Review of Three Small USB Oscilloscopes

Posted 20 Apr 2005 at 18:07 UTC by steve

Jack Ganssle has written a review of three USB "micro" scopes including the Parallax USB oscilloscope ($149), the USB Instruments Stingray ($220), and the Picotech Picoscope 3206 ($1,535). These are tiny, pocket-sized devices that connect to a PC, relying on a GUI to replace the bulky physical controls of a traditional scope. Ganssle's conclusion is that the inexpensive Parallax scope is suitable for educational and hobby use while the demands of serious embedded development may require a fully functional device like the Picoscope that emulates all the features of a physical scope. It appears from the review that all three require the user to run the proprietary MS Windows OS to use the software interfaces.

DS1M12 Stingray with Linux drivers?, posted 20 Apr 2005 at 18:21 UTC by wedesoft » (Master)

"... Windows CE and Linux drivers are also available on request."

http://www.easysync.co.uk/usboscillo_ds1m12.html

Linux drivers, posted 20 Apr 2005 at 19:17 UTC by steve » (Master)

I think the Stingray driver is just a library that handles communications protocols with the devices. But it's a step in the right direction. Maybe somebody needs to start a GNU oscilloscope project with a generic front end and GUI that could be used with multiple USB scope devices...