OpenTechLab on youtube has several videos discussing inexpensive logic analyzers and how to use them with the open source sigrok pulseview software. He also talks a bit about the ethics of using Saleae clones - he was a contributor. It boils down to if the logic analyzer is using open source (non-saleae) firmware and software, then it’s “clean”. It’s just a cypress chip using open source software.
Hi,
i never had a single doubt about that, problem is Pulseview is lacking a mandatory feature for my purpose : trigger on byte sequence coming from async serial decoding, i would be glad if i'm wrong
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In the mean time a put my hands on two different devices :
1) a Kingst LA1010 LA from Amazon
2) an old USBee AX Pro clone
First one seems well build, allows to select voltage threshold and support up 50V at logic inputs but ... its own SW is totally unable to trigger on serial decoding output AND the device is de facto not supported under Sigrok, at least windows version.
Second one works a treat with Logic 2 (after VID/PID "cure") doing everything i need using Concatenator extension, with a nice realtime trace & decoding display, as i saw at my friend lab some days ago ( he also was unaware about current prices ...).
To recap : LA1010 useless, clone OK, so i have to find a legit low cost Saleae device, i cannot show the oriental clone & Saleae SW with my customers.
But after having spent at least one hour searching on the web it seems impossible, there are only few sad men selling old inventory at tripled cost.
I also found out that after Saleae price increase most of Chinese clones doubled (at least) in price, especially ones with 16CH and FPGA and i also found out a couple of official statement from Saleae published to justify the HUGE cost increase (as if the global crisis was their only problem) and i also spotted their romantic video about the art of debugging, like every thing was made by their device in automated fashion.
if we follow their reasoning a Rigol DS1054Z should cost at least 1000USD (plus taxes) and thinking what was inside their old budget model sold at 109 USD i struggle to believe that it was impossible to make some margin.
Reality is that now they are doing hundreds from a single device, but i wonder how many they are selling.