Cheap logic Analyzer to use with PulseView  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: sairfan1
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 24, 2023, 12:30:31 am
content: I have cheap ($8) Logic Analyzer bought from Aliexpress but windows does not recognize it for that i have to go through other route to install driver through Zadig and often it troublesI also want to confirm do we need to use Zadig only if USB device is not recognized by windows? or its something a must to use PulseView?Mostly my neads are to decode data on SPI, I2C or UART I'm looking for some advise to buy a reasonable logic analyzer that i can use without issues my budget is around $50 to $120

author: sairfan1
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 25, 2023, 05:23:54 pm
content: I'm not looking to somehow run those cheap logic analyzers, but I'm looking for alternate bit expensive that can work with PulseView IDE (or may be some other well maintained IDE)I checked Ebay and Aliexpress there are a lot of logic analyzers starting from $8 up to $150/$200 and more. I wanted to know if someone have good experience with anyone of them that can help me.

author: mwb1100
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 25, 2023, 07:17:40 pm
content: Most people seem to report a good experience with the $10 original Saleae Logic clones and sigrok/pulseview. I don't have experience with Zadig, but I thought it was supposed to be pretty close to plug-n-play. Or maybe config once then plug-n-play.I for one have had good experiences with a DSLogic clone I bought from eBay a while back for about $80. I use the DSView software, which is based on pulseview (therefore GPL'ed and ethical to use with the clone). sigrok/pulseview is supposed to work with it as well, but I haven't tried it (or if I did it was long enough ago that I don't remember).I got the DSLogic because it's rated to handle a large enough voltage range for +/-12V RS232 signals.I also have an original Saleae Logic from when they first came out, and the software for it is great. DSView is also very nice. Pulseview looks very nice as well from all the demos I've seen on youtube, etc. But when I get a logic analyzer nowadays I get the DSLogic clone and DSView.

author: langwadt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 25, 2023, 07:20:12 pm
content: Quote from: mwb1100 on September 25, 2023, 07:17:40 pmthat's my experience

author: Veteran68
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 26, 2023, 01:48:17 pm
content: I have both an $8 Saleae clone and the DSLogic Plus. Both do a good job within their constraints. Obviously the DSLogic is a much more capable unit at 16ch and 400Mhz, but if you're only monitoring relatively low-speed serial signals and such even the $8 Saleae is plenty.

author: sairfan1
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 26, 2023, 03:25:36 pm
content: What I'm looking for here is some device that can be used with PulseView software without any issue, like $8 chinese logic analyzer works but you have to activate it through another sofware Zadig and ofter it does not work or stop workingdoes someone know forum where PulseView is actively discussed?

author: Doctorandus_P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 26, 2023, 03:42:30 pm
content: From thehttps://sigrok.org/wiki/Main_PageCode:IRC: #sigrok@libera.chat · Mailing list: sigrok-devel (archives: MA, SF, Gmane) · Twitter: @sigrokproject · Mastodon/Fediverse: @sigrok@fosstodon.org

author: janoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 26, 2023, 04:02:19 pm
content: Quote from: sairfan1 on September 26, 2023, 03:25:36 pmThen just buy an official Saleae or DSLogic device and not one of those knock-offs. Or any of the officially supported devices by Sigrok/Pulseview (Pulseview is only the UI, Sigrok is the actual software). Their list is on the Sigrok website.The problem with Zadig you seem to have is only because Windows autodetects your $8 cheapie as something else than it really is and assigns a driver to it that Pulseview/Sigrok don't know how to/can't use. Zadig is a generic Windows utility (nothing to do with Pulseview,etc) used to install the generic libUSB driver in Windows for the specified device. A hack that neither Mac nor Linux need but that Windows requires because switching drivers for a device is such a royal PITA there.Normally you would need to do this only once - Windows will remember that the device should use the libUSB driver once it is installed.

author: dmulligan
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 26, 2023, 09:27:48 pm
content: For kicks and giggles I just reinstalled (upgraded?) Pulseview. I then could not get my $10 LA to work. It was failing with "sr: usb: Failed to get libusb file descriptors." That made it sound like a driver problem but nothing I tried worked. So I uninstalled the nightly build and installed the 0.4.2 release build and worked with no fuss. Maybe try the old release version.

author: MikeK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 26, 2023, 09:46:20 pm
content: Expecting there to be a cheap alternative to the cheap alternative is...odd. Don't jump ship at the first sign of a problem!I, like so many others, have and use the cheap logic analyzer with Pulseview. These three videos are in my YT history, so I used one or all to get things going: