Test and Measurement Forum

I read this forum with considerable interest. I have been very tempted by the PicoScope 5000. But we went 100% Linux back in May 2007 following a very unsuccessful trial of M$ Vista. (http://opensourcecommunity.org/2007/10/15/vista-woes-may-lead-us-better-things if anyone is interested)

Whilst I will probably attempt installing PicoScope software under WINE (well Codeweavers CrossoverLinux to be more precise), I feel very uncomfortable about purchasing an expensive bit of kit such as the Picoscope, if it lacks native Linux software.

Linux has a very strong following within the scientific and engineering communities. It seems rather astonishing that a product such as the PicoScope 5000, which is aimed at exactly the same communities, does not support Linux.

Just my "2p worth". Best wishes, Garf.

Like so many of your respondents to this question, I too have migrated to Linux (Ubuntu) for sound technical reasons.

I have tried running the sample program under Linux and it freezes after entering the port number, why doesn't it timeout if it cannot find an ADC attached?

Having asked the question, why is there no 'official' statement as to whether the company intends to accommodate Linux users or not? I find it amazing that this question has been alive since 2005, with no response from the company. So much for customer support!

Working in Windows environment is a pain!

I really love Picoscopes. Give us good scope drivers and API and we will create rocking good applications!
It seems that the API is quite lean and straightforward. Keep it simple and reliable.

Think about the power of a scope in an embedded application that draws sources from an open source signal processing software. Picoscopes could replace those A/D-cards in cases where reliability and bandwidth is the key.

Hello Dom et al.,

Linux drivers are now available for all of our current products, and may be downloaded from our website (http://www.picotech.com/software.html).

Regards
John

With PicoScope 3224 the test program PS3000con crashes here with

"Floating point exception (core dumped)"

I'd like to fix this so I went to look for the source code. The software development kit (R1.0.0) for the device contains a C file PS3000.c but it starts with

"#include <windows.h>"

so it clearly can't be compiled on non-Windows systems without modications. Are the real source codes that were used to compile /usr/local/lib/libps3000.so available somewhere?

Hello Lindi,

Our Linux expert advises that the problem does not lie in our driver, and suggests that you may wish to try updating your gcc and glib.

Regards
John

I don't want only a linux driver. I want an open source driver based on libusb once that is done you can use the driver in both linux and windows, since the creation of libusb for windows. I really like the PicoScope R6.2.2 but I could live with trying to make my own using gtk and c code.
I think I could wipp up a simple usable environment in a week. The advantage of an open source driver is that it can be recompiled for other hardware architectures like arm processors.

I second Jeff. Even if I can have the source under an NDA with some way to be able to distribute it with a picoscope and an embedded system I would still consider it.

Open source would however be 1st price. Then I do not have to worry about distribution and I would be able to compile for new/next generations of cpus which is not x86 base.

Hanno

Closed source drivers work fine in the windows world but for people to commit to buying and using these loggers under linux an open source driver is essential.

Linux drivers are one thing, application is another.
What is the difficulty nowadays of providing an application
built over a portable framework (e.g. Qt) with a thin adaptation layer ?
Open-sourcing it would be a must...

For now I have the choice between your products and a competitor
(a bit more expensive), which provides a linux application.
Since I have no time to loose, it is likely I'll opt for the latter !

Linux drivers are one thing, application is another.
What is the difficulty nowadays of providing an application
built over a portable framework (e.g. Qt) with a thin adaptation layer ?
Open-sourcing it would be a must...

For now I have the choice between your products and a competitor
(a bit more expensive), which provides a linux application.
Since I have no time to loose, it is likely I'll opt for the latter !

Closed source drivers work fine in the windows world but for people to commit to buying and using these loggers under linux an open source driver is essential.

Ya, I was thinking that was the case.
thanks!

[quote="jeffsadowski"]I don't want only a linux driver. I want an open source driver based on libusb once that is done you can use the driver in both linux and windows, since the creation of libusb for windows. I really like the PicoScope R6.2.2 but I could live with trying to make my own using gtk and c code.
I think I could wipp up a simple usable environment in a week. The advantage of an open source driver is that it can be recompiled for other hardware architectures like arm processors.[/quote]

If Pico gave out the communication protocol at the USB-level it could be used with libusb - right? For Pico it can't be that critical - they are not giving out the source for their scope product which is a big investment to them. Myself would buy a PicoScope if that USB-level information would be available. Actually I am going to try out with an analyzator to see whether I can make any sence to it...

Kari

I second Jeff. Even if I can have the source under an NDA with some way to be able to distribute it with a picoscope and an embedded system I would still consider it.
Open source would however be 1st price. Then I do not have to worry about distribution and I would be able to compile for new/next generations of cpus which is not x86 base.
Hanno

--------------------
Sounds like you have it all figured out, right?

Hi,
We don't wish to be obstructive, we would love to be able to release all sorts of drivers, examples etc but we just can't get the staff! We don't have enough software engineers to do all that everyone wants. Anyone who can help, please look at our jobs page:-
http://pico.jobs/
If you can add Linux to any of the jobs there, you will be welcome.
Regards,
PeterF.