As I mentioned in this other thread (
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=3964.0), I found another bug in the Rigol 02.05.02 FW related to the LCD display - and it appears, when running this software, that it might be related to the screen flickering bug. Read Edit2 below for screen-flicker test.
Anyway, about the software - the first of a few modules I hope to write - it's a simple viewer for seeing any of the scope's built-in voltage and timing measurements on your PC screen - in big type for those of us with poor eyesight
- instead of wasting space on the tiny LCD of the scope. It should work with any Rigol scope that uses the same commands for taking measurements as the DS1000E/D series. You can connect to the PC via any valid VISA resource (USB or RS232 for the DS1000s), and you can use the scope (changing settings and twiddling knobs) while simultaneously having the PC displaying the measurements.
I've tested quite a bit and it feels fairly bug-free, but please let me know if you discover any - or have suggestions for improvements. No help files yet - first version - but it's fairly easy to understand, and I'll give a quick run down here.
Basically you select whichever of the 22 possible measurements (per channel) that you want displayed on the PC via the checkboxes. There are 4 small buttons above each channel's checkboxes:
SelectAll (except the Phase measurements - see below)
UnselectAll
CS: Clear last data from Selected measurements.
CU: Clear last data from Unselected measurements.
The Run/Stop button will turn on and off the polling of the scope and updating of the measurements. The trackerbar (slider) at the upper left controls the speed of the polling - from 50 to 1050ms - although be advised, the speed is related to just a few measurements at once - when you start polling many of them at a time - the software will get noticeably slower - and the speed will not be close to being accurate. Also, you'll notice the little RMT light blinking on the scope each time the software polls - this is the inevitable locking of the controls on the scope when it's getting remote commands. What this means is that even though you can use the controls on the scope and alter settings while the PC is reading data, the faster you set the polling speed, the more sluggish the controls on the scope might feel. Anyway, just test it - you can't hurt anything by polling fast - and you may end up seeing (like I do) the flickering bug of 02.05.02 rear it's ugly head.
Other controls:
Clicking the Wait Trigger only has an effect when the scope is either stopped or waiting for a trigger. If the scope is waiting, the software will also enter a waiting state until the scope has been triggered - and then it will do one reading of selected measurements and stop. If the scope is stopped, the software will first start it, and then proceed to either wait (if the scope is waiting) or otherwise do one reading and stop. The polling during the waiting and before the read is set via the polling speed slider (best to have it set fast while waiting for quick detection of trigger).
Clicking the Force Trigger will force the scope, in whatever state it's in, into triggering a sweep. After the force command, the software will wait the polling time period and then do one reading of selected measurements and stop.
As mentioned above, the Phase measurements are not selected automatically - you must do it manually - since they cause a (non-lethal) screen redraw bug (although the measurements appear fine) in FW 02.05.02. It's also possible that they will throw an exception in the software when running earlier versions of the FW (pre-02.04), but I think the software should catch them gracefully. If it happens just deselect them before re-running.
Next version should have re-sizing capabilities and datalogging for graphing, as well as other stuff. Enjoy.
Edit1: Just to clarify, when using this software and your scope simultaneously, you will notice that occasionally (very often with fast polling) the scope will miss button presses or knob turns from you. This is not a bug but an inevitable side-effect of the scope not being able to multitask local and remote commands at the same time. The way Rigol gets around this is to automatically lock the buttons on the scope when receiving remote data, and the software that comes with the scope basically just blocks you from using it's buttons when you are connected via PC. I decided to try to get around this by unlocking the buttons explicitly when I'm not directly talking to the scope. This allows the slight illusion that you can control the scope from two different places at once.
Edit2: To test for screen-flickering, click Check(All) for both channels 1 and 2, click Run/Stop, then slide the polling speed slider maximum left. On my HW58 FW 02.05.SP2, that causes a huge amount of flickering, proving once and for all I think, that the problem is a FW timing issue. If you then want to up the bugginess a major notch, stop the polling, select the checkboxes for the 4 Phase measurements, then turn on DisplayAll measurements on the Rigol (either channel - doesn't matter). Then click Run/Stop on my software again..... wow
Edit3: Attached screen capture showing redraw bug of Phase measurement.
Edit4: Changed software slightly (latest version 1.0.2) - added an extra button for each channel - as noted above - which makes it easier for testing and Force Triggering, etc.