this recommendation based on your experience of using the book to help you get an actual project successfully completed?

[saturation]

You're welcome, alas I can't recall anyone else which a full bench DSO using any of the Zynq technology.  I too am interested in its capabilities and its one reason I bought the Instek.

I recall the Zybo test board has an DSO demo app, and that's all I think there is as of this time, and all but the Instek are USB instruments.

While the Instek may not appeal to some aesthetically, IMHO its it the current main showcase of Zynq performance as a DSO.   

Prior reviews have shown its speed, performance, far reduced parts count, and finally, reliability.   All that translates to at least a very functional product with much lower manufacturing cost.  It is solid performer I would be confident to use as a test device in front of peers and even critical experiments.

Thanks for the update!

That instrument classifies however under the USB device section, and not under the stand-alone DSO section

Moreover that device is not in the price range, that I am looking for.

So hereby I further specify my search:

I am on the lookout for other DSO manufacturers besides GW-Instek, that produce stand-alone digital storage scopes which are built around the Xilinx Zynq-7000 SoC architecture, and that come in a 500-1500 USD price range

Besides the Xilinx Zynq-7000 SoC architecture, the newer Xilinx Zynq UltraScale MPSoC architecture is a valid candidate as well, in the stand-alone DSO that I am looking for

[pascal_sweden]

Pascal -- please do yourself and us a favor: If you quote some manufacturer's marketing blurb, please put in in quotes and explicitly state the source. That also applies if you transcribe marketing blurb from a manufacturer's video ;-)

I am not opposed to relaying manufacturer information here. But I think it is good practice to make it very clear which parts are your personal (hopefully unbiased) assessment, and which ones are quoted from a manufacturer who obviously is far from unbiased.

Your advice has been noted, and taken into account! Thanks for the advice

[pascal_sweden]

If you want to improve your HLS skills this summer, then I recommend you to buy this book

http://www.hlsbluebook.com/

Is this recommendation based on your experience of using the book to help you get an actual project successfully completed?

I haven't used the book yet for an actual project, but I read a lot of good remarks about it.

But again, to follow ebastler's advice, my recommendation is probably biased because of reviews, that possibly are controlled by the manufacturer, so it is probably better to withdraw my recommendation, and just inform you about the availability of the book, and decide yourself if it is any good or not,
until I have actually used the book extensively and verified personally that it helped me to take an actual project to completion, with a significant reduction of time to market

[pascal_sweden]

Maybe one day we will see a DSO from NEC, designed with CyberWorkbench

The "All-in-C" Digital Storage Oscilloscope from NEC =)

And hereby the feedback expected from other forum users on my post:
"Keep on dreaming Pascal!"

[coppice]

Maybe one day we will see a DSO from NEC, designed with CyberWorkbench

The "All-in-C" Digital Storage Oscilloscope from NEC =)

And hereby the feedback expected from other forum users on my post:
"Keep on dreaming Pascal!"

NEC hasn't existed as a semiconductor company for several years. CyberWorkbench is over 20 years old. If it hasn't affected the DSO market to date, why would you expect that to change?

[pascal_sweden]

NEC has indeed kept this tool in-house for all these years, but they have further perfectionized the tool over the years.

Only since 2011, they released it as a commercial product outside Japan, to get some traction for their EDA tool on the US market, and compete with Synopsys and Cadence:
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1264211

And more recently they have reinforced that effort by partnering up with Aldec:
https://www.aldec.com/en/company/news/2013-07-31/199

Whether they were successful in this attempt or not, is another question.

However, it has to be said, that NEC was the first company, to invest substantial amount of money in HLS projects, that led to an actual commercial tape out of a chip.

This is greatly thanks to the effort of Dr. Kazutoshi Wakabayashi, who is an internal promotor and believer of HLS in the company.

To learn more about the man behind HLS at NEC, take a look at this article:
www.nec.com/en/global/techrep/journal/g05/n03/pdf/a242.pdf

Hereby an overview of the publications from Dr. Kazutoshi Wakabayashi:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kazutoshi_Wakabayashi/publications

The most recent publication dates back to January 2015, which confirms that HLS is still an active topic within the NEC organization.

[coppice]

However, it has to be said, that NEC was the first company, to invest substantial amount of money in HLS projects, that led to an actual commercial tape out of a chip.

Who says that, and what dates do they give?

[pascal_sweden]

Did you read the backgrounder about Wakabayashi that I provided before?
www.nec.com/en/global/techrep/journal/g05/n03/pdf/a242.pdf

On the link below, they indicate that they are number one in Japan, and mention some actual customers:
https://www.semiwiki.com/forum/content/2542-hw-prototyping-hls-dac.html

Hereby some extra references to books and articles that cover HLS, which are worth looking at IMO:

Book 1: High-Level Synthesis - from Algorithm to Digital Circuit
http://www.springer.com/us/book/9781402085871

Book 2: Embedded System Design - Modeling, Synthesis and Verification
http://www.springer.com/gp/book/9781441905031

Book 3: High-Level Synthesis Blue Book
http://www.hlsbluebook.com/

Book 4: ESL Models and their Application
http://www.springer.com/us/book/9781441909640

Article 1: High-Level Synthesis for FPGAs - From Prototyping to Deployment
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=5737854&newsearch=true&queryText=High-level%20synthesis%20for%20FPGAs:%20From%20prototyping%20to%20deployment.&fname=&lname=&title=&volume=&issue=&spage=

Article 2: C-based SoC design flow and EDA tools: an ASIC and system vendor perspective
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?tp=&arnumber=898829&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D898829

Hereby some references to past seminars about HLS, which possibly are organized again in the future:

HLS seminar 1: C-Based High Level Synthesis Technical Webinar - Organized by TechDream in Santa Clara
http://tech-dream.com/hls_webinar/

NEC highlighted some success stories on this seminar.

HLS seminar 2: The New Wave of the High Level Synthesis - Organized by Electronic Chips & Systems design Initiative
http://ecsi.org/workshop2008/new-wave-high-level-synthesis

NEC was also present on this seminar.

If you know about any upcoming HLS seminars in Europe (preferably free seminars), please provide more details in this thread

[pascal_sweden]

If the current DSO manufacturers are not taking up and adopting the Xilinq-7000 series in their scopes,
there is another solution!

Here is another option that I see:

Use everything from an existing oscilloscope, including the analog front-end, the controls and knobs, the display, the power supply, but bypass the main processor and insert a Xilinx Zynq-7000 instead. This could in fact be the Zybo board from Digilent.

Would it be easy to redirect the output of the analog front-end? Or would it be possible to tri-state the main FPGA and take over control through a Xilinx Zynq-7000? Would there be space inside to add an extra Zybo board without replacing an existing board?

Using this modification, you could retro-fit an existing oscilloscope and convert it into a powerful oscilloscope with super powers that beats the GW-Instek GDS-2000E

Hereby some examples of new model numbers that I propose, where Z stands for Zynq-7000 option, or R stands for Retro-fit option =)

Rigol DS1052E-Z
Rigol DS1054Z-Z
Siglent SDS1052DL-Z
Siglent SDS1102X-Z
Owon SDS7102-Z

Rigol DS1052E-R
Rigol DS1054Z-R
Siglent SDS1052DL-R
Siglent SDS1102X-R
Owon SDS7102-R

It should be possible, to open up the scope just once for the retro-fit, mount the Zybo board, a JTAG cable and other debugging cables into the scope, and after close it again.

The external design of the scope stays fully intact, while at the same time you would have full access to the scope, to control and monitor it from the JTAG interface and the other debugging cables.

Special labels or decals could be made, with a nice big "Zynq-7000" or the wording "Retro-fit", to proudly show the transformation

Maybe a small batch of these scopes can be produced, for an FPGA and DSP class room

[ebastler]

Thanks Pascal; I am really glad that we already have the model names for those modified Zynq scopes sorted out...

Seriously though: Who do you think should have an interest in developing and selling such a product? The scope manufacturers, instead of developing and selling a new scope model at bigger margins and revenues?  An independent aftermarket manufacturer, who will have to reverse-engineer multiple scopes, and deal with really interesting challenges of design ownership, EMC and electrical safety responsibility, product liability, warranty... all for measly revenues from a niche product??

No offense intended, but I would be curious about your professional background. Have you been involved with hardware development in a commercial environment?

[pascal_sweden]

I haven't stated anywhere that the goal is to make this a mass product.

Neither have I stated that it should be implemented on all of the current available bench oscilloscopes.
One from the list that I provided is enough. The list just gave an overview of the possible candidates, that is, cheap bench oscilloscopes that have an area for improvement in terms of processor performance.

It would be a proof of concept project, to validate if it can be done, and what the implications are.

Eventually this project and all the related activities behind it, would result in an open source bench oscilloscope based on a Xilinx Zynq-7000 architecture. It is the latter one, that I envision to become a mass product!

In this open source bench oscilloscope, all parts, including the analog front-end, the controls and the knobs, the display, the power supply, the hardware and processor architecture, would be owned by a legal company or an open source organisation.

Possibly there could be a partnership with an existing Chinese oscilloscope manufacturer, as they are extremely good at the build mechanics, the molding of the plastics, and the overall physical design.

The product would be released on the market after all necessary certifications and conformity tests would have been passed.

The open source bench oscilloscope would be an excellent product for educational purposes in an FPGA and DSP class room, and for students and thinkers at home that want to learn different aspects related to electronic systems:

Embedded Software:
Software development (C, C++, Java) on various hardware platforms
MCU and FPGA development (Atmel, ARM, Zynq, Xilinx ISE/Vivado)
Android front-end design and development of Linux device drivers

Chip Design:
Electronic Design Automation, HDL languages (VHDL, SystemC)
High-Level Synthesis, “All-in-C” based design, Virtual Prototyping
FPGA Based ASIC Prototyping for Hardware Software Co-Design

Regarding my background: I like to think out of the box, and I see opportunities where other people only see weaknesses. I see myself blessed with that mind set. I am not that technical anymore, given my current role, but I hold a Master degree in Electrical Engineering, and I am the personal holder of several patents related to electronic systems.

[nctnico]

Do you have any idea how many hours it will take to develop (design, write and test) the oscilloscope firmware? It doesn't seem like much but it is actually an incredibly complex piece of software so count on at least a couple of thousand hours.

You better just bite the bullet and buy a GW Instek GDS-2204E. If you want to add your own features to it then work out how the applications (which can be installed seperately) on these oscilloscopes work.

[ebastler]

Sorry Pascal; got you wrong regarding the commercial intent then. Probably the discussion of model numbers and stickers made me assume that you were suggesting a product.

As a hobby project -- if this tickles you fancy, feel free to give it a go!  It's not for me, though: For me, such a significant time investment should either result in something that is truly unique (not necessarily useful, but unique  ), or should be about using and/or conserving an old device that has some significance for me. While I like using my Rigol as an off-the-shelf tool, those low-end scopes are too much of a "throw-away" product to be the basis for a rewarding hobby project.  But that's just my personal taste.

[pascal_sweden]

No worries. I appreciate your remarks and concerns.

Regarding effort and business priorities: I do realize this is a big task, but one can achieve great things in the open source software community, if there is enough traction behind the project
This is definitely a joint-effort project, and not a one-man show!

If the underlying Linux device drivers are in place, and a high-level software API library is available to control and monitor the various functional areas in the oscilloscope and the various features related to signal processing, it could form a basis for new features and new software applications over time.

The time you would invest in building this product, would be rewarded with new knowledge and skills in various areas. So you would be rewarded with additional education and on the job training =)

I do agree that this project is probably an utopy! One where we would no longer have to wait months for firmware updates from the vendor!

However, I believe it is sometimes nice to play with ideas, envision something bigger, throw it in the ring for discussion, and get feedback about feasibility That discussion on its own already brings some value!

[ebastler]

If you want to get this off the ground, I think the way to go is to actually start working on it. That will get people excited, prove to them that you are serious, and will provide a nucleus from which you can try to build a larger team. Christer Weinigel's work on the Owon scope (in the SDS7102 thread) is a great example.

At least for my hobby endeavors, the problem is not that I'm short on ideas, but short on time to actually develop something. Assuming that most hobbyists are in the same boat, we are not that impressed by someone who just suggests: "Hey, you should be doing this!" 

[pascal_sweden]

Same here. Plenty of ideas, but also short on time unfortunately.

My ambition for this summer is, to become good on the Zynq-7000 platform and develop my own Linux device driver for the Linux distribution that runs on one of the ARM A9 processors inside the Zynq-7000.

Once I master that, which will probably take more time than expected, I want to get a better insight on how an Android software stack is mapped on top of a Linux software stack, and how Android device drivers differ from Linux device drivers.

[langwadt]

Same here. Plenty of ideas, but also short on time unfortunately.

My ambition for this summer is, to become good on the Zynq-7000 platform and develop my own Linux device driver for the Linux distribution that runs on one of the ARM A9 processors inside the Zynq-7000.

unless you have something that absolutely cannot run out side the kernel you usually don't need to write a kernel driver

With the standard UIO driver you can mmap() registers in the PL and access interrupts from the PL with select()
from user space

[pascal_sweden]

Siglent released a new oscilloscope based on the Zynq-7000 SoC architecture.

More details can be found in the separate thread:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/new-siglent-sds1000x-e-oscilloscope-based-on-xilinx-zynq-7000-soc-architecture/msg1172684/#msg1172684

[tautech]

Siglent released are soon to release a new oscilloscope based on the Zynq-7000 SoC architecture.

More details can be found in the separate thread:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/new-siglent-sds1000x-e-oscilloscope-based-on-xilinx-zynq-7000-soc-architecture/msg1172684/#msg1172684

Error corrected ^^^ 

Mid April is what I'm led to understand.

[kcbrown]

Siglent released are soon to release a new oscilloscope based on the Zynq-7000 SoC architecture.

More details can be found in the separate thread:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/new-siglent-sds1000x-e-oscilloscope-based-on-xilinx-zynq-7000-soc-architecture/msg1172684/#msg1172684

Error corrected ^^^ 

Mid April is what I'm led to understand.

I think it'll be very interesting to see how the new scope does.  From Dave's videos, it looks like it's fast and reasonably responsive (doesn't look to have quite the instant response that Keysight's scopes have, but does any scope match that?).

[wpwrak]

Are there any new members in the Zynq-based scope class ?

So far, I know of (with date of introduction):
Instek GDS-2000E series (2016)
Siglent SDS1000X-E series (2017)
Rigol 7000 series (2018)

Siglent's seems to be the most "pure" Zynq-centered system, while Instek use at least one additional FPGA, and Rigol seem to have two custom ASICs (*). At least Siglent also seems to OEM for other brands.

(*) According to https://www.designworldonline.com/rigol-announces-new-7000-series-digital-oscilloscope/

- Werner

[nctnico]

There are more models from GW Instek that use the Zync. What is interesting about GW Instek is that they also seem to use Lua. This would allow a very easy way to extend the functionality without needing to rewrite firmware. However I never looked into this deeper.

[wpwrak]

There are more models from GW Instek that use the Zync.

Thanks ! So that would be the GDS-1000B series, according to the thread at https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/a-review-of-the-gwinstek-1054b/ ? Appears to be a streamlined (and somewhat downgraded) iteration of the GDS-2000E platform. I wonder if they've gotten rid of the second FPGA.

What is interesting about GW Instek is that they also seem to use Lua. This would allow a very easy way to extend the functionality without needing to rewrite firmware. However I never looked into this deeper.

Interesting indeed. Sounds like something they might be able turn into an attractive and fairly unique feature without too much effort.

- Werner

[Markus@RohdeScopes]

Hi

I didn't recognize this thread until yet, but the RTH uses a Zynq too.

Markus

[wpwrak]

I didn't recognize this thread until yet, but the RTH uses a Zynq too.

Thanks ! Is it also one from the 7000 series ? At 5 GSa/s, I guess it's accompanied by some custom ASIC(s) ?

Background: I'm compiling a list of platforms that might be suitable for an attempt to replace the vendor firmware with something Open Source, in this context: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/open-source-instrument-firmware-project-104048/

- Werner

[Markus@RohdeScopes]

It's from the 7000 series. The design is more than 2 years old (launched Jan 16). The whole DSP is done in the FPGA no additional ASIC. But other analog components are own ASICs (like ADC) and therefore it's not possible to replace our firmware by an Open Source FW. The open Source FW is an interesting concept but not very realistic. In details it's not so easy to build an instruments FW, which measure the values with the right accuracy.

[wpwrak]

The whole DSP is done in the FPGA no additional ASIC.

Nice !

But other analog components are own ASICs (like ADC) and therefore it's not possible to replace our firmware by an Open Source FW.

Yes, undocumented chips make everything a lot more difficult. Not impossible, but harder. Sometimes, manufacturers provide this kind of information when they realize that 3rd party firmware is more likely to increase their revenue than harm them, but whether and when depends on circumstances.

The open Source FW is an interesting concept but not very realistic. In details it's not so easy to build an instruments FW, which measure the values with the right accuracy.

Oh, I wouldn't expect it to be very good at the beginning, but Rome wasn't built in a day either My main concerns regarding accuracy are calibration, and to a lesser extent characterizing the analog path. It's likely to be difficult to make full use of manufacturer-provided calibration data - assuming that we can retrieve it, without a clear definition how it is to be used.

Hmm, just saw in the FOSS thread that someone already beat me to getting the basics going on the Siglent. Excellent

- Werner

[pascal_sweden]

Let´s reconvene on this topic in the scope of the Rigol MSO5000 series and higher!

[oliv3r]

Hmm, just saw in the FOSS thread that someone already beat me to getting the basics going on the Siglent. Excellent

- Werner

Two years later, I'm curious, anybody have a link to that thread for me to read? As I don't have any siglent hardware, I don't frequent those threads :p