Peak DCA75 alternative for graphing diode forward voltage? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: peps1
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2022, 04:18:45 pm
content: Hello, I need to measure a bunch of Ge diode's forward voltage and graph out the current at a range of mV.I was thinking for just grabbing a DCA75 to replace my trusty DCA55, but noticed that the software for the DCA75 is Windows only and I use Linux in the lab. So, I was wondering if there were any other options out there that could plot out diode curves?

author: dibro
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2022, 08:23:24 pm
content: Unfortunately, I have the DCA75 but can't use the PC software.I doesn't work under wine and and the DCA75 can't connect to a Virtual Win 10 (virtualbox) either.So best to look for another piece of equipment that has Linux software available.Sorry, can't help you with that.

author: PushUp
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2022, 09:14:36 pm
content: As a Linux-User Win7 (which you can get anywhere in any version and language) as an offline Edition within VirtualBox is the best way to go - driver- and speedwise, so do I! I haven't checked Win10 or Win11 so far, because it does not make any sense to torture yourself!Being on Ubuntu Focal Fossa 20.04.X using newest Oracle VM VrtualBox 6.1.36 r152435 and having no problem at all to use "Atlas Peak DCA 75 Pro"-Software within my several offline Win7-VirtualBoxes - in this case my "TestController-Edition"...I also use wine, but not for this type of software, as you too often get problems after upgrading (at the moment 7.16 winehq staging makes problems, so that I had to switch back to winehq stable 7.0) to use my beloved WinRAR 6.11 or FlashFXP...) - but back to your question:Of course you have to check the USB within the settings, to use it...which you can see here and sometimes it makes sense to only use USB 2.0:"Peak Electronic Design Ltd. Peak Atlas DCA Pro " is detected!I switched off the fullscreen mode, so that you see, that I am within Linux using two displays:Within the DCA-Software, you can see in the bottom left corner in green, that the device is connected "DCA Pro connected"!Here a graph with no problem:Cheers!

author: dibro
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2022, 09:13:45 am
content: Thanks PushUp, you've showed me the right path.I found an old windows 7 vm that had the DCA software still installed.So I had it working at some time but forgot about it.And then I have to start the vm first and then plug in the DCA75.Same process with a Win10 vm doesn't work and I don't want to spend more time on that.I'm a Linux user too. And as a recently retired windows it specialist I'm happy to leave it behind me.

author: PinheadBE
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 07, 2024, 12:17:48 am
content: Hi guys,I am in the same situation.Linux Mint 21.3I installed Wine (latest stable), the DCA75 software runs but when I connect the DCA75 tester, it is not detected.I installed Virtual Box (latest stable), but I did only find iso images for Win10, and as I read above, this will certainly not work.Besides, the linux PC in my lab being not very powerful, I would prefer a Win7 image.==> Where can I find an official one ?Thanks for your replies

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 07, 2024, 11:27:32 am
content: I'm not sure how familiar you are with Virtualbox yet (the way to go in my personal opinion). Have you installed the 'Guest Additions CD' on your Win10 VM yet? This installs a bunch virtual drivers for things like USB to work with virtualbox. If not, open the VM, go to 'Devices' in the Menu bar and select 'Insert Guest Additions CD image...' This will insert a virtual CD with relevant install files. This may be all you are missing to allow you to see DCA75.There are no longer any officially downloadable W7 images available directly from Microsoft. There are several 'genuine captures' on the web though, eg.https://tech-latest.com/download-windows-7-iso/(no guarantees). There are some on archive.org too. With Win7 you are much more likely to lock down the VM, certainly prohibiting Internet access for instance (Devices>Network>Network Settings>Advanced>untick 'Cable connected') and allowing access to only one shared folder within Linux. So it is effectively fire-walled.

author: PinheadBE
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 08, 2024, 03:36:30 pm
content: Hi Gyro,You are right: I am not familiar at all with VirtualBox.I search online how to use it, and was able to install Win10. It was running, but I was unable to share a folder with my Linux partIndeed, I didn't install the Guest Additions.So I did, following your instructions.After that, Win10 did not want to boot again: It freezes on the splash screenSince I finally found a Win7 and even WinXP ISO file, I repeat the installation.in both cases, Windows is up and running, but when I install the Guest Additions, it reboots no more. Same symptoms: It freezes on the splash screen.It's really weird that it fails everytime in the same way.....There must be something obvious that I'm missing.....Any clue ?Thanks !EDIT: For the Guest Additions, my architecture is 64 bits, so I choose AMD64. Since it didn't work, I also try the x86 version, without further luck, of course....

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 08, 2024, 06:39:20 pm
content: Well, good to know that I was at least partly right. Nothing striking comes to mind and I have successful W7 x64 and XP VMs working (including DCA75 in the W7).Thinking back to my first attempts, the only immediate thing that comes to mind is to ensure that everything is up to date (and more importantly, matches). The Mint 'system package' version available in Software Manager is badly out of date and, irrc, takes a lot of digging to find the matching extension pack on the Oracle site. Much better to take the latest Flatpack version and extension pack direct from Oracle...https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/DownloadsThat's all that comes to mind at the moment. With both installed, Virtualbox will automatically present you with the correct Guest Additions 'CD' to install into each VM.I hope this helps.