DSlogic Plus Pango Version (2023)

[Johannsen]

Hi
wanted to buy a LA DSlogic Plus but seems that the ones sold at beginning of 2023 have another FPGA and called Pango Variant.
According to sigrok's page this variant isnt compatible.
Does anyone has experience with this new variant?

[RoGeorge]

I don't have the 2023 version, but AFAIK all DSlogic hardware also come with its own software, so you won't use the original sigrok.  You'll use the DreamSourceLab's software, which is a modified build of sigrok+pulseview, called 'DSView':  https://www.dreamsourcelab.com/download/

[TomKatt]

I also have an older gen DS Plus.  Their DSview software does everything you need.  As mentioned, it is forked from the Sigrok project with additional features provided by DreamSource to accommodate their products.  There's a bit of contention over that because DreamSource hasn't contributed back to the original Sigrok source.

I find the DSview software to be very capable and have no issues with it whatsoever.

[voltsandjolts]

DSView was not forked from sigrok Pulseview. It was outright stolen.

Where is the GPL source for each released version of DSView?

I prefer not to do business with thieves.

[TomKatt]

DSView was not forked from sigrok Pulseview. It was outright stolen.

Where is the GPL source for each released version of DSView?

I prefer not to do business with thieves.

I can appreciate that, and if I had more financial resources I'd have purchased another brand product. 

That said, I also purchase cheap Chinese electronics that likely contain stolen IP and are possibly made with forced labor.  I don't prefer to buy those items, but sometimes it's all you can afford.  Anyone who has purchased cheap test gear from Alibaba or similar has likely contributed to the same.

[ebastler]

DSView was not forked from sigrok Pulseview. It was outright stolen.
Where is the GPL source for each released version of DSView?
I prefer not to do business with thieves.

https://github.com/DreamSourceLab/DSView
https://github.com/DreamSourceLab/DSView/tags

[voltsandjolts]

Yes, aware of that GitHub account.
It was neglected for many years, I see there is more activity now, but once bitten, twice shy.
Maybe I'll try building a new version someday, but still very sceptical it'll build the distibuted exe.

Also see OpenTechLab's video on the DSLogic starting at about 27 minutes in for the history of that situation.

[TomKatt]

Also see OpenTechLab's video on the DSLogic starting at about 27 minutes in for the history of that situation.

That's a great video - coming from a guy who was a major contributor to the open source code that was 'appropriated' by DreamSource Labs...  Nonetheless, he doesn't say not to buy the DSlogic for that reason.  if you can get over the IP conflict, he finds the hardware / software package to work rather well.

[voltsandjolts]

Sure, but I didn't tell you not to buy it either, I just said I wouldn't, and I like to make other folks aware of what happened.
DSLab are not just cool, hip and trendy LA makers, there is another side to the story.

[ebastler]

Maybe I'll try building a new version someday, but still very sceptical it'll build the distibuted exe.

Well, they have their release binaries there as well, with source code snapshots. So I would hope there's some correlation...
https://github.com/DreamSourceLab/DSView/releases

Also see OpenTechLab's video on the DSLogic starting at about 27 minutes in for the history of that situation.

So -- DreamSourceLab had not yet published their source code in "January 2014", when the Sigrok developers first learned about the connection. But then they did publish it on Github by January 15th, 2014, when asked to do so. That doesn't look like a lot of resistance, dragging of feet and controversial "history" to me?

[voltsandjolts]

Nope. The controversy continued for some years. They didn't just snap into compliance, they were playing games, who knows if they still are.

https://sourceforge.net/p/sigrok/mailman/message/36205075/

From: Soeren A. <so...@ap...> - 2018-01-25 23:40:06

It's been a while and I'm not aware of an "official" collection of events, but here's a list of the things I remember:

-) Initially, they created a kickstarter [1]. You can see their claims of open hardware and open software. Initially, they had removed all traces of sigrok/PV from the UI, even though they did retain certain copyright notices and sigrok references in the source. [2]

-) From what I remember, Uwe made them aware of this but it wasn't until mid-2017 until they changed it. [3]

-) Their initial firmware was based on fx2lafw but they removed all copyrights and fx2lafw/sigrok references in their initial commit [4]. Only after Uwe made them aware that this violates the GPL, they added sigrok references and reverted the copyright messages [5].

-) The DSLogic-fw repo on github contains an old firmware that is no longer used. They claim to now supply firmware (in binary form) that is no longer based on fx2lafw, though they never made the source available. We are uncertain whether they truly rewrote the firmware from scratch or whether they simply smartened up and mangled the code. They're not giving us much to work with here, so it's easy to assume the latter.

-) Their git commits almost always consist of a LOT of changes squashed into a single commit. Intention is unclear but I suspect that that's their way of complying with the GPL while preventing anyone from really taking back from the project.


I don't remember whether their kickstarter initially mentioned sigrok or whether they edited the text later on to include it. Either way, it is obvious that their intention never was to give back, only to take and make money off of our work. That's what I'm so sore about.

-Soeren


[1] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dreamsourcelab/dslogic-multifunction-instruments-for-everyone
[2] https://github.com/DreamSourceLab/DSView/blob/349feaf17d64f0fe5c801e9fd4de5d99a8706986/DSView/pv/dialogs/about.ui
[3] https://github.com/DreamSourceLab/DSView/commit/7dc868140d0b3c686d1464779d6a3ffc34c627eb#diff-259db90bc4756332a347d887107a87ef
[4] https://github.com/DreamSourceLab/DSLogic-fw/commit/9993f6e4cd78cfda0c34fd99fd96949c5abff6d6
[5] https://github.com/DreamSourceLab/DSLogic-fw/commits/master

[ebastler]

Nope. The controversy continued for some years. They didn't just snap into compliance, they were playing games, who knows if they still are.

The January 15, 2014 date I mentioned came straight from the OpenTechLab video you linked to -- at around 30:20, with a Github screenshot showing that date. And Joel mentions that they continued to maintain the repository, and that the Sigrok camp was still divided (6 years ago) whether DSLogic were initially violating the GPL on purpose or whether that was just an oversight on their part.

Anyway, you obviously don't have to buy a DSLogic unit. I might, if I find a reputable European reseller who provides warranty and a return option.

[voltsandjolts]

Joel was more trusting and sanguine than other sigrok contributors. The sigrok project seems to have lost most of it's contributors now, I doubt whether anyone is actually checking DSLab compliance these days.

[Johannsen]

I was very happy that my question received so many answers..unfortunatly when I read those none actually replied to my answer but to some controversy story.
I just saw that sigrok supports the pre 2023 DSlogic Plus version. They write that on their website and if they would super angry about the hardware they wouldn't support that.. I would guess but it's not the question of this thread.
Nice to hear at least that DSview works well.
I'm still thinking about which hardware to get and with a student discount price the smallest Saleaa is still 3x more expensive than the DSlogic plus and the DSlogic is propably more modern than the Saleae

[slugrustle]

For those who choose to not use DSView due to considerations surrounding software freedom, there is a famous precedent for such a position: See How I do my Computing by the inimitable Richard Stallman.

[RoGeorge]

I'm still thinking about which hardware to get and with a student discount price the smallest Saleaa is still 3x more expensive than the DSlogic plus and the DSlogic is propably more modern than the Saleae

Saleae clones are only a few $, and they work just fine.  If you ask me, buy the cheapest $5-10 Saleae clone.  Apart from that, even a casual Arduino can act as an LA.

A Logic Analyzer (LA) seems like a nice tool to have (when you don't have any), but in practice you won't use it much, if at all.  You'll learn very fast to program without an LA.  Buy the cheapest LA, and if you really need more later, buy the DSlogic or something else.

Save your money for DMM, Oscilloscope, AWG and Power Supply, those are the must have instruments in an EE lab.

[Johannsen]

buna, Please stick to my question eitherway..

but in practice you won't use it much, if at all.

It's one of my most used tools and helped me already so much.. i have a cheap salaea clone but the speed is just to slow and other specs as well..
I have a nice DMM, Function Gen. and MSO5072. The LA is much more in use than my nice 1k€ scope..

I hope here's anyone that can share his/her latest experience with the Pango variant..

[RoGeorge]

In this case, DSlogic Plus is one of the nicest LA, maybe the best.   

Beware that the max sample rate is possible only when capturing 4 digital inputs.  Another thing, you'll need proper impedance matching to capture at 400MHz, or else you may capture reflections in the wires (without impedance matching you may see ragged edges at the fastest speed).

Apart from that, I'm very happy with my DSlogic Plus, and DSview looks and works better than the original sigrok+PulseView.

[Johannsen]

can you also write your own decoder for DSview? edit: it seems so I installed that to test it and compared it with Saleae's Logic.. it looks ok but what I found insteresting that there are several protocol decoder scripts like https://sigrok.org/wiki/Protocol_decoder:Cc1101 available for Pulseview.  400MHz I won't need in the nearer future but a bit more than the 4MHz I have so far and the 1Meg input impedance would helpfull as well.

[RoGeorge]

I see now they have an even faster model, 1GHz sampling rate and USB3.0
https://www.dreamsourcelab.com/shop/logic-analyzer/dslogic-u3pro32/

Mine is the DSlogic Pro with 400MHz/4channels/USB2.0 max

[ahmad_k]

Can anyone dump the EEPROM of this new Plus Pango Version ? no need to open the box at all, just use fx2lafw utility.

[godor2008]

I did not get any success with fx2lafw utility. It was all time saying that there is no memory found. I grabbed EEPROM after unboxing. Here it's:

[ahmad_k]

Is it the basic or plus dump ? I have updated the utility to be able to dump the new u2basic pango and plus pango edition

[godor2008]

It's U2Basic. Great, could you please post link where to get updated utility and example of commands how to read/write?

[ahmad_k]

The PID inside the dump is 0x35. As I know latest u2basic PANGO edition had PID 0x31.

That means there is a new variant in the market. The modified utility doesn't support it.

Here is the tool
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/upgrading-dslogic-basic-to-plus-without-eeprom-modification/msg5547427/#msg5547427

Did you take any picture for the PCB ?