1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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5 This README contains various notes for users of libsigrok (or frontends
6 that are based on libsigrok) about device- and/or driver-specific issues.
12 Some devices supported by libsigrok need a firmware to be uploaded every time
13 the device is connected to the PC (usually via USB), before it can be used.
15 The default location where libsigrok expects the firmware files is:
17 $prefix/share/sigrok-firmware
19 ($prefix is usually /usr/local or /usr, depending on your ./configure options)
21 For further information see the section below and also:
23 http://sigrok.org/wiki/Firmware
26 Per-driver firmware requirements
27 --------------------------------
29 The following drivers/devices require a firmware upload upon connection:
31 - asix-sigma: The ASIX SIGMA and SIGMA2 require various firmware files,
32 depending on the settings used. These files are available from our
33 'sigrok-firmware' repository/project under a license which allows us
36 - fx2lafw: Logic analyzers based on the Cypress FX2(LP) chip need the
37 firmware files from the 'sigrok-firmware-fx2lafw' repository/project.
38 The firmware is written from scratch and licensed under the GNU GPLv2+.
40 - hantek-dso: The Hantek DSO-2090 (and other supported models of the same
41 series of Hantek PC oscilloscopes) need firmware files.
42 These can be extracted from the vendor's Windows drivers using a tool
43 from our 'sigrok-util' repository/project.
45 - saleae-logic16: The Saleae Logic16 needs a firmware file for the
46 Cypress FX2 chip in the device, as well as two FPGA bitstream files.
47 These can be extracted from the vendor's Linux application using a tool
48 from our 'sigrok-util' repository/project.
50 - sysclk-lwla: The Sysclk LWLA1034 requires various bitstream files.
51 These files are available from our 'sigrok-firmware' repository/project
52 under a license which allows us to redistribute them.
54 The following drivers/devices do not need any firmware upload:
62 - center-3xx (including all subdrivers)
68 - gmc-mh-1x-2x (including all subdrivers)
70 - ikalogic-scanalogic2
75 - mic-985xx (including all subdrivers)
77 - openbench-logic-sniffer
80 - serial-dmm (including all subdrivers)
83 - uni-t-dmm (including all subdrivers)
89 Specifying serial ports
90 -----------------------
92 Many devices supported by libsigrok use serial port based cables (real RS232
93 or USB-to-serial ones) to connect to a PC.
95 For all these devices, you need to specify the serial port they are connected
96 to (e.g. using the 'conn' option in sigrok-cli). It is not possible to scan
97 for such devices without specifying a serial port.
101 $ sigrok-cli --driver <somedriver>:conn=/dev/ttyUSB0 ...
103 The following drivers/devices require a serial port specification:
110 - center-3xx (including all subdrivers)
114 - gmc-mh-1x-2x (including all subdrivers)
117 - mic-985xx (including all subdrivers)
119 - openbench-logic-sniffer
120 - rigol-ds (for RS232; not required for USBTMC or TCP)
121 - serial-dmm (including all subdrivers)
125 The following drivers/devices do not require a serial port specification:
133 - ikalogic-scanalogic2
138 - rigol-ds (USBTMC or TCP)
141 - uni-t-dmm (including all subdrivers)
144 - zeroplus-logic-cube
147 Specifiying serial port parameters
148 ----------------------------------
150 Every serial device's driver has default serial port parameters like baud
151 rate, number of data bits, stop bits and handshake status. If a device requires
152 different parameters, pass them as option "serialcomm" with the driver name.
153 See libsigrok docs for the function serial_set_paramstr() for complete specs.
157 $ sigrok-cli --driver <somedriver>:conn=<someconn>:serialcomm=9600/7n1/dtr=1
160 Permissions of serial port based devices
161 ----------------------------------------
163 When using devices supported by libsigrok that use serial port based cables
164 (real RS232 or USB-to-serial ones) to connect to a PC, you need to ensure
165 that the user running the libsigrok frontend has (read/write) permissions to
166 access the serial port device (e.g. /dev/ttyS0, /dev/ttyUSB0, and so on).
168 You can use 'chmod' to apply permissions as you see fit, and/or 'chown' to
169 change the owner of the serial port device to a certain user or group.
171 For USB-to-serial based devices, we recommended using our udev rules file
172 (see below for details).
175 Permissions for USB devices (udev rules file)
176 ---------------------------------------------
178 When using USB-based devices supported by libsigrok, the user running the
179 libsigrok frontend (e.g. sigrok-cli) has to have (read/write) permissions
180 for the respective USB device.
182 On Linux, this is accomplished using either 'chmod' (not recommended) or
183 using the udev rules file shipped with libsigrok (recommended).
185 The file is available in contrib/z60_libsigrok.rules. It contains entries
186 for all libsigrok-supported (USB-based) devices and changes their group
187 to 'plugdev' and the permissions to '664'.
189 When using a libsigrok package from your favorite Linux distribution, the
190 packager will have already taken care of properly installing the udev file
191 in the correct (distro-specific) place, and you don't have to do anything.
192 The packager might also have adapted 'plugdev' and '664' as needed.
194 If you're building from source, you need to copy the file to the place
195 where your distro expects such files. This is beyond the scope of this README,
196 but generally the location could be e.g. /etc/udev/rules.d, or maybe
197 /lib/udev/rules.d, or something else. Afterwards you might have to restart
198 udev, e.g. via '/etc/init.d/udev restart' or similar, and you'll have to
199 re-attach your device via USB.
201 Please consult the udev docs of your distro for details.
204 Cypress FX2 based devices
205 -------------------------
207 Devices using the Cypress FX2(LP) chip without any specific USB VID/PID will
208 be enumerated with VID/PID 04b4:8613 (the default for "unconfigured FX2").
209 These are usually "FX2 eval boards" (that can also be used as LAs, though).
211 On Linux, the 'usbtest' driver will usually grab such devices, and they will
212 thus not be usable by libsigrok (and frontends).
214 You can fix this by running 'rmmod usbtest' as root before using the device.
217 UNI-T DMM (and rebranded models) cables
218 ---------------------------------------
220 UNI-T multimeters (and rebranded devices, e.g. some Voltcraft models) can
221 ship with different PC connectivity cables:
223 - UT-D04 (USB/HID cable with Hoitek HE2325U chip, USB VID/PID 04fa:2490)
224 - UT-D04 (USB/HID cable with WCH CH9325 chip, USB VID/PID 1a86:e008)
225 - UT-D02 (RS232 cable)
227 The above cables are all physically compatible (same IR connector shape)
228 with all/most currently known UNI-T multimeters. For example, you can
229 use either of the UT-D04 USB/HID cables or the UT-D02 RS232 cable with
230 the UNI-T UT61D multimeter.
232 When using the UT-D02 RS232 cable with any of the supported UNI-T DMMs,
233 you have to use the respective driver with a '-ser' drivername suffix
234 (internally all of these models are handled by the 'serial-dmm' driver).
236 You also need to specify the serial port via the 'conn' option, e.g.
237 /dev/ttyUSB0 (attached via a USB-to-serial cable) or /dev/ttyS0 (actual
238 RS232 port) on Linux (see above).
240 Finally, the user running the frontend (e.g. sigrok-cli) also needs
241 permissions to access the respective serial port (see above).
243 Examples (sigrok-cli):
245 $ sigrok-cli --driver uni-t-ut61e-ser:conn=/dev/ttyUSB0 ...
246 $ sigrok-cli --driver voltcraft-vc820-ser:conn=/dev/ttyS0 ...
248 When using any of the UT-D04 USB/HID cables you have to use the respective
249 driver _without_ the '-ser' drivername suffix (internally all of these models
250 are handled by the 'uni-t-dmm' driver).
252 You also need to specify the USB vendor/device IDs of the cable.
253 Autodetection is not possible here, since various other products use the
254 USB VID/PID of those cables too, and there is no way to distinguish them.
256 Since the UT-D04 cables are USB based (but don't use a USB-to-serial chip)
257 there is no need to specify a serial port via 'conn', of course.
258 However, the user running the frontend does also need to have permissions
259 to access the respective USB device (see above).
261 Examples (sigrok-cli):
263 $ sigrok-cli --driver uni-t-ut61e:conn=1a86.e008 ...
264 $ sigrok-cli --driver voltcraft-vc820:conn=04fa.2490 ...
267 UNI-T UT-D04 cable issue on Linux
268 ---------------------------------
270 The UNI-T UT-D04 cable with Hoitek HE2325U (or WCH CH9325) chip seems to have
271 a very specific problem on Linux. Apparently it requires to be put into
272 suspend (and woken up again) before it is usable. This seems to be a
273 Linux-only issue, Windows is not affected by this since apparently the
274 Windows kernel does this for every USB device, always.
276 Thus, if you want to use any of the UNI-T DMMs with this specific cable,
277 you'll have to run the following script (as root) once, every time you attach
278 the cable via USB. The script was written by Ralf Burger.
280 See also: http://erste.de/UT61/index.html
283 for dat in /sys/bus/usb/devices/*; do
284 if test -e $dat/manufacturer; then
285 grep "WCH.CN" $dat/manufacturer > /dev/null && echo auto > ${dat}/power/level && echo 0 > ${dat}/power/autosuspend
290 Enabling multimeter / data logger measurement output
291 ----------------------------------------------------
293 Some multimeters or data loggers will not start outputting measurement data
294 unless a certain action has been performed by the user beforehand. This is
295 usually mentioned in the vendor manual of the respective device, but here's
296 a short list for convenience:
298 - BBC Goertz Metrawatt M2110: Briefly press the "Start/Reset" button on the
299 interface panel on top.
300 - Digitek DT4000ZC: Briefly press the "RS232" button.
301 - Gossen Metrawatt Metrahit 1x/2x devices, driver gmc-mh-1x-2x-rs232:
302 - Power on the device with the "DATA" button pressed.
303 - Metrahit 2x devices must be configured for the respective interface type.
304 - Gossen Metrawatt Metrahit 2x devices, driver gmc-mh-2x-bd232:
306 The multimeter must be configured for the respective interface type.
307 - 'SI232-II' interface ("PC Mode"):
308 The multimeter must be configured for interface type 'BD232' (all),
309 'SI232 online' (28-29S) or 'SI232 store' (22-26x). The interface must
310 be configured to the same baud rate as the host (default 9600).
311 Multimeter and interface must be configured to the same address.
312 - Norma DM950: If the interface doesn't work (e.g. USB-RS232 converter), power
313 on the device with "FUNC" pressed (to power the interface from the DMM).
314 - PCE PCE-DM32: Briefly press the "RS232" button.
315 - RadioShack 22-812: Press and hold "SELECT" and "RANGE" together.
316 - TekPower TP4000ZC: Briefly press the "RS232" button.
317 - Tenma 72-7750: Briefly press the "RS232C" button.
318 - UNI-T UT60G: Briefly press the "RS232C" button.
319 - UNI-T UT61B/C/D: Press the "REL/RS232/USB" button for roughly 1 second.
320 - UNI-T UT325: Briefly press the "SEND" button (as per manual). However, it
321 appears that in practice you don't have to press the button (at least on
322 some versions of the device), simply connect the device via USB.
323 - V&A VA18B/VA40B: Keep the "Hz/DUTY" key pressed while powering on the DMM.
324 - Victor 70C/86C: Press the "REL/RS232" button for roughly 1 second.
325 - Voltcraft VC-830: Press the "REL/PC" button for roughly 2 seconds.
328 ChronoVu LA8/LA16 USB VID/PIDs
329 ------------------------------
331 The ChronoVu LA8/LA16 logic analyzer is available in two revisions. Previously,
332 the device shipped with a USB VID/PID of 0403:6001, which is the standard ID
333 for FTDI FT232 USB chips.
335 Since this made it hard to distinguish the LA8/LA16 from any other device
336 with this FTDI chip connected to the PC, the vendor later shipped the
337 device with a USB VID/PID of 0403:8867.
339 The 'chronovu-la' driver in libsigrok supports both VID/PID pairs and
340 automatically finds devices with either VID/PID pair.
346 The Dangerous Prototypes Openbench Logic Sniffer (OLS) logic analyzer
347 driver in libsigrok assumes a somewhat recent firmware has been flashed onto
348 the OLS (it doesn't need a firmware upload every time it's attached via USB,
349 since the firmware is stored in the device permanently).
351 The most recent firmware version that is tested is 3.07.
353 If you use any older firmware and your OLS is not found or is not working
354 properly, please upgrade to at least this firmware version. Check the
355 Dangerous Prototypes wiki for firmware upgrade instructions:
357 http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Logic_Sniffer_upgrade_procedure
359 Also, you need to specify a serial port for the OLS in the frontends, e.g.
360 using the 'conn' option in sigrok-cli, and you also need to have the
361 permissions to access the serial port (see above).
365 $ sigrok-cli --driver ols:conn=/dev/ttyACM0 ...