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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 locations where libsigrok expects the firmware files are:
17 $SIGROK_FIRMWARE_DIR (environment variable)
18 $HOME/.local/share/sigrok-firmware
19 $prefix/share/sigrok-firmware
20 /usr/local/share/sigrok-firmware
21 /usr/share/sigrok-firmware
23 ($prefix is usually /usr/local or /usr, depending on your ./configure options)
25 For further information see the section below and also:
27 http://sigrok.org/wiki/Firmware
30 Per-driver firmware requirements
31 --------------------------------
33 The following drivers/devices require a firmware upload upon connection:
35 - asix-sigma: The ASIX SIGMA and SIGMA2 require various firmware files,
36 depending on the settings used. These files are available from our
37 'sigrok-firmware' repository/project under a license which allows us
40 - fx2lafw: Logic analyzers based on the Cypress FX2(LP) chip need the
41 firmware files from the 'sigrok-firmware-fx2lafw' repository/project.
42 The firmware is written from scratch and licensed under the GNU GPLv2+.
44 - hantek-6xxx: Certain oscilloscopes based on the Cypress FX2(LP) chip, such
45 as the Hantek 6022BE/6022BL, SainSmart DDS120, and Rocktech BM102, need the
46 firmware files from the 'sigrok-firmware-fx2lafw' repository/project.
47 The firmware is written from scratch and licensed under the GNU GPLv2+.
49 - hantek-dso: The Hantek DSO-2090 (and other supported models of the same
50 series of Hantek PC oscilloscopes) need firmware files.
51 These can be extracted from the vendor's Windows drivers using a tool
52 from our 'sigrok-util' repository/project.
54 - lecroy-logicstudio: The LeCroy LogicStudio requires FPGA bitstream files.
55 These can be extracted from the vendor's Windows software using a tool
56 from our 'sigrok-util' repository/project.
57 Additionally, it requires a Cypress FX2 firmware. This can be extracted
58 from the vendor's Windows software using another tool. Details:
60 http://sigrok.org/wiki/LeCroy_LogicStudio#Firmware
62 - saleae-logic16: The Saleae Logic16 needs a firmware file for the
63 Cypress FX2 chip in the device, as well as two FPGA bitstream files.
64 These can be extracted from the vendor's Linux application using a tool
65 from our 'sigrok-util' repository/project.
69 - The Sysclk LWLA1034 requires various bitstream files.
70 These files are available from our 'sigrok-firmware' repository/project
71 under a license which allows us to redistribute them.
73 - The Sysclk LWLA1016 requires various bitstream files.
74 These can be extracted from the vendor's Windows drivers using a tool
75 from our 'sigrok-util' repository/project.
77 The following drivers/devices do not need any firmware upload:
81 - arachnid-labs-re-load-pro
88 - center-3xx (including all subdrivers)
95 - gmc-mh-1x-2x (including all subdrivers)
100 - ikalogic-scanalogic2
108 - mic-985xx (including all subdrivers)
111 - openbench-logic-sniffer
116 - serial-dmm (including all subdrivers)
117 - serial-lcr (including all subdrivers)
121 - uni-t-dmm (including all subdrivers)
125 - zeroplus-logic-cube
128 Specifying serial ports
129 -----------------------
131 Many devices supported by libsigrok use serial port based cables (real RS232
132 or USB-to-serial ones) to connect to a PC.
134 For all these devices, you need to specify the serial port they are connected
135 to (e.g. using the 'conn' option in sigrok-cli). It is not possible to scan
136 for such devices without specifying a serial port.
140 $ sigrok-cli --driver <somedriver>:conn=/dev/ttyUSB0 ...
142 The following drivers/devices require a serial port specification. Some of
143 the drivers implement a default for the connection.
150 - center-3xx (including all subdrivers)
154 - gmc-mh-1x-2x (including all subdrivers)
157 - mic-985xx (including all subdrivers)
159 - openbench-logic-sniffer
160 - rigol-ds (for RS232; not required for USBTMC or TCP)
161 - serial-dmm (including all subdrivers)
162 - serial-lcr (including all subdrivers)
166 The following drivers/devices do not require a serial port specification:
174 - ikalogic-scanalogic2
179 - rigol-ds (USBTMC or TCP)
182 - uni-t-dmm (including all subdrivers)
185 - yokogawa-dlm (USBTMC or TCP)
186 - zeroplus-logic-cube
188 Beyond strict serial communication over COM ports (e.g. /dev/ttyUSB0), the
189 conn= property can also address specific USB devices, as well as specify TCP
190 or VXI communication parameters. See these examples:
192 $ sigrok-cli --driver <somedriver>:conn=<vid>.<pid> ...
193 $ sigrok-cli --driver <somedriver>:conn=tcp-raw/<ipaddr>/<port> ...
194 $ sigrok-cli --driver <somedriver>:conn=vxi/<ipaddr> ...
196 The following drivers/devices accept network communication parameters:
203 Specifying serial port parameters
204 ---------------------------------
206 Every serial device's driver has default serial port parameters like baud
207 rate, number of data bits, stop bits and handshake status. If a device requires
208 different parameters, pass them as option "serialcomm" with the driver name.
209 See libsigrok docs for the function serial_set_paramstr() for complete specs.
213 $ sigrok-cli --driver <somedriver>:conn=<someconn>:serialcomm=9600/7n1/dtr=1
216 Permissions of serial port based devices
217 ----------------------------------------
219 When using devices supported by libsigrok that use serial port based cables
220 (real RS232 or USB-to-serial ones) to connect to a PC, you need to ensure
221 that the user running the libsigrok frontend has (read/write) permissions to
222 access the serial port device (e.g. /dev/ttyS0, /dev/ttyUSB0, and so on).
224 You can use 'chmod' to apply permissions as you see fit, and/or 'chown' to
225 change the owner of the serial port device to a certain user or group.
227 For USB-to-serial based devices, we recommended using our udev rules file
228 (see below for details).
231 Permissions for USB devices (udev rules files)
232 ----------------------------------------------
234 When using USB-based devices supported by libsigrok, the user running the
235 libsigrok frontend (e.g. sigrok-cli) has to have (read/write) permissions
236 for the respective USB device.
238 On Linux, this is accomplished using udev rules. libsigrok ships a rules
239 file containing all supported devices which can be detected reliably
240 (generic USB-to-serial converters are omitted, as these are used for a wide
241 range of devices, e.g. GPS receivers, which are not handled by libsigrok).
243 The file is available in contrib/60-libsigrok.rules. This file just contains
244 the list of devices and flags these devices with ID_SIGROK="1". Access is
245 granted by the 61-libsigrok-plugdev.rules or 61-libsigrok-uaccess.rules files,
246 allowing access to members of the plugdev group or to currently logged in
249 When using a libsigrok package from your favorite Linux distribution, the
250 files should already be installed in /usr/lib/udev/rules.d/, i.e.
251 60-libsigrok.rules and one of the access granting rules files. Use of
252 61-libsigrok-uaccess.rules is encouraged on systemd distributions.
254 The access policy can be locally overridden by placing appropriate rules in
255 /etc/udev/rules.d/, disabling or ammending the default policy. See the
256 udev documentation, e.g. man 7 udev, for details.
258 If you're building from source, you need to copy the file to the place
259 where udev will read these rules. Local rules should go to /etc/udev/rules.d.
260 Keep the file naming, otherwise interaction between the libsigrok rules and
261 rules shipped by the system will be broken.
263 Please consult the udev docs for details.
266 Cypress FX2 based devices
267 -------------------------
269 Devices using the Cypress FX2(LP) chip without any specific USB VID/PID will
270 be enumerated with VID/PID 04b4:8613 (the default for "unconfigured FX2").
271 These are usually "FX2 eval boards" (that can also be used as LAs, though).
273 On Linux, the 'usbtest' driver will usually grab such devices, and they will
274 thus not be usable by libsigrok (and frontends).
276 You can fix this by running 'rmmod usbtest' as root before using the device.
279 UNI-T DMM (and rebranded models) cables
280 ---------------------------------------
282 UNI-T multimeters (and rebranded devices, e.g. some Voltcraft models) can
283 ship with different PC connectivity cables:
285 - UT-D04 (USB/HID cable with Hoitek HE2325U chip, USB VID/PID 04fa:2490)
286 - UT-D04 (USB/HID cable with WCH CH9325 chip, USB VID/PID 1a86:e008)
287 - UT-D02 (RS232 cable)
289 The above cables are all physically compatible (same IR connector shape)
290 with all/most currently known UNI-T multimeters. For example, you can
291 use either of the UT-D04 USB/HID cables or the UT-D02 RS232 cable with
292 the UNI-T UT61D multimeter.
294 When using the UT-D02 RS232 cable with any of the supported UNI-T DMMs,
295 you have to use the respective driver with a '-ser' drivername suffix
296 (internally all of these models are handled by the 'serial-dmm' driver).
298 You also need to specify the serial port via the 'conn' option, e.g.
299 /dev/ttyUSB0 (attached via a USB-to-serial cable) or /dev/ttyS0 (actual
300 RS232 port) on Linux (see above).
302 Finally, the user running the frontend (e.g. sigrok-cli) also needs
303 permissions to access the respective serial port (see above).
305 Examples (sigrok-cli):
307 $ sigrok-cli --driver uni-t-ut61e-ser:conn=/dev/ttyUSB0 ...
308 $ sigrok-cli --driver voltcraft-vc820-ser:conn=/dev/ttyS0 ...
310 When using any of the UT-D04 USB/HID cables you have to use the respective
311 driver _without_ the '-ser' drivername suffix (internally all of these models
312 are handled by the 'uni-t-dmm' driver).
314 You also need to specify the USB vendor/device IDs of the cable.
315 Autodetection is not possible here, since various other products use the
316 USB VID/PID of those cables too, and there is no way to distinguish them.
318 Since the UT-D04 cables are USB based (but don't use a USB-to-serial chip)
319 there is no need to specify a serial port via 'conn', of course.
320 However, the user running the frontend does also need to have permissions
321 to access the respective USB device (see above).
323 Examples (sigrok-cli):
325 $ sigrok-cli --driver uni-t-ut61e:conn=1a86.e008 ...
326 $ sigrok-cli --driver voltcraft-vc820:conn=04fa.2490 ...
329 UNI-T UT-D04 cable issue on Linux
330 ---------------------------------
332 The UNI-T UT-D04 cable with Hoitek HE2325U (or WCH CH9325) chip seems to have
333 a very specific problem on Linux. Apparently it requires to be put into
334 suspend (and woken up again) before it is usable. This seems to be a
335 Linux-only issue, Windows is not affected by this since apparently the
336 Windows kernel does this for every USB device, always.
338 Thus, if you want to use any of the UNI-T DMMs with this specific cable,
339 you'll have to run the following script (as root) once, every time you attach
340 the cable via USB. The script was written by Ralf Burger.
342 See also: http://erste.de/UT61/index.html
345 for dat in /sys/bus/usb/devices/*; do
346 if test -e $dat/manufacturer; then
347 grep "WCH.CN" $dat/manufacturer > /dev/null && echo auto > ${dat}/power/level && echo 0 > ${dat}/power/autosuspend
352 Enabling multimeter / data logger measurement output
353 ----------------------------------------------------
355 Some multimeters or data loggers will not start outputting measurement data
356 unless a certain action has been performed by the user beforehand. This is
357 usually mentioned in the vendor manual of the respective device, but here's
358 a short list for convenience:
360 - BBC Goertz Metrawatt M2110: Briefly press the "Start/Reset" button on the
361 interface panel on top.
362 - Digitek DT4000ZC: Briefly press the "RS232" button.
363 - Gossen Metrawatt Metrahit 1x/2x devices, driver gmc-mh-1x-2x-rs232:
364 - Power on the device with the "DATA" button pressed.
365 - Metrahit 2x devices must be configured for the respective interface type.
366 - Gossen Metrawatt Metrahit 2x devices, driver gmc-mh-2x-bd232:
368 The multimeter must be configured for the respective interface type.
369 - 'SI232-II' interface ("PC Mode"):
370 The multimeter must be configured for interface type 'BD232' (all),
371 'SI232 online' (28-29S) or 'SI232 store' (22-26x). The interface must
372 be configured to the same baud rate as the host (default 9600).
373 Multimeter and interface must be configured to the same address.
374 - Metrix MX56C: Press the PRINT button to have the meter send acquisition
375 data via IR. Hold the PRINT button to adjust the meter's transmission
377 - Norma DM950: If the interface doesn't work (e.g. USB-RS232 converter), power
378 on the device with "FUNC" pressed (to power the interface from the DMM).
379 - PCE PCE-DM32: Briefly press the "RS232" button.
380 - RadioShack 22-812: Press and hold "SELECT" and "RANGE" together.
381 - TekPower TP4000ZC: Briefly press the "RS232" button.
382 - Tenma 72-7750: Briefly press the "RS232C" button.
383 - UNI-T UT60G: Briefly press the "RS232C" button.
384 - UNI-T UT61B/C/D: Press the "REL/RS232/USB" button for roughly 1 second.
385 - UNI-T UT71x: Press the "SEND/-/MAXMIN" button for roughly 1 second.
386 Briefly pressing the "EXIT" button leaves this mode again.
387 - UNI-T UT325: Briefly press the "SEND" button (as per manual). However, it
388 appears that in practice you don't have to press the button (at least on
389 some versions of the device), simply connect the device via USB.
390 - V&A VA18B/VA40B: Keep the "Hz/DUTY" key pressed while powering on the DMM.
391 - Victor 70C/86C: Press the "REL/RS232" button for roughly 1 second.
392 - Voltcraft VC-830: Press the "REL/PC" button for roughly 2 seconds.
393 - Voltcraft VC-870: Press the "REL/PC" button for roughly 1 second.
396 ChronoVu LA8/LA16 USB VID/PIDs
397 ------------------------------
399 The ChronoVu LA8/LA16 logic analyzer is available in two revisions. Previously,
400 the device shipped with a USB VID/PID of 0403:6001, which is the standard ID
401 for FTDI FT232 USB chips.
403 Since this made it hard to distinguish the LA8/LA16 from any other device
404 with this FTDI chip connected to the PC, the vendor later shipped the
405 device with a USB VID/PID of 0403:8867.
407 The 'chronovu-la' driver in libsigrok supports both VID/PID pairs and
408 automatically finds devices with either VID/PID pair.
414 The Dangerous Prototypes Openbench Logic Sniffer (OLS) logic analyzer
415 driver in libsigrok assumes a somewhat recent firmware has been flashed onto
416 the OLS (it doesn't need a firmware upload every time it's attached via USB,
417 since the firmware is stored in the device permanently).
419 The most recent firmware version that is tested is 3.07.
421 If you use any older firmware and your OLS is not found or is not working
422 properly, please upgrade to at least this firmware version. Check the
423 Dangerous Prototypes wiki for firmware upgrade instructions:
425 http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Logic_Sniffer_upgrade_procedure
427 Also, you need to specify a serial port for the OLS in the frontends, e.g.
428 using the 'conn' option in sigrok-cli, and you also need to have the
429 permissions to access the serial port (see above).
433 $ sigrok-cli --driver ols:conn=/dev/ttyACM0 ...