Pico Technical Support and Discussion Forum

tomford2 · Guest

Hi,

Similar to the previous post, I am having problems with text export.

I have a PSD file with channels A and B. I want to get the data as text.

If I Save As... *.txt:

I get the correct data but only mV resolution

If I Edit -> Copy as Text

I get uV resolution and the correct data for channel A but the data for channel B is completely wrong!

I'm happy to email the PSD file to the support people here.

With Save as *.txt I get...

Channel A
Time Value
(ns) (mV)
-400179 -210
-389939 -210
-379699 -211
-369459 -211
-359219 -210
-348979 -210
-338739 -211
-328499 -211

Channel B
Time Value
(ns) (mV)
-400179 541
-389939 539
-379699 533
-369459 535
-359219 533
-348979 535
-338739 529
-328499 530
-318259 526

With Edit -> Copy Text I get...

Channel A
Time Value
(ns) (µV)
-400179 -210379
-389939 -209890
-379699 -210623
-369459 -210867
-359219 -209890

Channel B
Time Value
(ns) (µV)
-400179 -1997459
-389939 -1997461
-379699 -1997467
-369459 -1997465
-359219 -1997467
-348979 -1997465
-338739 -1997471
-328499 -1997470

So as you can see, the resolution is different and B from Edit -> Copy Text has the wrong values.

This problem should be easy to replicate with any PSD file with 2 channels with different scales. As I say, I am also happy to email my PSD file to a support email.

Thanks,

Tom

Michael · Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 8:27 am Post subject:

Hello Tom,

Thank you for pointing this out.

I will pass this on to our software development team. Meanwhile, can you post any test PSD file on this forum for us to take a look at?

Best regards,
Michael

Guest · Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 9:37 am Post subject:

I've emailed the PSD file to 'tech at picotech dot com'. I've not yet received a response but I take it that it was received.

Michael · Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 10:49 am Post subject:

hello,

We have received this file and are looking into this.

Best regards,
Michael

tomford2 · Guest

Hi, I thought I'd bring people up to date on other stuff I've tried in order to get working textual values out of Picoscope. I'm working with the scan file I sent to the Pico scope support email address:

The manual recommends:

PSW32 -t scan.psd

This gives:

Channel A
Time Value
(fs) ()
x-819 x-211
x9421 x-210
Channel B
Time Value
(fs) (-210)
x819 x491
x9421 x536

(complete file - x added to get past forum filter)

which is obviously complete gibberish! This looks like a bug and it would be nice if it were fixed!

My next attempt was to convert the PSD to a txt file. I got Picoscope to save the files uncompressed. There is a description of the file format in the Picoscope helpfile which seems out of date, but another forum post here:

about864 (in the URL)

Actually gives some C++ code that will process PSD files. Unfortunately the numbers it gives are wrong for both channels (again in scan.psd). Channel A is offset a bit and scaled and Channel B is just scaled by a number around 2.4. All the program does is read shorts from the data file so there must be some other data in the psd file that tells one about offsets and stuff.

So, I've drawn a bit of a blank.

I really do think that working PSD -> TXT with proper uV resolution, working for 2 channel PSD files should be a priority for the next version of Picoscope.

I like the instrument but so far the software leaves a little to be desired!

Thanks.

Tom

Michael · Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 8:33 am Post subject:

Hello Tom,

Our software team has fixed this problem. This fix will be available in our next release of PicoScope.

Please keep an eye on website for details of the next software release.

Best regards,
Michael

tomford2 · Guest

Super, thanks Michael, I'll be looking forward to the release.

Tom

tomford2 · Guest

Hi Michael,

I downloaded the latest version hoping that the above bugs would be fixed. All the tests below apply to the sample psd file I sent you.

The only bug that is fixed is that "psd32 -t scan.psd" does produce a meaningful file but only with mV resolution (when the psd file is displayed on the screen in the software it is displayed at uV and since my signals are <2 mV, mV resolution is pretty useless).

Saving a psd file as text works correctly but again only with mV resolution.

Using 'Copy as Text' gives uV resolution (what I need - horray) but gives meaningless data for Channel B.

I would like:

a) uV resolution when I save as txt or use "psd -t", ie. data at the accuracy that is displayed in the window.

b) the meaningless data in Channel B when copy to the clipboard to be corrected.

My ADC is a 12-bit machine and it seems a terrible waste to throw away all that accuracy when the program converts to a txt file!

I'm at the stage where I'm going to have to put in the time to write my own custom software. The shortcomings of the Picoscope software unfortunately make me less likely to buy any more of these devices (we've already got 3 here).

Yours,

Tom Ford

Michael · Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:08 am Post subject:

Hello Tom,

Can you supply your email address? I will need to send you a new file but cannot as you are not currently registered.

Please register with this forum to continue this discussion.

Best regards,
Michael

tom_ford · Newbie Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1

Thanks for your quickly reply Michael!

My email address is: **Removed for Privacy by moderator.

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