4 ms·

I work on old systems with big parallel buses, so a while ago I bought a big HP 16500C chassis with something like 128 logic analyzer channels. It can handle a

I work on old systems with big parallel buses, so a while ago I bought a big HP 16500C chassis with something like 128 logic analyzer channels. It can handle a full 68000 bus no problem, but it’s cumbersome and unwieldy. (The X11 interface mentioned in the article is nifty though, I remember having the same issue with fonts.) I love my Saleae and even the cheap USB logic analyzers work fine with Sigrok. But everything is either 8 or 16 channels. I realize it’s a niche-of-a-niche use case, but is anyone making USB logic analyzers with 64+ channels at a hobbyist price point (or DIY)?

msarnoff 2y ago
Trivia: I looked through old sales brochures and did the math and calculated that the price of that HP 16500C new, adjusted for inflation, would be over $80,000. I paid $200, and I’m sure there are plenty that people have just given away for free.
tverbeure 2y ago
I upgraded from two 16500A boat anchors [1] ($20 a piece) to a 1670G [2]. But you’re right: I much prefer my DSLogic UPro 16. Like many others, I’ve started designing my own 64 channel logic analyzer, but like just as many, I never completed it. There are almost no use cases. When I need to debug wide busse, it’s usually in an FPGA and then a signaltap is the way to go. [1] https://tomverbeure.github.io/2022/06/17/HP16500a-teardown.html https://tomverbeure.github.io/2022/06/17/HP16500a-teardown.h... [2] https://tomverbeure.github.io/2023/12/26/Controlling-an-HP-1670G-with-Your-Linux-PC-X-Server.html https://tomverbeure.github.io/2023/12/26/Controlling-an-HP-1...
echoangle 2y ago
Can you maybe use multiple logic analyzers and sync them by connecting one channel of every logic analyzer to the same clock signal?
bpye 2y ago
Not 64 channels, but for 32 channels I'm a fan of the DSLogic U3Pro32 [0]. DreamSourceLab did historically violate the GPL license of Sigrok, but have since made the source code for their fork available [1], unfortunately last i checked the U3Pro32 wasn't supported in upstream Sigrok. It does have trigger in and trigger out - so you might be able to use multiple together - though I've not tried. [0] https://www.dreamsourcelab.com/product/dslogic-series/ https://www.dreamsourcelab.com/product/dslogic-series/ [1] https://github.com/DreamSourceLab/DSView https://github.com/DreamSourceLab/DSView

msarnoff 2y ago

Trivia: I looked through old sales brochures and did the math and calculated that the price of that HP 16500C new, adjusted for inflation, would be over $80,000. I paid $200, and I’m sure there are plenty that people have just given away for free.

tverbeure 2y ago

I upgraded from two 16500A boat anchors [1] ($20 a piece) to a 1670G [2]. But you’re right: I much prefer my DSLogic UPro 16. Like many others, I’ve started designing my own 64 channel logic analyzer, but like just as many, I never completed it. There are almost no use cases. When I need to debug wide busse, it’s usually in an FPGA and then a signaltap is the way to go. [1] https://tomverbeure.github.io/2022/06/17/HP16500a-teardown.html https://tomverbeure.github.io/2022/06/17/HP16500a-teardown.h... [2] https://tomverbeure.github.io/2023/12/26/Controlling-an-HP-1670G-with-Your-Linux-PC-X-Server.html https://tomverbeure.github.io/2023/12/26/Controlling-an-HP-1...

echoangle 2y ago

Can you maybe use multiple logic analyzers and sync them by connecting one channel of every logic analyzer to the same clock signal?

bpye 2y ago

Not 64 channels, but for 32 channels I'm a fan of the DSLogic U3Pro32 [0]. DreamSourceLab did historically violate the GPL license of Sigrok, but have since made the source code for their fork available [1], unfortunately last i checked the U3Pro32 wasn't supported in upstream Sigrok. It does have trigger in and trigger out - so you might be able to use multiple together - though I've not tried. [0] https://www.dreamsourcelab.com/product/dslogic-series/ https://www.dreamsourcelab.com/product/dslogic-series/ [1] https://github.com/DreamSourceLab/DSView https://github.com/DreamSourceLab/DSView