tools News - Page 8 of 14 - CNX Software

January 14, 2019January 15, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

PSLab Electronics Lab Board is Now Available for $65

Pocket Science Lab (PSLab) is an open source hardware USB board that aims to bring electronics labs to the masses, as it can act as an oscilloscope, voltmeter, programmable voltage and current source, logic analyzer, or signal generator when connected to a PC or mobile phone. This is not professional equipment, and instead designed for STEM education. When we first covered the board in August, it was still in development, but I’ve just found it is now listed and in stock on Seeed Studio for $64.90. FOSSASIA and OpnTec are the organization behind the board’s development. Here’s a reminder of PSLab board main specifications: MCU – Microchip PIC24EP256GP204 16-bit microcontroller @ up to 70 MHz with 32KB SRAM, 256KB flash Wireless Connectivity Footprint for ESP8266 module (ESP-12E) for 802.11 b/g/n WiFi (on bottom of board) Bluetooth extension slot 4-Channel, up to 2MSPS Oscilloscope 12-bit Voltmeter. Programmable gain. Input ranges from […]

December 1, 2018December 1, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Microsoft now Supports ARM64 Apps in Visual Studio 15.9, Microsoft Store

The first “proper” Windows Arm laptops became available earlier this year, but they disappointed most people due to their high price and relatively poor performance. They only really make sense for people who need LTE connectivity and very long battery life (over 20 hours). Price will likely stay elevated for the foreseeable future, but at least performance will increase thanks to faster processors such as Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 processor found in Lenovo Yoga C630 WOS Laptop ($849.99 and up once available), and the rumored sm8180 laptop processor that may be, or not, announced on December 4-6 during Snapdragon Tech Summit. Hardware is one thing, but software is also important. As far as I understand, while UWP (Universal Windows Platform) apps already supported native 32-ARM compilation , legacy Win32 apps relied on x86 “emulation” / binary translation, which may slowdown performance. But Windows users may also get some software optimization soon, […]

July 25, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Coocox CoIDE and GCC Arm Embedded Toolchain Download Links

I’ve been playing with RAK811 LoRa GPS tracker last week-end and earlier this week, and Rak Wireless provides open source firmware for the board that can be work on with Arm Keil or Coocox CoIDE tools. The former requires registration, and the latter is freeware and appears to be preferred by Rakwireless guys. The only problem is that CooCox website have been down for several days, so I could not download the IDE from the official website. So instead I downloaded it from Softpedia together with a GCC toolchain. Sadly the version in Softpedia and the toolchain are outdated, so the firmware won’t build. I had installed CooCox CoIDE v 1.7.8 with GNU Tools ARM Embedded 4.7 2013q. Rakwireless engineers informed me they used CoIDE v 2.0.6 with gcc-arm-none-eabi-5_4-2016q3-20160926-win32. I could not find it online, so they added both to their RAK811 documentation. You’ll find the two files under Tools: […]

May 11, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Astro Design HDMI Test Equipment Supports 8K @ 120 Hz

8K media players and 8K TVs are coming, but if you develop one of those products how do you test them since 8K players/TVs are not available just yet. Answer: Test equipment. Astro Design offers just that with their VG-879 digital video generator, as well as their VA-1844A HDMI protocol analyzer. VG-879 digital video generator key features: 4K/60p is transmitted by one channel of 12G-SDI. Max.4 slot-type interface units can be selected from 12G-SDI, HDMI2.0b 3G or 6G, DisplayPort 1.2a, V-by-One and Analog. By synchronizing 4 or 2 units of VG-879, 8K/120p or 8K/60p signals are supported. (8K/120p by V-by-One HS, 8K/60p by V-by-One HS and HDMI.) HDMI 2.0b test functions supported EIA CEA-861-F Timing Format including 4K/50, 60p, YCBCR 4:4:4/4:2:2/4:2:0 timing. SCDC parameter change and status display. ITU-R BT.2020 color bar and video output setting 4K6G with Scrambling Enable setting CEA-861.3 HDR (High Dynamic Range) InfoFrame setting HDR Test Patterns supported […]

May 8, 2018May 8, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

Armbian History, Infrastructure, and Progress Report

Many of us rely on Armbian Debian and Ubuntu images for our cheap Arm development boards since they usually offer better support than vendor supplied firmware images. The community has just updated Armbian website, but the thing that caught my eye in the announcement was a link to a 45-minute presentation by Igor Pečovnik, working full-time on the project, that details the history about Armbian, and provides a relatively recent progress update as it was made at BalCCon – Balkan Computer Congress in November 2017. I’ve embedded the video further below, but first I’ll provide summary of the key point made during the presentation. It all started with Cubieboard (A20) as Igor was trying to fix some issues, and learn how to improve software support on the board. Several people joined his efforts on Cubieboard forums, and eventually Armbian website launched in mid 2014 running on the Cubieboard then ODROID-XU4 […]

December 4, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Sigrok Compatible ZeroPlus Logic Cube LAP-C USB Logic Analyzers Support up to 32 Channels, 75 MHz Bandwidth

Back in 2015, I discovered USB123 USBee AX PRO, an ultra cheap logic analyzer (now $5 shipped) with 8 channels, and up to 24 MHz. I purchased one at the time, and successfully tested it with Sigrok & Pulseview open source tools that now work in Linux, Windows, Mac OS, FreeBSD, Android, and several other operating systems. As I read through my list of RSS feeds today, I noticed Peter Scargill had tested ZeroPlus Logic Cube Lap-C 322000 logic analyzer also connected to your PC via USB, but with better specifications including 32-channels, and 75 MHz. Peter used the company’s Windows software (ZEROPLUS Logic Analyzer LAP-C_Standard_V3.14.03), but a quick search confirmed ZeroPlus Logic Cube Lap-C family is supported by Sigrok. LAP-C 322000 is the top model from the family with the following hardware specifications: Sample Rate – Internal clock (timing mode): 100Hz~200MHz; external clock (state mode): 100MHz Bandwidth – 75MHz […]

November 2, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

WifiMETRIX Wi-Fi Networks Analyzer Supports Packet Injection, Throughput Analysis

Nuts about Nets (that’s the company name…) WifiMETRIX is a dual band WiFi diagnostic tool used to analyze, monitor and troubleshoot Wi-Fi networks. The handheld device implements two main features: AirHORN RF signal / channel generator that transmits RF signals for each of the Wi-Fi channels, and aids in testing Wi-Fi antennas, RF shields and wireless networks. WiFiPROBE for per channel’s throughput analysis The device operates in standalone mode and does not need to associate with the access point to perform the functions. WifiMETRIX technical specifications: Dual-band 802.11 Wi-Fi chip Antennas / connectors Dual-band antenna for 2.4 and 5.x GHz ISM bands Standard 50 ohm SMA antenna connector 50 ohm SMA terminator to protect antenna connection SMA terminator (dummy load) also used for calibrating the device Functions AirHORN channel / signal generator functionality (packet injection) WifiPROBE channel analyzer functionality Display – 128×64 built-in LCD screen USB – 1x micro USB […]

November 1, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Testing Google’s GNSS Analysis Tool for GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou…

Google has recently released GNSS Analysis Tool to process and analyze Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) raw measurements from Android devices. This is mostly designed to enable manufacturers to see whether their GNSS receivers are working as expected. The tool can also be used for research and to learn more about GNSS, and there are two components: GNSS Analysis tool itself available for Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X GNSS Data Logger app working with Android 7.0 or greater phones that support raw measurements. You can download both from the release page on Github. I’ve given it a try with a computer running Ubuntu 16.04 and Xiaomi Mi A1 smartphone, but you can the analysis tool even f you don’t have Android 7.0+ smartphone, as sample data is included. I downloaded GnssAnalysisLinuxV2.4.0.0.zip, and extracted the content in ~/Desktop/GnnsAnalysisFiles directory as instructed. Now we can open a terminal window and install […]