GW Instek GDS-2000E FFT app installation - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: jparsenault
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 22, 2017, 06:41:23 pm
content: Hi all, long time listener, first time caller.I've been messing with a GW Instek GDS-2074E as part of my quest for an inexpensive oscilloscope that is suitable for both audio and basic microcontroller applications. I've been pretty impressed with it so far, but I'm having a problem with the FFT app and I feel like I'm just doing something wrong.When I go to their website, I can see the app download that "GDS-2000E App function, FFT function module provide time domain and frequency domain (FFT) display separately." However, when I download the file, what I get is a .zip containing a .txt, .inf, and .dll files. None of these four files seem to trigger the installation of the app when I try to select them in the file viewer.I had no problem updating the firmware to the latest 1.31, and I also was able to install the GDB-003 demo board app, just to make sure I could installsomething. What am I missing?

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2017, 06:45:42 pm
content: Strange. In the zip I have (see attachement) there is a .fun fileHowever this file only changes the FFT display from combined with the signal display to a display where the signal is shown smaller. IMHO it doesn't add much.

author: jparsenault
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 22, 2017, 06:57:09 pm
content: Weird, but thanks for sharing! I still think it looks nicer than the FFT results displayed on top of the waveformPerhaps I'll email GW Instek and let them know their file is borked.

author: jparsenault
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 22, 2017, 09:02:08 pm
content: Quick note for anyone who encounters the same issue:.fun files are just renamed .zip files that contain a .dll, .inf, and .txt. If you download an app for your 'scope that is just these three file types, rename the .zip to .fun and you should be good to go

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 22, 2017, 11:54:09 pm
content: Quote from: jparsenault on August 22, 2017, 09:02:08 pmi dont think so. 1st attachment is the expanded fun file, mostly contains zeros. 2nd attachment is how zip file should looks like (nctnico's attachment)

author: jparsenault
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 23, 2017, 08:28:55 pm
content: So, after a little more digging, it would seem that I was thrown off by a couple interesting features of the OS X Archive Utility.First, if you attempt to decompress an archive file that only contains another archive file, it will (sometimes?) recursively decompress them, explaining why I couldn't see the .fun file in the first place.Second, if you rename a supported compressed file with another file extension, it will correctly detect the compression format without throwing an error or warning. so, when I renamed the .fun as .zip as an experiment, it worked, and I hastily concluded that it was .zip format. Upon closer examination (thanks @Mechatrommer) and experimentation, I think it's probably a .tar file.In any case, if you're on OS X, consider using a different extraction utility (e.g., The Unarchiver), and thanks everyone for the help

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2017, 08:38:31 pm
content: Quote from: jparsenault on August 23, 2017, 08:28:55 pmi dont think so either.. a compressed file (any format) that contains mostly zeros usually indicating corrupted files, or some flaw during encoding/compressing... or it can probably contains nothing at all, or just a FAT.. ymmv..

author: jparsenault
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 23, 2017, 09:14:50 pm
content: Yes, I'm no expert on compression formats, however tar loves the .fun files, and also is a sparse (uncompressed) file format. I'm happy for anyone to prove me wrong on this, however.