Pico Technology

Here is your monthly Test and Measurement update.

1.  Improved Newsletter

To ensure that you receive only the information you want from Pico, we have now split our newsletter into two editions. This is the Test & Measurement Newsletter. You should also receive our Automotive Newsletter in a separate email. You can easily subscribe to or unsubscribe from either of these newsletters if you wish.

If you miss a newsletter, you can always refer to our Newsletter Archive, which is available to all visitors free of charge.

2.  Christmas Closure Dates

We will be closing for a few days over the Christmas break. Here is our schedule for the Christmas and New Year period:

3.  Questions and Answers

Here is a selection of the questions that have cropped up recently on our help desk and our support forum.

Q. Do your products support LabVIEW?

A. Yes, in fact we provide LabVIEW drivers and example programs for most of our products. For a full list of these products, see our LabVIEW support page. When you install the Pico software, be sure to select Custom Install, and you will then be given the option to install examples and drivers.

Q. How can I get PicoScope 6 to display 0 to +5 volts instead of -5 to +5 volts?

A. In PicoScope 6, click the small coloured button at the bottom of the voltage scale for the channel you want to change. Unless you have changed the scaling, this button will contain the text “x1.0”. In the control box that opens, click the up–arrow next to the Scale control to change the scale from 1.00 to 2.00. The signal trace will double in vertical size. Now click the down–arrow next to the Offset control to change the offset from 0.00% to -25.00%. This will move the signal trace down the screen until 0 volts is at the bottom of the view and +5 volts is at the top. (Download the complete PicoScope manual, or read about PicoScope 6 on our website.)

Q. Can I use more than one TC-08 with PicoLog?

A. Yes, you can use up to 20, giving you a total of up to 160 thermocouple channels. When you first run PicoLog, go to the File menu and click New Settings. This will open the Recording dialog. In this dialog is a check box labelled Use multiple converters. If you tick this box, PicoLog will allow you to set up more than one TC-08, or any other compatible converter that is connected to your computer. (Download the complete PicoLog manual, or read about PicoLog on our website.)

4.  Knowledge Base

We hope that you know about our Knowledge Base. Our Technical Support experts have been working to expand it recently, so it might be a good time to have another look. It contains Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and longer articles that we think you will find useful. Like all our online resources, it’s highly informative and free of charge to all users.

Here are some of the topics we have covered recently:

• How much current do your products draw from the USB port?
• IMPORTANT information for uninstalling EnviroMon under Windows 95/98/ME
• What is the difference between Oversampling and Resolution Enhance?
• USB 1.1 versus USB 2.0

Browse the Knowledge Base for other queries like these

5.  Bletchley Park Cipher Challenge

The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park was in the news recently (BBC, ZDNet, Washington Post), as the newly rebuilt Colossus code–breaking machine from 1944 was pitted against modern computers in the “Cipher Challenge”. A radio amateur and computer enthusiast from Bonn won the competition using a program running on his PC, but Colossus followed soon after, proving that the painstaking rebuild project had been successful.

Pico Technology has been following the Colossus rebuild project for several years, ever since we supplied a PC Oscilloscope and some custom circuitry to enable the Bletchley Park engineers to analyse data coming off the punched paper tapes.

Read the article, “Colossus – The World’s First Electronic Computer”, that we published at the beginning of the project.

6.  USB TC-08 Now Our Preferred Thermocouple Converter

The USB TC-08 is now our recommended replacement for the old serial (‘COM’ port) TC-08. Just like the old TC-08, the USB TC-08 gives your PC eight thermocouple measurement channels and requires no external power supply. It is supplied with our PicoLog software, which turns your PC into a powerful data logger that can collect data for long periods without user intervention. It can display the data in graph and spreadsheet form, and can export the information to other applications in an industry-standard text format.

• If your PC has a USB port then the USB TC-08 will plug straight in and run with our PicoLog software.
• If your PC has only a serial ‘COM’ port, we still have a few serial TC-08s (order code PP020) left in stock, but they are no longer being manufactured.
• If you have one of the old serial TC-08s but your new laptop has no COM port, all is not lost: you can buy our USB to RS-232 converter, which will enable you to plug your TC-08 into a USB port on your new computer.

Find out more about the USB TC-08 Thermocouple Data Logger

7.  Allied Electronics Now a Pico Distributor

Allied Electronics, a subsidiary of Electrocomponents plc, has signed a distribution agreement with Pico Technology to distribute our complete product line of PC Oscilloscopes and accessories. You will now be able to buy Pico products from Allied’s 55 sales branches across the United States and in Canada, and from its dedicated local representatives.

Visit the Allied Electronics website

8.  Forthcoming Exhibitions and Training Dates

Full details of upcoming exhibitions and training dates can be found on the exhibitions page.

9.  Employment Opportunities

Due to our continuing growth, we have vacancies for the following positions:

• Development Engineer — Analogue Hardware
• Development Engineer — Windows Desktop Application Software
• Development Engineer — Windows Device Driver Software
• New Product Introduction Engineer

Find more details of these positions and complete an online application form

We look forward to hearing from you if you want to be part of a growing company at the leading edge of test equipment design.

10.  Latest Software Releases

As soon as we release new software, it is made available for FREE download from our website. To check which version you are using, start the software (PicoScope, PicoLog or EnviroMon) and select HELP | ABOUT.

The current releases are:

• PicoScope 5: R5.18.0
• PicoScope 6: R6.0.12
• PicoLog: R5.18.0
• EnviroMon: R5.16.2

To download the latest software please visit the software downloads page

(Note: the above web page also contains a link to our ‘release notes’ page which describes recent changes and additions to the software.)

11.  About this Newsletter

Back issues of this newsletter are available online at http://www.picotech.com/newsletter/

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12.  Contact Details

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