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There are even cheaper clones based on the infamous Cypress (now Infineon) FX2LP which can also function as a logic analyser, signal generator, USB-parallel, or

There are even cheaper clones based on the infamous Cypress (now Infineon) FX2LP which can also function as a logic analyser, signal generator, USB-parallel, or USB-serial adapter.

rasz 2y ago
Why infamous? Btw Chinese company Corebai cloned FX2 and sells it as CBM9002A at ~$2.5 while Cypress is $4-16 https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/logic-analyzers-decoding-and-monitoring/ https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/logic-analyzers-decoding-and...
- userbinator 2y ago
  Infamous because USBee was the first to sell overpriced logic analysers based on the FX2 reference devboard, then Saleae did the same (a little less overpriced) but they both complained about all the clones, and tried to "FTDI them" which also caught their own original devices: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/warning-about-usbee/ https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/warning-about-usbee/ That Corebai clone is interesting. They apparently also have a CBM9001A which is a clone of the Cypress SL811HS (the datasheet is a search-and-replace, they even forgot to do that to the PDF properties), and almost all their other products are marketed as "Replace" for ICs from big brands like Maxim and Analog Devices. I wonder if these are layout-RE'd clones or reimplementations --- I suspect the latter.
  - Rinzler89 2y ago
    You keep calling all those original devices overpriced, but what exactly makes them overpriced in your option? To me it's wild how (not singling you out specifically) well paid people have no issue paying on a daily basis 8$ for a shitty cup of Starbucks or 18$ for a mediocre sandwich in London or California, stuff that you then piss and poop away, but asking them to pay 10$-60$ one time for a widget like an Original Arduino or a Salee, developed by skilled people that lasts you for life, that's suddenly overpriced. It's as if people expect electronic devices to only cost the sum of their wholesale parts, preferably at the manufacturing costs in a country with no workers rights and no IP rights, and ignoring the skilled labor that goes into the IP of the originals.
    - tecleandor 2y ago
      It'd be nice if it were 20-60$, but weren't USBee AX Pro more like $500 when they released them?
      - Rinzler89 2y ago
        Maybe they were I don' remember exactly, but you also have to put the price in the context of that era, when oscilloscopes were only available form the established manufacturers costing thousands of $, and before the era of community FOSS HW designs enabling devs to pool their knowledge for free. So even 500$ for a high quality hobbyist USB scope with good SW was considered affordable and definitely not overpriced. 500$ price was actually very disruptive to the established scope industry. And developing those 500 scopes and SW at western wages, doesn't come cheap, and since the SW was free, the only way to recoup the R&D and turn a profit was through the margins on HW sales
        NikkiA 2y ago
        The era of $500 scopes arrived before USB, initially with the $700 or so Tek TDS210, the price rapidly falling from there as everyone clamoured for the garage engineer market.
      - fragmede 2y ago
        Sure but they cost a lot to develop and they need to recoup their costs. That doesn't mean they're overpriced. it means they're expensive, but they have to sell them at that price because they know it's only a matter of time before knockoffs come out and they have to lower prices, so they need to charge that much in order to not go out of business. It's a niche product to a small audience. The word overpriced is reserved for luxury items like designer anything, sunglasses, handbags, jeans, etc. they're able to be priced that way because of the brand, with no relation to how much it cost to make. (note: the price of an item and the cost or takes to make an item are decoupled. took a lot of years of business to learn that one)
        ashirviskas 2y ago
  - monocasa 2y ago
    > I wonder if these are layout-RE'd clones or reimplementations I have heard on the grapevine of several cases where these Chinese clone manufacturers don't use any of the original layout, but did put their hands on the original device's test vectors to design their reimplemention.
  - rasz 2y ago
    > almost all their other products are marketed as "Replace" for ICs from big brands Made in China 2025 plan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_China_2025 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_China_2025 Subsidies for manufacturing/using locally sourced domestic components. Good example is this teardown of Deye SUN-5K-SG04LP1 5kW hybrid solar inverter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0_cTg36A2Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0_cTg36A2Q. Brochure advertises top name brands, all Chinese clones (presumably high quality) substitutes inside.
stavros 2y ago
I have one of those, it works great with the Saleae software. Mine is a few years old, I wonder if there are better clones out nowadays.

There are even cheaper clones based on the infamous Cypress (now Infineon) FX2LP which can also function as a logic analyser, signal generator, USB-parallel, or USB-serial adapter.

rasz 2y ago

Why infamous? Btw Chinese company Corebai cloned FX2 and sells it as CBM9002A at ~$2.5 while Cypress is $4-16 https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/logic-analyzers-decoding-and-monitoring/ https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/logic-analyzers-decoding-and...

userbinator 2y ago
Infamous because USBee was the first to sell overpriced logic analysers based on the FX2 reference devboard, then Saleae did the same (a little less overpriced) but they both complained about all the clones, and tried to "FTDI them" which also caught their own original devices: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/warning-about-usbee/ https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/warning-about-usbee/ That Corebai clone is interesting. They apparently also have a CBM9001A which is a clone of the Cypress SL811HS (the datasheet is a search-and-replace, they even forgot to do that to the PDF properties), and almost all their other products are marketed as "Replace" for ICs from big brands like Maxim and Analog Devices. I wonder if these are layout-RE'd clones or reimplementations --- I suspect the latter.
- Rinzler89 2y ago
  You keep calling all those original devices overpriced, but what exactly makes them overpriced in your option? To me it's wild how (not singling you out specifically) well paid people have no issue paying on a daily basis 8$ for a shitty cup of Starbucks or 18$ for a mediocre sandwich in London or California, stuff that you then piss and poop away, but asking them to pay 10$-60$ one time for a widget like an Original Arduino or a Salee, developed by skilled people that lasts you for life, that's suddenly overpriced. It's as if people expect electronic devices to only cost the sum of their wholesale parts, preferably at the manufacturing costs in a country with no workers rights and no IP rights, and ignoring the skilled labor that goes into the IP of the originals.
  - tecleandor 2y ago
    It'd be nice if it were 20-60$, but weren't USBee AX Pro more like $500 when they released them?
    - Rinzler89 2y ago
      Maybe they were I don' remember exactly, but you also have to put the price in the context of that era, when oscilloscopes were only available form the established manufacturers costing thousands of $, and before the era of community FOSS HW designs enabling devs to pool their knowledge for free. So even 500$ for a high quality hobbyist USB scope with good SW was considered affordable and definitely not overpriced. 500$ price was actually very disruptive to the established scope industry. And developing those 500 scopes and SW at western wages, doesn't come cheap, and since the SW was free, the only way to recoup the R&D and turn a profit was through the margins on HW sales
      - NikkiA 2y ago
        The era of $500 scopes arrived before USB, initially with the $700 or so Tek TDS210, the price rapidly falling from there as everyone clamoured for the garage engineer market.
    - fragmede 2y ago
      Sure but they cost a lot to develop and they need to recoup their costs. That doesn't mean they're overpriced. it means they're expensive, but they have to sell them at that price because they know it's only a matter of time before knockoffs come out and they have to lower prices, so they need to charge that much in order to not go out of business. It's a niche product to a small audience. The word overpriced is reserved for luxury items like designer anything, sunglasses, handbags, jeans, etc. they're able to be priced that way because of the brand, with no relation to how much it cost to make. (note: the price of an item and the cost or takes to make an item are decoupled. took a lot of years of business to learn that one)
      - ashirviskas 2y ago
- monocasa 2y ago
  > I wonder if these are layout-RE'd clones or reimplementations I have heard on the grapevine of several cases where these Chinese clone manufacturers don't use any of the original layout, but did put their hands on the original device's test vectors to design their reimplemention.
- rasz 2y ago
  > almost all their other products are marketed as "Replace" for ICs from big brands Made in China 2025 plan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_China_2025 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_China_2025 Subsidies for manufacturing/using locally sourced domestic components. Good example is this teardown of Deye SUN-5K-SG04LP1 5kW hybrid solar inverter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0_cTg36A2Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0_cTg36A2Q. Brochure advertises top name brands, all Chinese clones (presumably high quality) substitutes inside.

stavros 2y ago

I have one of those, it works great with the Saleae software. Mine is a few years old, I wonder if there are better clones out nowadays.