Digilent. The opposite of a rant. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: David Aurora
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2024, 12:34:36 pm
content: Look, I'm pretty good at pissing and moaning about all sorts of things, but I really feel like I need to give credit where it's due. Every single time I ask a stupid question or make a request about their Waveforms software the response is basically "The feature you're looking for is ____, it's in the ____ menu. Here's how to use it" or "We'll try to add that", usually followed closely by an update with the exact feature I was asking about. It's just unbelievable how damn helpful they are (especially Attila).Nobody is twisting my arm to say this, I'm getting nothing for it, but after yet another great experience I just felt the need to give them a massive thumbs up because it's so damn rare to see a company work that hard to make their tools nice to work with. Software kicks ass. Support kicks ass. Hardware has worked flawlessly and done exactly what I've needed it to do (I've been using an AD2 for a bit of a niche task for a couple years now)./end praise

author: egonotto
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2024, 01:41:43 pm
content: Hello,I can fully agree with that.Nevertheless, I still have a few wishes.It would be nice if the AD3 had USB3.500 mV/div as the most sensitive setting is too coarse for me.What's nice now is that you can get a 4-channel oscilloscope with two AD3s.Best regardsegonotto

author: Anthocyanina
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2024, 02:37:03 pm
content: yes! i don't know of any other company that is so receptive to user feedback and suggestions. i also wish they made an analog discovery with at least a 100 or 200mV/ range, but yeah, their customer support is absolutely unmatched

author: rpro
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2024, 03:13:25 pm
content: Sorry, the specs say 500uV/Div and 200uV/Div for the AD2 and AD3 vertical min. sensitivities. Maybe you meant something else.Yes, their product support is superb.

author: Anthocyanina
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2024, 03:19:07 pm
content: Quote from: rpro on April 10, 2024, 03:13:25 pmthat's all done with software zoom. it has only two real hardware ranges, 500mv/ and 5v/

author: Fried Chicken
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2024, 04:19:52 pm
content: Who are Digilent and where are they from?

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2024, 04:23:54 pm
content: Quote from: Fried Chicken on April 10, 2024, 04:19:52 pmYou scolded another user in another thread about this yesterday, but really: Have you tried Google?

author: Antonio90
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2024, 04:33:57 pm
content: Quote from: Fried Chicken on April 10, 2024, 04:19:52 pmAn US-based company, recently bought by National Instruments, which develop hardware and software with a bias towards educational market.They have a lot of development boards for FPGAs and such.In any case, their most well-known (and valued) product is the Analog Discovery, in their third iteration now, which is basically a powerful FPGA with ADCs and DACs interfacing with anexcellent(and free) piece of software called Waveforms. You can download it from their page and test it with your PC soundcard. It was designed to interface with breadboards via DuPont crimp connectors, but they have quite a few breakout boards, the most relevant being the BNC-connectors for the oscilloscope and AWG, the add-on for the impedance analyzer, and the audio analyzer board.If you are interested, check their website and Analog Discovery page/documentation, it's good.

author: Anthocyanina
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2024, 05:41:07 pm
content: Quote from: Antonio90 on April 10, 2024, 04:33:57 pmand more recently bought by emerson. i think emerson bought NI and everything they had? i might be wrong on that!

author: Kosmic
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2024, 05:56:10 pm
content: Quote from: Anthocyanina on April 10, 2024, 05:41:07 pmYep, NI was bought by Emerson for 8.2B$ back in october last year.https://www.emerson.com/en-us/news/2023/emerson-completes-ni-acquisition

author: Fried Chicken
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2024, 06:17:11 pm
content: Quote from: ebastler on April 10, 2024, 04:23:54 pmyes I did. I googled, I checked for a wiki article and didn't find anything. I went to their "About Us" page and it didn't tell me anything. When I searched "Digilent Wiki" I got this:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diligent_Corporation?useskin=vector. Then I tried searching "digilent" corporation headquarters and still couldn't find anything.Your reply is not helpful, just like the other guy's was similarly useless.

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2024, 06:29:40 pm
content: Quote from: Fried Chicken on April 10, 2024, 06:17:11 pmLet me be helpful then and explain how you use Google and web pages in general, in five easy steps.Enter "Digilent" in your browser's search/address bar. Press the return key.On the Google search results page that opens, click the very first link, conveniently titled "Digilent".Look at the page that opens. It gives you an idea what Digilent does and sells. It also tells you who their parent company is, right there at the top of the page.Scroll all the way down. Digilent's address is right there in the lower right, answering your "where are they" question.Then look to the left and click the "About Us" link, which takes you tohttps://digilent.com/shop/company/#about-digilent. It tells you more about what they dom where they are based, how long they have been around.What else do you need? Sorry, but your questions in these threads are not helpful contributions either, and are just plain lazy.

author: Dazed_N_Confused
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2024, 06:34:44 pm
content: Quote from: Fried Chicken on April 10, 2024, 06:17:11 pm

author: Fried Chicken
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2024, 06:35:20 pm
content: Quote from: Antonio90 on April 10, 2024, 04:33:57 pmI have seen this before. The Analog Discovery series is used at the local university, and has cropped up on the used market whenever I've looked for some specific things. I'll look into their waveforms software, right now I'm playing around with an RTL-SDR that's frankly brilliant.

author: Fried Chicken
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2024, 06:41:19 pm
content: Quote from: ebastler on April 10, 2024, 06:29:40 pmYeah this is why I'm pissed off, b/c it's not laziness and of course it contributes to these threads. This assumption that I haven't actually earnestly researched the question I'm asking is offensive because it is wrong.I found that aforementioned screenshot of course, but that just tells me where they have offices, which effectively tells me jack shit. The only wikipedia information on digilent is buried fucking here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Instruments?useskin=vector#2010sWhich doesn't appear in a simple google web search.

author: KungFuJosh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2024, 07:40:26 pm
content: Quote from: Fried Chicken on April 10, 2024, 06:41:19 pmEww, Texas. 😉😉

author: horse_battery_staple_guy
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 10, 2024, 10:52:27 pm
content: Quote from: David Aurora on April 10, 2024, 12:34:36 pmIt's kinda hard to believe they're owned by NI (Now Emerson), considering that NI practically murdered their entire customer support. Hopefully it doesn't go through the same things LabVIEW did throughout the years.

author: rpro
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2024, 11:51:46 pm
content: Quote from: Anthocyanina on April 10, 2024, 03:19:07 pmMaybe, in case it could help others, we should mention that these are 14-bit resolution scopes. 500mv/ for 10 divisions would imply 500x10/2^14 = 305uV steps. This is perhaps what they meant to say in their specs.Attila from Digilent has a post on this:https://forum.digilent.com/topic/21043-low-voltage-accuracy-for-analog-discovery-2/?do=findComment&comment=60181

author: David Aurora
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2024, 12:10:23 am
content: Quote from: Anthocyanina on April 10, 2024, 02:37:03 pmIt's just insane how helpful they are. Less than 24 hours ago I asked about a feature, this morning there's a screenshot in the thread of the feature in action and a comment saying it'll be in the next release. And that's far from the first time I've had that experience. Blows my mind.I think one of the models has a 200mV range (unless I read wrong)-https://digilent.com/reference/test-and-measurement/analog-discovery-pro-3x50/startThe front end limitations (not just the low range stuff but also maximum input range) has been a bit of a dampener for me as far as buying more hardware and using it as general purpose test gear (my AD2 is permanently wired up with some interfacing circuitry as a digitiser for my curve tracer so it's not an issue there), but I still haven't ruled it out completely because the software is just so damn nice to use. I've tried a couple of different digital setups over the years and always hated it compared to my analog gear, but I could absolutely see myself using Waveforms on a day to day basis. It's just a bit tricky with the signal levels/voltages I work with to make it work with the AD hardware.

author: Anthocyanina
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2024, 01:03:32 am
content: Quote from: rpro on April 10, 2024, 11:51:46 pmyeah, but at vertical settings below 200mV/ you don't get the full 14 bits vertical resolution, you still get the same absolute ~300uV resolution, of course, but that becomes a larger percentage of the entire vertical range the further down you go in mV/, and since the noise floor is the same against the 500mV/ full scale when you zoom in further, you'll get a lower signal to noise ratio when using the zoomed in ranges. it's still quite usable thanks to it being 14 bits, but one extra range at the higher sensitivity settings would be great.Quote from: David Aurora on April 11, 2024, 12:10:23 ami've made a few suggestions over the past couple of years, and they've implemented most of them, and for some they have not, they have tried to or at least looked into it!i didn't know that about the ADP3000, that's cool, sadly it still only has two ranges, but i would take the 200mV/ over the 500mV/ only having those two options. ideally they should keep the 500mV/ range and add the 200mV/ range for 3 hardware ranges. they had a poll thread a while back asking for features you'd like to see in new products, i suggested that, but so far it seems that's not a priority for them, with the AD3 and ADP2230 having only 2 ranges too.i still use my AD2 for most of what i do that is within its specifications, the software is so good i have a better experience using it than the bech scope. i only use my bench scope when what i'm doing is outside the AD2's capabilities, or when using a bench scope would seem more professional ( there are tons of people who don't take the AD2 seriously, even if it would basically show the same as a bench scope!)

author: sfs1
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 12, 2024, 05:09:48 pm
content: I really hope they come out with a better power supply. Smaller footprint, isolated channels, and maybe +/-24V. I'd buy that in a heartbeat.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 12, 2024, 09:45:51 pm
content: Quote from: quince on April 11, 2024, 06:04:09 amCurrent price is $380 not $350.DSLogic has USB3 for $300. No its not an oscilloscope, but to say it would have to cost $900 is not really accurate. BOM cost might go up by ~$20.