<d1b2>
<newt> @azonenberg I have an annoying question, but first context. Work has given me money for equiptment I need to spend, and I only want to buy a scope compatible with scopehal, or kind of compatible(maybe I can participate in development for its api in the future). I have about $500-$600 to spend and would like something that would be good for all around embedded development, nothing crazy like a 350mhz - 4 channel scope...off the cuff, what do you
<d1b2>
recommend? Id really like to buy a thunderscope, but my timing isnt good as I have to spend the money in the next few days.
<azonenberg>
@newt the 1000 series works but is not as fast or nice to use as the 2000
<azonenberg>
a 2104x+ is probably beyond your budget though
<azonenberg>
the 2000 and up siglents are all one common software platform, 1000 is an older one that's different and not used by as many folks
<azonenberg>
so there might be rough edges
<azonenberg>
it will absolutely work though
<d1b2>
<newt> @azonenberg would a rigol be more compatible with scopehal?
<azonenberg>
the rigol mso5000 series works with scopehal but is IIRC a bit slower in terms of update rate than the siglents? less of the folks here have them so they're less well tested, but comparing to the siglent 1000 series vs the 2000/5000/6000 that is more popular, it might not be a big diff in code maturity
<azonenberg>
What about a PicoScope 3000 series scope?
<azonenberg>
it says price from $639 but i cant find which model is that cheap
<azonenberg>
aha ok you're out of luck, the lowest end models are ouit of stock
<azonenberg>
nothing you can order right now is sub $1K
<azonenberg>
picoscope 2000 series is well within your price range but is really low end and also not supported by scopehal at all (but has a SDK that you could write a driver from fairly easily)
<azonenberg>
actually rigol mso5000 is more ilke a siglent 2000 series competitor
<azonenberg>
i dont know what the current sub $1k class rigol model competing with the siglent 1000 series scope looks like
<azonenberg>
the last rigol i owned was a DS1102D back in 2011
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<d1b2>
<massi> mso5000
<azonenberg>
massi: i thought mso5000 was more of a 2000 class instrument in the 1-1.5 kUSD range?
<azonenberg>
vs a 500 USD / 1000 series type device
<d1b2>
<massi> yes you're right!, a little less of 1kUSD the base model...
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<gurki_>
if this is your first scope id highly recommend sth with knobs
<d1b2>
<newt> @azonenberg after reading and lurking amazon, i think ive decided on this one, sds2202x-e… only two channels but its my first scope… and better suited to the scope hal
<d1b2>
<newt> Slightly out of budget but ill make it work
<d1b2>
<newt> Unless you would absolutely not recommend two channels
<d1b2>
<dannas> @newt The sds1104x-e can be hacked to 200MHz bw. I've done it using a python script available on the Internetz.
<d1b2>
<newt> Interesting, any chance you have a link? Ill check that out later, thankz!
<d1b2>
<Darius> 2 channel with external trigger is OK
<d1b2>
<Darius> especially if it has the logic analyser interface
<d1b2>
<20goto10> The SBUS ones are an expensive add-on right? We've got the 1104xe and the logic pod for that + software unlock was about £500
<d1b2>
<dannas> That reminds. Some months ago @mubes (I think it was you atleast) mentioned that there are available schematics for building the logic pod, but I never found those back then.
<d1b2>
<mubes> Personally, for the bit extra, I'd spring for the 4 channels. I virtually never use the logic probes, but when I do I'm uncomfortable not knowing what the signals really look like. Pay more = pain once, Pay less = pain forever.
<d1b2>
<mubes> (but my practices might be unusual 🙂 )
<d1b2>
<20goto10> I'm not wowwed by the logic probes on the siglent (1104) tbh - it's more fiddly than a dedicated LA on the PC and has less decode/export options
<d1b2>
<mubes> I've yet to find a scope LA that's much good TBH.
<d1b2>
<20goto10> tangential: is there a discord for the Sigrok project?
<d1b2>
<miek> For me they have slightly different use-cases. I'll lean towards using a PC-based logic analyser if I want to do a long capture and decode a sequence of transactions on a bus, for example. I still find the scope LA really useful for more real-time stuff when I want alignment with the analog channels or I just want to monitor a lot of signals
<d1b2>
<zyp> that's my experience too
<d1b2>
<mubes> With scopehal I can capture long(ish) stuff with the scope and post-process on the PC....whole sequences of SWD would be a typical use case for me, but quite often correlated with a couple of other signals telling me something that's going off in the FPGA or target. I'm not saying either is right or wrong, just that you're reducing your options if you've only got a two channel scope.
<d1b2>
<zyp> I agree with that also
<d1b2>
<zyp> I wouldn't spend that much money on a two channel scope
<d1b2>
<mubes> @newt a couple of vendors give 10% discount to eevblog members so you might want to ask for the discount code there....might be enough to sway you to the 4 channel. TEquipment.com which seems to have the SDS1202X-E at $619
<d1b2>
<miek> Oh yeah, I'd definitely agree with prioritising 4-channel over having an mso option.
<azonenberg>
also IIRC you can add the mso option later
<azonenberg>
while 2 channels cannot be easily upgraded to 4
<azonenberg>
Update on the CI work: apparently the Linux drivers for the GPUs on the VM server don't seem to support Vulkan
<azonenberg>
which is annoying as i picked those cards specifically because I thought they worked better in virtualized environments than nvidia :p
<azonenberg>
ordered a couple of cheap low profile nvidia cards which will hopefully work better
<tnt>
azonenberg: which cards were those ?
<azonenberg>
the old or new?
<tnt>
old that don't work
<azonenberg>
The new are GTX 1630 which are Turing based (recent architecture) non-RTX, appear to be the latest nvidia generation available in half height form factor
<azonenberg>
old are amd wx 4100 and 9100
<azonenberg>
Being a 2U with no space for risers really limits your GPU options
<tnt>
Weird, it says the WX4100 is GCN4 and my RX580 is also GCN4 and has vulkan.
<azonenberg>
yeah i'm not entirely sure, @johnsel is getting errors in amdgpu about unsupported cards and such
<azonenberg>
and we want to be able to test on nvidia cards anyway
<tnt>
Yeah, you're definitely better off. Although my card has vulkan support, it hard crashes when I use it with scopehal while the nvidia works.
<azonenberg>
lol i see
<azonenberg>
anyway if i have enough pcie slots i may keep one or two of the amd cards in the server as well
<d1b2>
<johnsel> yes RX580 is supported, the WX4100 just isn't