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 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 The following drivers/devices do not need any firmware upload:
61 - ikalogic-scanalogic2
67 - openbench-logic-sniffer
77 Specifying serial ports
78 -----------------------
80 Many devices supported by libsigrok use serial port based cables (real RS232
81 or USB-to-serial ones) to connect to a PC.
83 For all these devices, you need to specify the serial port they are connected
84 to (e.g. using the 'conn' option in sigrok-cli). It is not possible to scan
85 for such devices without specifying a serial port.
89 $ sigrok-cli --driver <somedriver>:conn=/dev/ttyUSB0 ...
91 The following drivers/devices require a serial port specification:
101 - openbench-logic-sniffer
105 The following drivers/devices do not require a serial port specification:
113 - ikalogic-scanalogic2
122 - zeroplus-logic-cube
125 Permissions of serial port based devices
126 ----------------------------------------
128 When using devices supported by libsigrok that use serial port based cables
129 (real RS232 or USB-to-serial ones) to connect to a PC, you need to ensure
130 that the user running the libsigrok frontend has (read/write) permissions to
131 access the serial port device (e.g. /dev/ttyS0, /dev/ttyUSB0, and so on).
133 You can use 'chmod' to apply permissions as you see fit, and/or 'chown' to
134 change the owner of the serial port device to a certain user or group.
136 For USB-to-serial based devices, we recommended using our udev rules file
137 (see below for details).
140 Permissions for USB devices (udev rules file)
141 ---------------------------------------------
143 When using USB-based devices supported by libsigrok, the user running the
144 libsigrok frontend (e.g. sigrok-cli) has to have (read/write) permissions
145 for the respective USB device.
147 On Linux, this is accomplished using either 'chmod' (not recommended) or
148 using the udev rules file shipped with libsigrok (recommended).
150 The file is available in contrib/z60_libsigrok.rules. It contains entries
151 for all libsigrok-supported (USB-based) devices and changes their group
152 to 'plugdev' and the permissions to '664'.
154 When using a libsigrok package from your favorite Linux distribution, the
155 packager will have already taken care of properly installing the udev file
156 in the correct (distro-specific) place, and you don't have to do anything.
157 The packager might also have adapted 'plugdev' and '664' as needed.
159 If you're building from source, you need to copy the file to the place
160 where your distro expects such files. This is beyond the scope of this README,
161 but generally the location could be e.g. /etc/udev/rules.d, or maybe
162 /lib/udev/rules.d, or something else. Afterwards you might have to restart
163 udev, e.g. via '/etc/init.d/udev restart' or similar, and you'll have to
164 re-attach your device via USB.
166 Please consult the udev docs of your distro for details.
169 Cypress FX2 based devices
170 -------------------------
172 Devices using the Cypress FX2(LP) chip without any specific USB VID/PID will
173 be enumerated with VID/PID 04b4:8613 (the default for "unconfigured FX2").
174 These are usually "FX2 eval boards" (that can also be used as LAs, though).
176 On Linux, the 'usbtest' driver will usually grab such devices, and they will
177 thus not be usable by libsigrok (and frontends).
179 You can fix this by running 'rmmod usbtest' as root before using the device.
182 UNI-T DMM (and rebranded models) cables
183 ---------------------------------------
185 UNI-T multimeters (and rebranded devices, e.g. some Voltcraft models) can
186 ship with different PC connectivity cables:
188 - UT-D04 (USB/HID cable with Hoitek HE2325U chip, USB VID/PID 04fa:2490)
189 - UT-D04 (USB/HID cable with WCH CH9325 chip, USB VID/PID 1a86:e008)
190 - UT-D02 (RS232 cable)
192 The above cables are all physically compatible (same IR connector shape)
193 with all/most currently known UNI-T multimeters. For example, you can
194 use either of the UT-D04 USB/HID cables or the UT-D02 RS232 cable with
195 the UNI-T UT61D multimeter.
197 When using the UT-D02 RS232 cable with any of the supported UNI-T DMMs,
198 you have to use the respective driver with a '-ser' drivername suffix
199 (internally all of these models are handled by the 'serial-dmm' driver).
201 You also need to specify the serial port via the 'conn' option, e.g.
202 /dev/ttyUSB0 (attached via a USB-to-serial cable) or /dev/ttyS0 (actual
203 RS232 port) on Linux (see above).
205 Finally, the user running the frontend (e.g. sigrok-cli) also needs
206 permissions to access the respective serial port (see above).
208 Examples (sigrok-cli):
210 $ sigrok-cli --driver uni-t-ut61e-ser:conn=/dev/ttyUSB0 ...
211 $ sigrok-cli --driver voltcraft-vc820-ser:conn=/dev/ttyS0 ...
213 When using any of the UT-D04 USB/HID cables you have to use the respective
214 driver _without_ the '-ser' drivername suffix (internally all of these models
215 are handled by the 'uni-t-dmm' driver).
217 Since the UT-D04 cables are USB based (but don't use a USB-to-serial chip)
218 there is no need to specify a serial port via 'conn', of course.
219 However, the user running the frontend does also need to have permissions
220 to access the respective USB device (see above).
222 Examples (sigrok-cli):
224 $ sigrok-cli --driver uni-t-ut61e ...
225 $ sigrok-cli --driver voltcraft-vc820 ...
228 UNI-T UT-D04 cable issue on Linux
229 ---------------------------------
231 The UNI-T UT-D04 cable with Hoitek HE2325U (or WCH CH9325) chip seems to have
232 a very specific problem on Linux. Apparently it requires to be put into
233 suspend (and woken up again) before it is usable. This seems to be a
234 Linux-only issue, Windows is not affected by this since apparently the
235 Windows kernel does this for every USB device, always.
237 Thus, if you want to use any of the UNI-T DMMs with this specific cable,
238 you'll have to run the following script (as root) once, every time you attach
239 the cable via USB. The script was written by Ralf Burger.
241 See also: http://erste.de/UT61/index.html
244 for dat in /sys/bus/usb/devices/*; do
245 if test -e $dat/manufacturer; then
246 grep "WCH.CN" $dat/manufacturer > /dev/null && echo auto > ${dat}/power/level && echo 0 > ${dat}/power/autosuspend
251 Enabling multimeter / data logger measurement output
252 ----------------------------------------------------
254 Some multimeters or data loggers will not start outputting measurement data
255 unless a certain action has been performed by the user beforehand. This is
256 usually mentioned in the vendor manual of the respective device, but here's
257 a short list for convenience:
259 - Digitek DT4000ZC: Briefly press the "RS232" button.
260 - PCE PCE-DM32: Briefly press the "RS232" button.
261 - RadioShack 22-812: Press and hold "SELECT" and "RANGE" together.
262 - TekPower TP4000ZC: Briefly press the "RS232" button.
263 - UNI-T UT61D: Press the "REL/RS232/USB" button for roughly 1 second.
264 - UNI-T UT325: Briefly press the "SEND" button (as per manual). However, it
265 appears that in practice you don't have to press the button (at least on
266 some versions of the device), simply connect the device via USB.
267 - V&A VA18B: Keep the "Hz/DUTY" key pressed while powering on the device.
268 - Victor 70C: Press the "REL/RS232" button for roughly 1 second.
269 - Victor 86C: Press the "REL/RS232" button for roughly 1 second.
270 - Voltcraft VC-830: Press the "REL/PC" button for roughly 2 seconds.
276 The 'alsa' driver can be used to sample analog data using a PC's soundcard.
277 I.e. the sound card can act as a simple oscilloscope (with some limitations)
278 using commercial or DIY "sound card scope probe" cables.
280 Since ALSA is a Linux-specific sound system, this driver will inherently
281 only compile and work on Linux.
283 We might write additional drivers to make a similar functionality available
284 on other OSes at some point.
287 Link Instruments MSO-19
288 -----------------------
290 The driver for the Link Instruments MSO-19 mixed-signal oscilloscope (MSO)
291 is currently using libudev (which is a library for the Linux-specific udev
292 system). Thus, this driver can currently only compile and work on Linux.
294 We plan to fix this though, so that it'll work on all other OSes, too.
297 ChronoVu LA8 USB VID/PIDs
298 -------------------------
300 The ChronoVu LA8 logic analyzer is available in two revisions. Previously,
301 the LA8 shipped with a USB VID/PID of 0403:6001, which is the standard ID
302 for FTDI FT232 USB chips.
304 Since this made it hard to distinguish the LA8 from any other device
305 with this FTDI chip connected to the PC, the vendor later shipped the
306 LA8 with a USB VID/PID of 0403:8867.
308 The 'chronovu-la8' driver in libsigrok supports both VID/PID pairs and
309 automatically finds devices with either VID/PID pair. However, currently
310 the driver will assume any device with VID/PID 0403:6001 is a ChronoVu LA8.
316 The Dangerous Prototypes Openbench Logic Sniffer (OLS) logic analyzer is
317 supported by the 'ols' driver in libsigrok. This driver assumes a somewhat
318 recent firmware has been flashed onto the OLS (it doesn't need a firmware
319 upload every time it's attached via USB, since the firmware is stored in the
322 The most recent firmware version that is tested is 3.07.
324 If you use any older firmware and your OLS is not found or is not working
325 properly, please upgrade to at least this firmware version. Check the
326 Dangerous Prototypes wiki for firmware upgrade instructions:
328 http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Logic_Sniffer_upgrade_procedure
330 Also, you need to specify a serial port for the OLS in the frontends, e.g.
331 using the 'conn' option in sigrok-cli, and you also need to have the
332 permissions to access the serial port (see above).
336 $ sigrok-cli --driver ols:conn=/dev/ttyACM0 ...
339 Rigol DS1xx2 oscilloscopes
340 --------------------------
342 The 'rigol-ds1xx2' driver (for the Rigol DS1052E and some other, similar DSOs)
343 currently uses the Linux usbtmc kernel driver. This means it can currently
344 only be built and used on Linux (i.e., it's non-portable).
346 The use of a kernel module also means it is dependent on the kernel version
347 used, as well as on whether this specific module is available in the kernel.
348 Additionally, the usbtmc kernel module has been known to have various bugs
349 in some versions. These are some (but not all) drawbacks of using a kernel
350 module as opposed to a libusb-based driver that works in user-space.
352 We plan to change the driver to use the 'librevisa' user-space shared
353 library (which uses libusb) soon, which will fix all these issues and make
354 the driver portable at the same time.