The Siglent SDG2042X Thread

[tautech]

I'm pretty sure siglent.eu is just a Siglent reseller, not actually Siglents website. The address nctnico posted is Siglents official European website.

Correct.
They trade as JR Special Electronics and are listed on the Siglent EU Website as an authorised dealer:
http://www.siglenteu.com/howtobuy.aspx

Their principal is member Smoking who really needs to add a disclaimer to his profile

[ghulands]

Received my unit about 20 mins ago. Hack complete. All 120 Mhz of it!

It would have been good if DHCP was enabled by default.

[tautech]

Received my unit about 20 mins ago. Hack complete. All 120 Mhz of it!

It would have been good if DHCP was enabled by default.

By all means consider writing a "Guide for Dummies" for those less knowledgable than yourself. 

[ghulands]

Guide for Dummies

1. Plug in ethernet cable and turn on unit
2. Press Utility -> Page 1/2 -> Interface -> LAN Setup -> DHCP ON
3. On you computer telnet (Windows use Putty, OS X and Linux can just use telnet on the CLI) to the IP Address that's displayed. (If you need to manually specify the port it's 23)
4. mount -o remount,rw ubi2_0 /usr/bin/siglent/firmdata0
5. cp /usr/bin/siglent/firmdata0/NSP_system_info.xml /usr/bin/siglent/firmdata0/NSP_system_info.xml.orig
6. vi /usr/bin/siglent/firmdata0/NSP_system_info.xml
7. Use the down arrow to navigate to the line which has '<license><bandwidth_update_license>xxxx</bandwidth_update_license></license>'
8. Press dd to delete the line. Press ESC. Type :wq then hit enter (write quit)
9. Turn unit off and on again

[uncle_bob]

Guide for Dummies

1. Plug in ethernet cable and turn on unit
2. Press Utility -> Page 1/2 -> Interface -> LAN Setup -> DHCP ON
3. On you computer telnet (Windows use Putty, OS X and Linux can just use telnet on the CLI) to the IP Address that's displayed. (If you need to manually specify the port it's 23)
4. mount -o remount,rw ubi2_0 /usr/bin/siglent/firmdata0
5. cp /usr/bin/siglent/firmdata0/NSP_system_info.xml /usr/bin/siglent/firmdata0/NSP_system_info.xml.orig
6. vi /usr/bin/siglent/firmdata0/NSP_system_info.xml
7. Use the down arrow to navigate to the line which has '<license><bandwidth_update_license>xxxx</bandwidth_update_license></license>'
8. Press dd to delete the line. Press ESC. Type :wq then hit enter (write quit)
9. Turn unit off and on again

Hi

For those with tired old fingers do a cd /usr/bin/siglent/firmdata0 after step 4. Next two become:

5. cp NSP_system_info.xml NSP_system_info.xml.orig
6. vi NSP_system_info.xml

Saves a lot of typing ...probably cuts out at least 10 seconds Potentially a bit more if you are prone to fat fingering command line stuff. The cd will puke if you give it a bad directory name so you will get feedback there quickly.

Bob

[ghulands]

Guide for Dummies

1. Plug in ethernet cable and turn on unit
2. Press Utility -> Page 1/2 -> Interface -> LAN Setup -> DHCP ON
3. On you computer telnet (Windows use Putty, OS X and Linux can just use telnet on the CLI) to the IP Address that's displayed. (If you need to manually specify the port it's 23)
4. mount -o remount,rw ubi2_0 /usr/bin/siglent/firmdata0
5. cp /usr/bin/siglent/firmdata0/NSP_system_info.xml /usr/bin/siglent/firmdata0/NSP_system_info.xml.orig
6. vi /usr/bin/siglent/firmdata0/NSP_system_info.xml
7. Use the down arrow to navigate to the line which has '<license><bandwidth_update_license>xxxx</bandwidth_update_license></license>'
8. Press dd to delete the line. Press ESC. Type :wq then hit enter (write quit)
9. Turn unit off and on again

Hi

For those with tired old fingers do a cd /usr/bin/siglent/firmdata0 after step 4. Next two become:

5. cp NSP_system_info.xml NSP_system_info.xml.orig
6. vi NSP_system_info.xml

Saves a lot of typing ...probably cuts out at least 10 seconds Potentially a bit more if you are prone to fat fingering command line stuff. The cd will puke if you give it a bad directory name so you will get feedback there quickly.

Bob

Fingers? Whatcha' talking 'bout Willis? Copy-Paste-Enter!

[PartialDischarge]

Just got my SDG2042x yesterday, nice piece, I absolutely like the ability to generate large peak amplitudes at high frequency, compared to the Rigol at least...

attached is a smile from my scope, which is happy too!

[Steps]

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Siglent-SDG2042X-touch-screen-40MHz-1-2GSa-s-signal-waveform-function-generator-dual-channel-16bit-vertical/32477196812.html?ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_7,searchweb201602_1_10017_10034_10021_507_10033_10022_10020_10009_10008_10018_10019,searchweb201603_1&btsid=e40d5ea2-6fe4-4e8d-b40d-33d09f4081fe

Chinese sellers read the EEVblog!

[tautech]

Chinese sellers read the EEVblog!

But they've never unpacked a SDG2042X 

Accessoires Included:
Siglent SDG2042X Arbitrary Function Generator
User Manual
Guarantee Card
CD (including EasyWave 1.0 computer software system)
Power Cord
USB Cable
Quick Start Guide

BNC cable missing from list ^^^ 

[rf-loop]

Chinese sellers read the EEVblog!

But they've never unpacked a SDG2042X 

Accessoires Included:
Siglent SDG2042X Arbitrary Function Generator
User Manual
Guarantee Card
CD (including EasyWave 1.0 computer software system)
Power Cord
USB Cable
Quick Start Guide

BNC cable missing from list ^^^ 

Calibration certificate is missing.

[bson]

Another bug... If I set it to output an AM signal with exactly a 25.0MHz carrier it tells me the upper limit is 25MHz, then sets it to 25MHz.

[tautech]

Another bug... If I set it to output an AM signal with exactly a 25.0MHz carrier it tells me the upper limit is 25MHz, then sets it to 25MHz.

What about 24.999999 MHz, any warning then?

[bson]

Another bug... If I set it to output an AM signal with exactly a 25.0MHz carrier it tells me the upper limit is 25MHz, then sets it to 25MHz.

What about 24.999999 MHz, any warning then?

Now I tried again and couldn't reproduce it.  Turns out the following steps reproduce it:

1. Set to AM, 25MHz carrier
2. Try to increase it past this with the dial... this will produce a 25MHz limit message
3. Set to AM, 25MHz carrier... and get the same 25MHz limit message

24.999999MHz in step 3 won't reproduce it.

[tautech]

Another bug... If I set it to output an AM signal with exactly a 25.0MHz carrier it tells me the upper limit is 25MHz, then sets it to 25MHz.

What about 24.999999 MHz, any warning then?

Now I tried again and couldn't reproduce it.  Turns out the following steps reproduce it:

1. Set to AM, 25MHz carrier
2. Try to increase it past this with the dial... this will produce a 25MHz limit message
3. Set to AM, 25MHz carrier... and get the same 25MHz limit message

24.999999MHz in step 3 won't reproduce it.

Of course, it's 1 Hz below the upper limit.

Working as expected IMO or do you still call it a bug. 

[bson]

Working as expected IMO or do you still call it a bug. 

Definitely a bug.  When set to a valid value, which 25MHz is, it should just set it and not show any message indicating it couldn't be set.

[tautech]

Working as expected IMO or do you still call it a bug. 

Definitely a bug.  When set to a valid value, which 25MHz is, it should just set it and not show any message indicating it couldn't be set.

Hmmm, other Siglent AWG's show this same behaviour too and if it was to be changed/fixed what about displaying Maximum Frequency n MHz ?

Or a better message.....?

Re-read. 

Gotcha, minor bug.

[Timpert]

I had just opened up my new SDG2042X to see if it would be possible to give it isolated outputs (with a little add-on board containing the data isolators and a DC/DC converter). But the first thing that caught my eye was this: the DAC markings had been ground off! Why would they do that? The DAC part number is already a public secret for a little over half a year, so I see no point in this. There are no other parts with erased markings in my device, just the DAC has been "treated". Curious... 

[rf-loop]

I had just opened up my new SDG2042X to see if it would be possible to give it isolated outputs (with a little add-on board containing the data isolators and a DC/DC converter). But the first thing that caught my eye was this: the DAC markings had been ground off! Why would they do that? The DAC part number is already a public secret for a little over half a year, so I see no point in this. There are no other parts with erased markings in my device, just the DAC has been "treated". Curious...

But you do not now know what is exactly in your equipment. We only know what it have been in unit where from this old information is.

User need  know what is coming out from BNC not exactly how its is done.

They have learn this from Rigol and many others. World is full of parts who want use all available information for do they own application or for other purposes, even source of components may be sensitive information in some competition situations as we well know from example mobile phone industry etc.

Of course other possible is to do it like  Keysight (HP, Agilent) or Tektronix tens of years and use own customer part number on chip.
Chinese need learn this western normal practice and no one caught.

If I develop and made these I will hide much much more.

[Timpert]

User need  know what is coming out from BNC not exactly how its is done.

Have you never run into a situation where you wanted to know why exactly your equipment was behaving the way it did? I do, frankly, quite often. For the average consumer, there usually is no need to know what's going on inside a piece of gear. In an electronics R&D lab, things may be different. For this market, selling "black boxes" is not the way to go according to many (including myself). And the manufacturer may benefit from this as well, see "Project Yaigol" where a design goof-up is being fixed in the clock generator of a Rigol scope. Someone else is doing Rigol's homework. Free of charge!

If I develop and made these I will hide much much more.

What are you afraid of?

The difference with A brand test gear is that, if you run into an issue, you can talk to a support engineer or probably even a development engineer for those special cases who will help you and provide you with the necessary technical information to solve your problem. With the B brands, you usually don't get that kind of support (which is to be expected, given the price of the box). Instead, you need to rely on community support on forums like this one, and from people who have taken the time to dive into the instrument and figure out what happens under the bonnet. This community support is what helps sell the devices as well, so IMHO any manufacturer who relies on community support (which Siglent clearly does), is shooting himself in the foot by witholding technical information and resorting to silly measures like rubbing off a part number.

To make a long story short: rubbing off a part number raises the "dodgy!" flag. Just don't do that, because it makes you go down a rung on the credibility ladder. IMHO of course.

[nctnico]

The major brands have been removing part numbers for a long time. They even stamp their own parts number on jelly bean parts like a TL074 opamp.

[rf-loop]

User need  know what is coming out from BNC not exactly how its is done.

Have you never run into a situation where you wanted to know why exactly your equipment was behaving the way it did?

Yes, and lot of.
I have only around 50 years of experience with many kind of electronics due to radio and other electronics  hobby, due to long time industrial automation and industrial electronics including power electronics and electric repair, maintenance, modifications and previously also designing some electronics. Also with these all,  "some amount" of experience with many kind of T&M equipments for field and R&D use. Also repairing them, also calibrating them and also doing some modifications for some very special purposes. Also something previously with electronic equipments manufacturing.  Also I know something about problems in China and how challenging environment it is with tens of thousends "car carage" or even more manufacturing copy cats and A to D level "factories"  etc.  (there is my 2nd home)
And I'm not yet ready for retire. If I get to decide that.

[rf-loop]

Siglent have published SDG2000X series service manual.

[rf-loop]

If I develop and made these I will hide much much more.

What are you afraid of?

You have never developed-designed and manufactured anything intelligent and no one have after then stolen your ready work?


These are not "open <sh---cencored>"

[pxl]

If I develop and made these I will hide much much more.

What are you afraid of?

You have never developed-designed and manufactured anything intelligent and no one have after then stolen your ready work?

These are not "open <sh---cencored>"

Yeah, just see the blatant ripoff of the Agilent multimeter copied by Siglent
And this is the new consistent design of the "X" series, like the SDG2042X, which is great in one hand (looks and feels high quality), but on the other hand 

[Timpert]

You have never developed-designed and manufactured anything intelligent and no one have after then stolen your ready work?

In this specific case, just by tracing the digital inputs, analog outputs, counting the pins, checking the package and key requirements, the DAC can probably be uniquely identified, with a continuity bleeper as your only measurement instrument. Rubbing off the part number doesn't prevent that, it just makes it a bit harder. The only thing that cannot easily be traced is the grade of the chip that's on the board. This raises the question: what are they really hiding?

Copycats are a real problem, I'd be the first one to admit that. But there are better ways to prevent them from stealing your IP than (needlessly) rubbing off part numbers. Security by obscurity doesn't work in this market. In this case, the FPGA is the place where the magic happens. Encrypting the configuration code is an obvious, and far more effective method to keep copycats from reverse engineering your product. Even that is not water tight, and there is an army of smart engineers willing to pick up such a challenge.