Software Releases — New Features

What’s new in R6.0.13

New features

1. Improved detection of harmonics

Bug fixes

1. Fixed problem with exporting spectrum as text.
2. Fixed PS5000 startup problem.
3. Various other minor bugs fixed.

What’s new in R6.0.12

New features

1. PicoScope 6 now includes a dedicated spectrum analysis mode. There are two new buttons on the toolbar: Scope Mode and Spectrum Mode. Scope Mode is on by default, and works just like previous versions of PicoScope 6. Spectrum Mode gives you direct and effortless control of your scope as a spectrum analyser.
2. The dedicated spectrum mode works with the autosetup button.
3. Added new advanced triggers for the PS3423/PS3223 and PS3424/PS3224.
   • Window trigger for triggering when entering or exiting a pair of thresholds.
   • Window pulse width trigger for qualifying a pulse width based on a pair of thresholds.
   • Dropout trigger for triggering when a signal stays high or low for longer than a specified time.
   • Window dropout trigger, which allows dropout detection based on a pair of thresholds.
   • Variable trigger hysteresis.
4. New context menu item to completely reset zooming/scrolling and scaling/offset for all channels of data on a view.
5. Many stability enhancements.

Bug fixes

1. Fixed problem with lock-up and severe memory leak when minimising with a spectrum view.
2. Fixed problem which caused some automotive waveforms to crash when a specific device was attached.
3. Fixed problem with measurement crashes on frequency change in spectrum view.
4. Fixed intermittent problem with PS210X autosetup selecting wrong timebase.
5. Autosetup now resets global zoom.
6. Fixed problem with measurement not updating when changing channel.
7. Double-clicking a psdata file now loads it even when no device is attached.
8. Fixed problem with intermittent crashes caused by switching the number of bins in the spectrum options.
9. Can now save spectrum data as text.
10. Various other minor bugs fixed.

What’s new in R6.0.11

New features

1. Support for the complete range of USB PC Oscilloscopes has been added.
2. Enhanced resolution adds up to 4 extra bits of effective resolution to the standard resolution of the PC Oscilloscope.
3. Per-channel vertical scaling.
4. A new method of zooming which works exclusively on the time axis and supplements the old bidirectional zoom tools.
5. Another extra-long timebase has been added (PicoScope Automotive).

Bug fixes

1. Multiple bugs have been fixed to improve the stability of the software.

What’s new in R6.0.10

Please note: R6.0.10 is only suitable for use with the PicoScope 5000 oscilloscope series.

New features

1. Add new advanced triggers for the PS5000
   • Window trigger for triggering when entering or exiting a pair of thresholds.
   • Window pulse width trigger for qualifying a pulse width based on a pair of thresholds.
   • Dropout trigger for triggering when a signal stays high or low for longer than a specified time.
   • Window dropout trigger, which allows dropout detection based on a pair of thresholds.
   • Logic trigger for triggering when all the channels meet the specified criteria at the same time.
2. Trigger hysteresis is now variable on the PS5000 for advanced triggers.
3. The Matlab version 4 file format is now available for saving the current waveform. This is a binary data format and it is easy to either open it in Matlab or extract the binary data from the file directly with some programming knowledge.
4. Each axis on the graph can now be independently scaled. This allows each individual channel to be scaled after capturing the data; this is in addition to the graph zooming tools that scales the entire graph.
5. An extra-long 200 second/division timebase has been added, allowing a full 1/2 hour of data in a single cature.
6. PS5000 demo devices have been added for previewing the capabilities of our latest PC Oscilloscope range.

Bug fixes

1. Loading PicoScope 5.x files with specific custom ranges no longer causes the trigger to appear at the wrong level.
2. Advanced trigger enable checkbox was not easy to find. This has now been replaced by a simple edge trigger in the list of advanced triggers.
3. It is now possible to switch into ETS mode when using advanced triggers (advanced triggering is disabled in ETS mode).
4. Auto-ranging no longer prevents the Advanced Trigger dialog’s drop-down controls from working.
5. Saving in CSV format now saves custom probe units.
6. Fixed problem with print preview occasionally crashing PCs.
7. Fixed problem with the measurements dialog sometimes opening with the wrong 'span' when editing a measurement.
8. The space bar now reliably stops capturing.

What’s new in R6.0.9 (beta)

Please note: R6.0.9 is a beta release and is only suitable for use with the PicoScope 5000 oscilloscope series.

New features

1. Added support for advanced triggering on the PS5000 oscilloscopes
2. Pulse width trigger for triggering on pulses of a specified length
3. Interval trigger for triggering on a waveform period of a specified length
4. You can delay the trigger by a fixed time which can now be much longer than the total capture time

Over the coming months we will be adding many exciting new advanced triggering features.

Bug fixes

1. Fixed problem with Auto-setup in ETS mode causing crash
2. Fixed problem with frequency measurement in ETS mode
3. Changing trigger direction in ETS mode no longer causes crash
4. Fixed mismatch between selected number of spectrum bands and the number of bands displayed in properties
5. Fixed problem with printing spectrum window with measurements

What’s new in R6.0.8 (beta)

Please note: R6.0.8 is a beta release and is only suitable for use with the PicoScope 5000 oscilloscope series and PicoScope automotive oscilloscopes.

Bug fixes

1. Fixed problems with installing a software upgrade over a previous version
2. Creating a large number of views no longer causes a crash
3. Fixed problem with streaming using probes other than x1
4. Ruler units now display correctly after loading a file
5. Ruler value is now updated if the horizontal or vertical scale changes
6. Fixed problem with probe export function crashing due to invalid filenames

What’s new in R6.0.7 (beta)

Please note: R6.0.7 is a beta release and is only suitable for use with the PicoScope 5000 oscilloscope series and PicoScope automotive oscilloscopes.

New features

1. Spectrum view added
2. Spectrum view can be added to existing files created by users
3. Added new information bar that shows properties of the current capture, number of samples, sample rate and sample interval

Bug fixes

1. Trigger position resolution now greater than that of display
2. Fixed problem with scope hang caused by switching from streaming to block mode (PicoScope Automotive)
3. Trigger point alignment has been improved with a small number of samples
4. Fixed problem with importing arbitrary waveform text files
5. Fixed problems with Autosetup
6. Fixed problem with loading a new AWG file while AWG is selected

What’s new in R6.0.6 (beta)

Please note: R6.0.6 is a beta release and is only suitable for use with the PicoScope 5000 oscilloscope series and PicoScope automotive oscilloscopes.

1. Resolved crash moving increasing pre-trigger > 50% using PS5203/4 oscilloscope (PicoScope)
2. Fixed corrupted signal when Streaming a 1 Hz sinewave with the timebase set to 200 ms, 500 k samples. (PicoScope)
3. Corrected waveform buffer count in streaming mode (200ms/div and greater). There are now at least 32 buffers available with all channels enabled. (PicoScope and PicoScope Automotive)
4. Resolved lock-up on PS3000 family of scopes when switching timebase from streaming to block mode. (PicoScope Automotive)
5. Added menu items for restoring user default settings and application default settings. (PicoScope and PicoScope Automotive)
6. Added menu item for delete user’s default settings. (PicoScope and PicoScope Automotive)

What’s new in R5.20.0

New features

1. Many new features added to EnviroMon including: new monitor view, deviation alarms, archiving, save/load ini files and improved graph panning.
2. Channels limit increased to 50 over IP using PicoLog.

Bug fixes

1. Fixed bug with signal generator initialisation using PicoScope 220x
2. Fixed bug with DrDAQ scaling file causing PicoLog to crash.
3. Fixed bug with streaming to block mode using the PicoScope 322x and 342x.
4. Other minor bugs fixed.

What’s new in R5.19.0

New features

1. PicoLog now supports the PicoScope 2203, 2204, 2205 and 3425 PC Oscilloscopes.
2. Phase measurement added to spectrum view in PicoScope.

Bug fixes

1. Fixed bug with PicoLog locking-up after pausing the recorder.

What’s new in R5.18.0

New features

1. Windows Vista compatible help files.

Bug fixes

1. Fixed bug with time offset not being adjusted for persistance mode.
2. Fixed bug with freeze/thaw one.
3. Fixed bug with copy as graph truncating measurement text.
4. Fixed bug with X-Y scope display for the ADC2xx series.
5. Converting psd file to text now works in block mode.
6. Fixed bug with DDE.
7. PS2202 now works with 100% pre-trigger.

What’s new in R5.17.1

New features

1. New LabVIEW examples for the PicoScope 3000

Bug fixes

1. Fixed bugs with using streaming mode with the PicoScope 3000
2. Fixed bug with save as CSV feature in PicoLog
3. Fixed bug with save as BMP feature
4. Fixed 10 MHz spectrum analyzer bug on the PicoScope 3423
5. Fixed bug with Digital Colour Composite
6. Fixed bug with ADC-200 Triggering on 200 ms/div or slower
7. Fixed bug with LabVIEW TC-08 example
8. Fixed bug with Excel macro for the TC-08
9. Fixed bugs with Trigger Diamond on the ADC-216
10. Fixed bug with PS2104/5 light
11. Fixed bug with save on trigger
12. Minor bugs fixed in PicoScope and PicoLog

What’s new in R5.16.x

R5.16.2

1. All products now compatible with Windows Vista. Help file for PicoScope and PicoLog are compatible, but not EnviroMon and product specific help files (if you require theses help files you can download the manuals in PDF format)
2. Offset null now also available in French, German and Spanish versions
3. Saving as BMP fixed in PicoScope and PicoLog
4. Auto setup now works when more than one view is active
5. IMD Measurement fixed
6. Copying to Clipboard on graph view in PicoLog fixed
7. Custom Ranges in PicoScope now scaled correctly if both raw values are positive
8. ETS mode timebase fixed for PicoScope 2104
9. Triggering fixed for PicoScope 2105
10. Spectrum mode fixed for PicoScope 2105
11. 610 Hz spectrum with 4096 bands fixed for PicoScope 2202
12. Beep/save on trigger (in streaming mode) fixed for PicoScope 3424
13. Trigger in streaming mode fixed for PicoScope 3223, 3224, 3423 and 3424
14. Scaling option now available for USB ADC-11
15. Both channels of the ADC-100 enabled with Autotrigger now displays correctly
16. 81 Hz spectrum fixed for ADC-216
17. Fixed sampling problem in PicoLog when using multiple ADC-216s with USB parallel port converters
18. DrDAQ Channel Dialog fixed
19. DrDaq trigger level can now be dropped on the scope window for the volts channel
20. HumidiProbe driver now supports 8 units
21. PicoScope 2105 driver now works with negative trigger delay
22. COM10 and upwards now available for PT-104 on Windows XP

What’s new in R5.15.x

R5.15.8

1. Spanish language support added to PicoScope Automotive

R5.15.7

1. GSM modem support fixed in EnviroMon

What’s new in R5.14.x

1. New fast USB streaming driver
   The latest Windows driver for the 3224 and 3424 PicoScope USB PCOs features a new streaming mode that is capable of transferring over six million samples per second. The USB streaming driver allows the scope to bypass its own memory buffer and transfer data direct to the PC’s memory. This allows programs to capture waveforms at high sampling rates over long periods of time, instead of being limited to shorter captures in “block mode”. The driver includes a new data aggregation function for fast zooming without loss of detail.

   The new driver, with additional functions to support the enhanced streaming mode, comes with a fully documented API and an example program in C++, and is aimed at experienced programmers. It is included in versions R5.14.4 and above of the PicoScope software.

2. Minor bugs fixed in PicoScope and PicoLog.

What’s new in R5.13.x

1. Czech language support added to PicoScope.
2. PicoScope now includes the ability to zoom into a specified location on any trace by holding down the CTRL key and drawing a vertical line over the part of the trace you would like to look at in more detail. The amount of zoom depends on the length of the line drawn, and the software will attempt to find the best X-axis zoom setting for the zoomed trace.
3. In PicoScope you can now scroll through a trace zoomed in the X-axis (time) left and right by holding down the CTRL key and pressing either the Left Arrow (cursor) key or Right Arrow (cursor) key.
4. PicoScope now looks for similar PSD files in your save directory, and finds the highest numbered trace to start at for subsequent captures. This prevents users accidentally overwriting previously saved traces using the Save on trigger function.
5. New installation program makes it easier for you to install and uninstall Pico software. Note: You must remain connected to the internet to install your software (a separate download package is available for installing on multiple PCs, or PCs which cannot connect to the internet).
6. Support added for the PicoScope 2104 and 2105 handheld oscilloscopes
7. Minor bugs fixed in PicoScope and PicoLog.

What’s new in R5.12.x

1. Autosetup feature added to PicoScope
2. Support for the USB version of the ADC-11 data logger

What’s new in R5.11.x

This version, when used with the PicoScope 3000 series allows different amounts of oversampling to be set for the oscilloscope and spectrum analyser.

In addition, this release contains various bug fixes including:

1. Problem with some saved files causing screen to go blank fixed
2. Memory leak leading to occasional crashes fixed
3. Problem setting large trigger amplitude with PS3000 series fixed

What’s new in R5.10.x

1. Support for PicoScope 3000 oscilloscopes added to PicoScope and PicoLog
2. Minor bugs fixed in PicoScope, PicoLog and EnviroMon

What’s new in R5.9.4

1. Additional display modes for PicoScope

What’s new in R5.8.4

1. Support for USB parallel port (PicoScope and PicoLog)
2. Support for EL040 power monitor (EnviroMon)
3. Support for dynamic web pages (EnviroMon)
4. Ability to save waveforms as .jpg files (PicoScope, PicoLog and EnviroMon
5. New min / max display mode (PicoScope)
6. Sampling rate increased to 5GS/s for repetitive signals (PicoScope with the ADC-212/100 pc oscilloscope)
7. Faster download of data from oscilloscope to PC (PicoScope with ADC-212/100 pc oscilloscope)

What’s new in R5.7.4

1. Minor bug fixes and stability improvements over R5.07.1
2. Improved drag and drop trigger in PicoScope
3. Improved chart recorder mode in PicoScope for ADC-2xx products
4. Improved Swedish language support

What’s new in R5.7.1

1. Support for PT-104 temperature data logger added.
2. Support for DrDAQ data logger reed switch sensor added
3. DrDAQ help file expanded to include Humidity and Reed Switch Sensors
4. DrDAQ Excel Macro improved
5. ADC-11 drivers and programming examples updated to support 10 and 12 bit versions.

What’s new in R5.6.3

The list below summarises what’s new in PicoScope R5.06.3 Click on the links for more information.

1. A number of new measurements into the spectrum analyser view such as Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) and Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR).
2. There are now two spectrum rulers (X and O) which can be either horizontal or vertical rulers.
3. There is a new facility to scroll and magnify the spectrum Y axis
4. Custom range option in the spectrum display

What’s new in R5.5.x

The list below summarises what’s new in PicoScope R5.05. Click on the links for more information.

1. Support for the new DrDAQ data logger
2. 19 new automated measurements (rise time, pulse width, duty cycle, crest factor...)
3. 'Drag and drop' control for trigger level
4. Improved spectrum analyzer resolution (upto 4096 points)
5. New display modes for tracking intermittent faults
6. Improved vertical / horizontal rulers
7. Decimal points for custom scaling

The list below summarises what’s new in PicoLog R5.05. Click on the links for more information.

1. Support for the new DrDAQ data logger
2. Improved recorder layout (monitor and recorder views merged)
3. On screen indication of sample rate and number of samples
4. Improved channel selection for graphs and spreadsheets
5. IP support for remote and internet data acquisition

PicoScope — THD measurements

PicoScope can now measure THD, SINAD, SNR and a number of other measurements automatically. It is possible to use this function upto the sixth harmonic as well as adding statistics such as current value, average, standard deviation, maximum, minimum, pass/fail. For more details on the enhanced measurement capabilities follow this link

PicoScope — Spectrum custom ranges

The spectrum Y-axis is no longer limited to either dB or volts. It is possible for users to define their own custom ranges in much the same way as the scope.

PicoScope — Multiple cursors in spectrum display

Up to two cursors can now be added to the spectrum display.

PicoScope — parameter measurements

PicoScope can now display automated measurements below the oscilloscope trace. 19 different measurements are available including frequency, rise/fall time, pulse width, duty cycle, crest factor and peak to peak voltage.

As well as current readings, you can also display average readings, max/min readings and standard deviation. For production testing, pass/fail limits can be set for each parameter.

PicoScope — Improved spectrum resolution

We have increased the maximum number of points in the spectrum analyser to 4096. When used over the 20Hz to 20kHz audio range this gives a resolution of better than 5Hz.

PicoScope — display options

As well as displaying current data, PicoScope has several display options which are useful for capturing intermittent faults and also for 'burn in' tests. The display below was captured from a cable with a faulty earth connection, when the cable was moved the connection was disturbed causing momentary 'ringing' on the signal.