Bus Pirate V4 ? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: alin_im
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2016, 06:53:49 pm
content: Hey Guys,I want to purchase a Bus Pirate V4 for some sensors and LCD testing. What are your thoughts on the product ? I know that a while ago (2 years maybe) it was pretty buggy and anyone would choose a V3 over a V4.After all this time any improvements ? What are your thoughts about this product ?Kind regards,Alin I.

author: alank2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2016, 07:29:43 pm
content: I've got the V4 - you might check to see if this hardware platform has been abandoned. Are they still doing active work on the V3.5?

author: alin_im
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2016, 07:36:13 pm
content: Quote from: alank2 on May 03, 2016, 07:29:43 pmI don't own an earlier version, this is the first one that I want to bought. What were the problems and why do you think they abandoned it ?

author: alank2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2016, 07:42:44 pm
content: It sounds like they were not happy with USB on PIC? Here is a thread about it:http://dangerousprototypes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1169&start=15My V4 has not failed me, but it sounds there won't be any further development on it, I wish I has a V3.6 instead.

author: jancumps
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 03, 2016, 08:16:44 pm
content: I have a v4, and it serves me well. Dangerous Prototypes aren't that enthousiast about it themselves though.

author: macboy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2016, 02:57:38 pm
content: I personally would (and did) buy the v3.6. Even back then, exactly as now, their website stated "An initial batch of Bus Pirate v4 is now available to early adopters and testers. We think v3.x is still the best choice for most people, but v4 is the way of the future. ". That was five years ago (February 2011 to be exact). I guess the future will never come for Bus Pirate, and v3 remains the best choice.Bus pirate is a little expensive for what it is, but I would buy another immediately if mine ever died. I really like the BASIC scripting mode, I have used this to dump entire EEPROMs in Intel Hex format, to create scrolling-message displays from cheap 8x8 LED matrix displays, and other neat tricks.I have downloaded the source and built custom firmware for the Bus Pirate to suit my own needs. I enhanced the basic scripting mode with new commands, and I added I2C clock stretching, which the devs thought to be impossible due to a hardware errata in the I2C peripheral.... which they don't use because the I2C is bit-banged. Serisously guys? I also significantly sped up some critical routines in the bit-bang code with inline functions and other techniques, which also reduced code size due to eliminating overhead of calling all those functions. I posted about my enhancements in their forums, and a few users seemed interested but the devs ignored my requests for help to get those enhancements into the code base, so unfortunately only I have them. Oh well.

author: mojoe
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2016, 06:41:37 pm
content: Quote from: macboy on May 04, 2016, 02:57:38 pmI'm sure that if you posted your enhanced firmware here, along with some documentation, the folks here would appreciate it. I know I would. Others may want your source, but I'd just like some firmware to flash.